Just a couple weeks ago, the movie industry was debating whether more April releases would follow suit with No Time To Die’s decision to delay its highly-anticipated spring date. Since then, 18 upcoming movies have been delayed from a theatrical release reaching as far out into June as major movie theaters have closed their doors nationwide. On Tuesday, the movie adaptation of the Tony-winning musical In The Heights joined the trend. It’s currently unknown when it will hit theaters.
In The Heights was Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first original musical before he gained mainstream acclaim for the Broadway phenomenon Hamilton. Along with the big-screen adaptation being his first musical child, he is a producer and involved in the music on In The Heights. As you can imagine he’s as bummed as fans are. Miranda took to Twitter to deliver this response:
The musical is a personal project for Lin-Manuel Miranda because it was filmed in his home neighborhood of Washington Heights in New York. It’s an important film for the Latino community, who do not often get their own story told on the big screen. As Miranda explains in his note, he cannot wait to share it with a large audience, but there is going to be a longer wait.
The ongoing spread of COVID-19 has vastly affected the entertainment industry and economy as a whole, but with the public’s safety in mind, Wonder Woman 1984 also stalled its June release yesterday alongside In The Heights’ abandoning its previous June 26 date. The film’s director, Jon M. Chu, also echoed Miranda’s statement with these words:
John M. Chu is the same filmmaker behind Crazy Rich Asians who helped break major records for an Asian-led film when it came out in the summer of 2018. Chu denied a Netflix deal in order to make history in big-screen representation. In The Heights could repeat this kind of success whenever it ends up coming out – the filmmakers seem dead-set on a theatrical release for it, and for a good reason.
Just a couple days earlier, Lin-Manuel Miranda talked about how the coronavirus situation has stalled the scoring and mixing process he was currently hard at work on for In The Heights. He said there was still “a lot” left to finish up on the movie amidst these new sets of challenges. Perhaps this release shift will at least put some of that pressure off.
Along with In The Heights, Lin-Manuel Miranda is involved in Disney’s The Little Mermaid, which has recently stalled production. Hamilton is set to hit theaters in October 2021 after Disney acquired rights to a previously filmed version when the original cast graced the stage.
Stay tuned on CinemaBlend for more news regarding In The Heights as they come.
