Which of Shakespeare's plays had the most film and television adaptations?

Answer 1

Shakespeare's most popular plays are Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet. However, fashions change over time. In the Victorian Era King John and Henry VIII were popular because of the opportunity they gave for pageantry. In Shakespeare's own day, Titus Andronicus was very popular.

Answer 2

You might think Romeo and Juliet, but the answer is more likely Hamlet. Many films called Romeo and Juliet are not Shakespeare's play but rather the Ballet or Opera based on it. Quite a lot of films which purport to be based on Shakespeare are really films of stories based on Shakespeare's plays, sometimes in the loosest sense. Just about any film about lovers who come from two antagonistic groups can claim some affinity with Romeo and Juliet, but Gnomeo and Juliet (for example) is only remotely related to the Shakespeare play.

In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find copies of ten films of Romeo and Juliet using Shakespeare's dialogue. You can find fifteen of Hamlet without breathing hard.

Answer 3

The most strict adaptations which use Shakespeare's dialogue are of Hamlet. But using adaptation in the looser sense that there might be a plot element or character which is similar to Shakespeare's play, in the sense that any play about lovers who come from warring or different families/ social classes/ species which causes friction is called an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, then Romeo and Juliet is it. There are so many "happy ending" adaptations of this play that many people are unaware that the lovers end up dead at the end of the story.

Answer 4

By whom? Unless this question is a lot more specific, we cannot answer it. Shakespeare's plays have been performed almost constantly for over 400 years, and nobody has taken audience attendance statistics. Nor could they.

Answer 5

Romeo and Juliet

Answer 6

hamlet

Answer 7

Hamlet