“Hamnet” key art featuring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal.
Focus Features
Hamnet, a William Shakespeare-inspired historical drama starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, is new in theaters. How soon will it be available to watch at home?
Rated PG-13, Hamnet opened in limited release on Wednesday and will expand to theaters nationwide on Dec. 12. The logline for the movie reads, “From Academy Award winning writer/director Chloé Zhao, Hamnet tells the powerful story of love and loss that inspired the creation of Shakespeare’s timeless masterpiece, Hamlet.”
Hamnet to date has earned an 88% “fresh” critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 138 reviews. The RT Critics consensus for the film reads, “Breaking hearts and mending them in one fell swoop, Hamnet speculates on the inspiration behind Shakespeare’s masterpiece with palpable emotional force thanks to Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal’s astonishing performances.”
Hamnet stars Mescal as William Shakespeare, while Buckley plays his wife, Agnes Hathaway (her real name, Anne, was changed to Agnes in Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet novel and movie). Co-produced by Stephen Spielberg and Sam Mendes, Hament also stars Emily Watson and Joe Alwyn.
The first stop for Hamnet in the home entertainment marketplace will be on digital streaming via premium video on demand. Generally, Hamnet’s studio, Focus Features, releases its films on PVOD anywhere from 18 days to a month after they begin playing in wide release.
For example, Focus Features’ Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale opened in wide release on Sept. 12 and arrived on PVOD on Sept. 30. More recently, though, Emma Stone’s Bugonia opened wide in theaters on Oct. 31 and debuted on PVOD about three-and-a-half weeks later, on Nov. 25.
Should Hamnet follow the same release pattern, viewers can expect the film to arrive on PVOD anytime between Dec. 30 and Jan. 6, 2026.
Which Streaming Service Will Get ‘Hamnet’ First?
Since Focus Features is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, Hamnet will first debut on streaming video on demand on NBC Universal’s streaming platform Peacock.
Generally, it takes Focus Features’ films about seven weeks from the time they open in theaters in wide release to the day they arrive on SVOD.
For example, writer-director Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme opened in wide release in theaters on June 6 and arrived on Peacock about seven weeks later, on July 25, In addition, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, which opened in theaters on Sept. 12, debuted on Peacock on Nov. 7.
Should Hamnet follow the same release pattern, viewers can expect the film to make its SVOD debut on Peacock sometime around Jan. 30, 2026.
Hamnet is new in select theaters and will open nationwide on Dec. 12.