Olivier-award-winning play ‘GIANT’ to receive worldwide cinema release

Producers Brian and Dayna Lee, Stephanie Kramer and Nicole Kramer, Josh Fiedler and Robyn Goodman, and Royal Court Theatre in partnership with Trafalgar Releasing, the global leader in Event Cinema distribution, have announced the worldwide cinema release of Mark Rosenblatt’s critically acclaimed debut play GIANT directed by Nicholas Hytner and designed by Bob Crowley.

On behalf of the producing team, Brian and Dayna Lee said, “GIANT has played to sold-out audiences at the Royal Court, in the West End and now on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre. It is a true honor to bring Mark Rosenblatt’s extraordinary Olivier Award–winning play featuring incomparable performances by John Lithgow, Elliot Levey, Aya Cash and Rachael Stirling to cinemas around the world. There is no more urgent conversation happening today and we can’t wait for new audiences across 18 countries and 900 cinemas to join us.”

Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre, David Byrne said “This is a landmark moment for us – the very first Royal Court Theatre production to be screened in cinemas. After such huge demand for tickets at the Royal Court, in the West End and now on Broadway, it’s great more people will get a chance to see this award-winning production of Mark Rosenblatt’s astonishing debut play.” 

Filmed live at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London, the cinema release features the original West End cast comprised of Olivier, Tony and Golden Globe Winner John Lithgow as Roald Dahl, Olivier Award Winner Elliot Levey as Tom Maschler, Tony Award Nominee Aya Cash as Jessie Stone, Olivier Award Nominee Rachael Stirling as Felicity Dahl, Tessa Bonham Jones as Hallie and Richard Hope as Wally. The production which won three Olivier Awards – Best Actor (John Lithgow), Best Supporting Actor (Elliot Levey) and Best New Play – features lighting design by Anna Watson, sound design by Alexandra Faye Braithwaite and Casting by Arthur Carrington.

GIANT’s cinema release is the latest chapter in the extraordinary journey of Mark Rosenblatt’s award-winning play, which received its world premiere at the Royal Court Theatre in September 2024. Following a sold-out run in London’s West End, GIANT transferred to Broadway in March 2026, where it received four Tony Award nominations for Best Play, Best Direction of a Play (Nicholas Hytner), Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play (Aya Cash), and Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play, which John Lithgow went on to win. Broadway performances began on 11 March 2026 and played a strictly limited 16-week engagement through 28 June 2026 at the Music Box Theatre.

John Lithgow said: “In my 53 year, twenty-five show career on Broadway, I’ve rarely experienced the kind of audience response that we feel night after night with GIANT. Mark Rosenblatt has written a play of extraordinary intelligence and humanity, and with every performance I can sense the audience wrestling with its questions in real time. This is the unique power of theater at its best. I’m thrilled that our production will now reach movie theaters around the world, allowing even more people to experience the urgency, impact, and emotional force of this story.”

Mark Rosenblatt said: “When I began to write GIANT, my first play, I never dreamed that it would be seen by so many – at the Royal Court, in the West End and, now, on Broadway. That the play, and this exquisite cast’s stellar performances, might now be experienced by a yet wider audience around the world with a new kind of immediacy and intimacy – close-up, at a cinema – is, to me at least, giddy-makingly astounding.”

Following a sold-out West End run and three Olivier Awards, GIANT tells the true story of author Roald Dahl and the scandal that shook his legacy.

GIANT will be screened in more than 900 cinemas across 18 countries including the United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Australia and select international territories from 19 November 2026. Tickets for the cinema release of GIANT go on sale on 9 July 2026. Visit Giantincinemas.com for more information.

John Lithgow in ‘GIANT’ at the Harold Pinter Theatre. Photo credit Johan Persson.