‘Hamilton,’ the screen version? Maybe in 10 years

NEW YO R K — Lin- Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton” has made history in numerous ways, injecting energy into the musical, populating the stage with people of color and bringing young audiences to a middle- aged Broadway.

But there’s one barrier in which the 11-time Tony winner is unlikely to make a dent: the lag between hit show and Hollywood film.

“I think the show will end up on screen without a doubt,” star and Tony winner Leslie Odom Jr. said at a Tonys after-party Sunday night. “I just think it will be like 10 years from now.”

As with so many big Tony winners before it, “Hamilton” will take a circuitous path to the multiplex, if it gets there at all. Indeed, in the last decade, more best musical winners have come from films ( three) than have been turned into films (one).

No “Hamilton” rights have been sold, and at least one film producer told The Times that when they sought to have a conversation about them, the show’s team politely said thanks but no thanks, at least for now.

Musicals are enjoying a mini-renaissance in Hollywood, whether in the form of original animated pieces like “Frozen” or live telecasts of classics such as “The Wiz” and “Grease.” So, why have new Broadway works not been part of this resurgence?

To a large degree, it’s because theatrical producers are reluctant to cannibalize sales of hit shows. “Hamilton” is raking in eye-popping numbers on Broadway, nearly $2 million per week. With a national “Hamilton” tour not beginning until spring, in Los Angeles, and with possible foreign engagements to come, producers are in no rush to kill the golden goose.

“‘ Hamilton’ is a show that will make more than ‘Star Wars.’ Why do they have any incentive to try to be like ‘Star Wars’?” asked one Broadway producer who declined to be identified because the producer was speaking about a rival production.

The cautionary tale is “War Horse,” the West End smash whose film adaptation came out in 2011, the same year the show opened on Broadway. The production ran only about a year after the movie opened, and some point to the film as the reason for the early shuttering.

Audiences are also less likely to embrace a movie until the original — and often more urgent — theatrical version has receded from memory. The evidence? Some of the most successful modern movie musicals ( “Chicago,” “Dreamgirls”) came a quarter-century or more after their Broadway openings. Toss in all of Hollywood’s usual development friction and creative disagreements, and you have a recipe for a lot of waiting.

This larger reluctance plays out in particular ways with “Hamilton,” whose principals have their own reason to be gun-shy.

Years ago in the Hollywood development world, new bits about the film version of the 2003 Broadway hit “Wicked” arrived with the regularity of an 8 o’clock curtain. Producer Marc Platt had made new hires, or the project had new energy, or …

And still a film waits. “Wicked” has been too big a hit in too many places for anyone to rush.

That doesn’t mean Hollywood and Broadway won’t strengthen their ties. Some of the biggest Tony nominees in recent years have come from film, including past best musical winners “Once” and “Kinky Boots,” “The Producers” and this year’s commercial breakout, “Waitress.”

But the challenges for “Hamilton” will remain in the stage realm. With the show’s Tony triumphs in the bag and its one-year Broadway anniversary approaching, the question will be how to keep the momentum going.