Warner Bros. is moving full steam ahead on its adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony award-winning musical with the In the Heights release date officially set for June 26, 2020. The studiopicked up the rights to the musical last month. The only other movie currently in that release date is an untitled 20th Century Fox Marvel movie, which could never see the light of day should the Fox/Disney merger go through.
The rights deal last month also saw director Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) sign on to direct, Quiara Alegría Hudes set to write the script and Miranda to return in some fashion to the production, but likely not in the lead role of Usnavi.
In the Heights explored three days in New York City’s Dominican-American neighborhood of Washington Heights and featured hip-hop, salsa, merengue and soul music. It was nominated for 13 Tonys, winning the award for Best Musical. Quiara Alegria Hudes, who wrote the book for the original play, penned the current screenplay.
The film was previously set up at Universal Pictures until they pulled the plug in 2011 over director Kenny Ortega’s proposed budget of $37 million, as well as an inability to attract top talent for roles in the film. With “Hamilton” a runaway Broadway success and Miranda becoming a household name, attracting talent may not be as difficult this time.
