A filmed version of a Broadway musical has become an unlikely summer blockbuster.
Hadestown: The Musical has grossed $20.7 million at the box office, according to IndieWire, making it the highest-grossing live theater capture ever released in theaters. It surpassed Hamilton, which earned just under $17 million domestically when it was released in theaters in 2025 after a long run on Disney+.
The show was originally billed as a five-night-only event when it opened on July 24, 2026. Demand pushed its theatrical run to four additional weeks.
For Mara Isaacs, the show's creative producer, the result fits a pattern. "I'm not really surprised by the [film's] success, but only because 'Hadestown' has exceeded expectations everywhere it has performed," Isaacs told IndieWire. "That was true on Broadway. That was true on its first national tour. That was true when it opened on the West End. It has been the small little indie engine that could. Audiences connect with this material and they seem to connect with it in every form."
Hadestown began its life as a concept album from Anaïs Mitchell. It was developed through regional workshops and off-Broadway productions before opening on Broadway in 2019, where it won the Tony for best musical. The show retells the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice with a bluesy, jazzy score.
The film was released by Bleecker Street, an indie distributor that launched a new division called Crosswalk in 2025 specifically to release event cinema. The division has also distributed a filmed version of Waitress: The Musical and a concert film from K-pop group Stray Kids. Next up is George Michael: The Faith Tour, which captures two 1988 performances in Paris.
Bleecker Street CEO Kent Sanderson credited the promotional strategy for part of the film's success. "We leveraged the event cinema model to rally fan communities to come and support the work," Sanderson said. "With 'Hadestown,' we put tickets on sale about six weeks before the film actually came out, and released the trailer on the same day with messaging to go buy tickets now because it will only be in theaters for a few nights."
The film opened between two of the summer's biggest studio releases, landing after The Odyssey on July 17 and before another major film the following week.
