If there was one movie musical to look forward to this year (well, aside from that one) it was In the Heights. The Lin-Manuel Miranda-penned Broadway smash set in his New York City neighborhood of Washington Heights had already dazzled audiences with a vibrant and kinetic trailer. But the more and more news broke about shuttered theaters and growing concerns about when the film industry would be able to get back on its feet on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was clear many of our most anticipated films of the summer would take a hit. Thus, while Warner Bros swiftly pushed Wonder Woman: 1984 to a fall release, it has made the decision to take In the Heights off the schedule, presumably because it’s not yet ready.
As Lin-Manuell Miranda told Rosie O’Donnell during her benefit YouTube show, while much of the film was finished, they were still working on some of its score. “We were literally recording the score when all of this started happening,” he told the host. “There’s a lot that remains to be done on that movie. We were finishing the score and the mixing and just getting the music exactly right.”
It seems Warner Bros didn’t want to risk not being able to complete the film before committing to a new date (it was originally scheduled for a June 26, 2020 release). That means that we have to wait a bit longer until we’ll be able to feast our eyes on the big screen adaptation of this Tony winning musical — which is a shame given that its crowd-pleasing songs and energetic choreography will surely be the kind we’ll need once we’re able to watch films in theaters again.
UPDATE: We have a new date. Which is good news. The bad news? It’s in 2021! That’s right, the film will be coming out almost a full year after it was initially slated to open.
In the meantime, watch the trailer on loop and remember what it was like to be able to be together with one another out on the streets.
UPDATE: The film is now scheduled for release June 18, 2021.