William Shakespeare's play Hamlet was re-made as a movie by Michael Almereyda in 2000, set in contemporary Manhattan. It stars Ethan Hawke as a film student with a laptop and Julia Stiles as a pouty Ophelia. Hamlet's uncle Claudius is played by Kyle MacLachlan.

In this version of Hamlet, Claudius becomes CEO of the Denmark Corporation, having taken over the firm by killing his brother, Hamlet's father.

The film is notable for its imaginative yet appropriate use of modern technology such as video cameras, polaroid cameras, and surveillance bugs. For example, the ghost of Hamlet's murdered father first appears on closed-circuit TV.