Screenplay by
William Shakespeare and Kenneth Branagh
Music Composed by
Patrick Doyle
Theatrical Release Date
December 15, 1996
DVD Release Date
August 14, 2007
Production Companies
Castle Rock Entertainment, Fishmonger Films, Turner Pictures
Distribution Companies
Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment
Hamlet, son of the king of Denmark, is summoned home for his father's funeral and his mother's wedding to his uncle. In a supernatural episode, he discovers that his uncle, whom he already despises, murdered his father. In an incredibly convoluted plot--the most complicated and most interesting in all literature--he manages to feign (or perhaps not to feign) madness, murder the "prime minister," love an innocent girl and then drive her to madness, plot to kill his uncle only to reconsider his actions, direct a play within a play, successfully conspire against the lives of two well-meaning friends, and finally take his revenge on the uncle, but only at the cost of almost every life on stage, including his own and his mother's.
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Robin Williams
Osric
Kenneth Branagh
Hamlet
Kate Winslet
Ophelia
Derek Jacobi
Claudius
Julie Christie
Gertrude
Richard Briers
Polonius
Billy Crystal
First gravedigger
Dates
January 25, 1996 - April 12, 1996
Locations
Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, UK
Netherlands
February 6, 1997
UK
February 14, 1997
Belgium
February 26, 1997
Brazil
Colombia
Mexico
February 28, 1997
Italy
March 7, 1997
Venezuela
March 26, 1997
Denmark
April 4, 1997
Spain
May 5, 1997 (extended version)
France
May 12, 1997 (Cannes Film Festival)
May 14, 1997 (extended version)
Portugal
Switzerland (French)
May 16, 1997
Australia
May 22, 1997
France
May 28, 1997 (edited version)
Switzerland (German)
Turkey
May 30, 1997
Germany
June 5, 1997
Israel
June 6, 1997
Spain
June 18, 1997 (edited version)
Argentina
July 10, 1997
Switzerland (Italian)
August 22, 1997
Singapore
August 28, 1997
Sweden
August 29, 1997
Hong Kong
October 23, 1997 (edited version)
Iceland
November 2, 1997 (Reykjavik Film Festival)
April 10, 1998 (wide)
Slovenia
December 24, 1997 (edited version)
Japan
January 24, 1998
Hungary
January 3, 1999 (TV premiere)
Russia
November 20, 2001 (DVD premiere)
Argentina / Spain
Hamlet, de Kenneth Branagh
Russia
Гамлет
Greece
Amlet
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Robin does not appear until about 15 minutes before the end of the film.
This "complete" version of Hamlet, incorporating both the First Folio and Second Quarto editions of Shakespeare's play, is over 4 hours long.
Robin and Billy Crystal were not allowed to be on the set together for fear they would start the cast and crew laughing and cause production delays.
Budget
$18,000,000
Gross
$4,708,156 (USA)
N/A (international)
$4,708,156 (total)
Opening Weekend
$90,684 (3 theaters)
Widest Release
93 theaters
In Release
about 6 weeks
