Warner Bros. is moving another major summer release, this time Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights. The adaptation of his Broadway musical hit has been delayed a full year to June 18th 2021.
In the Heights, which is directed by Step Up and Crazy Rich Asians filmmaker Jon M. Chu, was originally set to open on June 26th, just a couple of months away. But in recent days we’ve seen Warner Bros. reshuffle the decks pretty extensively as a way of coping with the pandemic’s shutdown of movie theaters. Only Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, which opens in July 2020, remains untouched. We’ll see how long that lasts.
Count me as one of many who are pretty bummed by this news. While I’ve never seen Miranda’s stage version of the musical, the trailers for this have been lively, colorful, and ethnically diverse. The cast includes Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, Melissa Barrera, Olga Merediz, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Gregory Diaz IV, Stephanie Beatriz, Dascha Polanco, and Jimmy Smits.
SYNOPSIS: The creator of “Hamilton” and the director of “Crazy Rich Asians” invite you to the event of the summer, where the streets are made of music and little dreams become big… “In the Heights.” Lights up on Washington Heights…The scent of a cafecito caliente hangs in the air just outside of the 181st Street subway stop, where a kaleidoscope of dreams rallies this vibrant and tight-knit community. At the intersection of it all is the likeable, magnetic bodega owner Usnavi (Anthony Ramos), who saves every penny from his daily grind as he hopes, imagines and sings about a better life. “In the Heights” fuses Lin-Manuel Miranda’s kinetic music and lyrics with director Jon M. Chu’s lively and authentic eye for storytelling to capture a world very much of its place, but universal in its experience.
After long conversations &sleepless nights of uncertainty, we have decided the best time to release #InTheHeightsMovie is next summer when people will feel the MOST comfortable celebrating in a movietheater TOGETHER. I know it’s much later than we wanted but… https://t.co/Vb7YFjOxJk
— Jon M. Chu (@jonmchu) April 21, 2020
So we've got the summer
and we've got each other
Perhaps even longer…????????????#InTheHeightsMovie https://t.co/F9WVqqGgzv— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) April 21, 2020
