In The Heights got rated by Rotten Tomatoes and the first signs are good for the HBO Max movie. The film will be released simultaneously in theaters. Jon Chu’s project is sitting at a 99% freshness rating on the aggregator at the time of writing. A good sign for the critical consensus. One has to wonder if things will switch up a bit when larger audiences get to see it for themselves. For now, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s project is trending in the right direction. it will face some steep competition at the box office when things begin to heat up for the summer in a few weeks. All of the studios are wheeling out their biggest pictures for this season because it looks like viewers are more inclined to visit theaters again.
#InTheHeights is officially #CertifiedFresh at 99% on the #Tomatometer, with 80 reviews: https://t.co/mCRnegCClJ pic.twitter.com/RGH3NA0KyL
— Rotten Tomatoes (@RottenTomatoes) June 3, 2021
Director Jon Chu talked to the Associated Press about one number that he thinks will have people dancing in the aisles. “‘Paciencia y Fe’ is a showstopper in my mind. When (actor Olga Merediz) sang it at our table read, everyone was in tears. And yet at the same time that’s just the easiest number to cut in a studio meeting. It costs a lot of money to show the struggle of this woman. Like, oh that’s ‘Feed the Birds,’ that’s when everybody goes to the bathroom.,” Chu said.
“When you talk about how your parents came over from another country, it’s like oh (no big deal) but that’s like the most rock star (expletive) ever. That deserves a giant musical number! That deserves the biggest painting,” he continued. “And yet we’re a few inches from her face the whole time. We rarely back away. We purposely did not make it about the dancers. It’s about her and the dancers all around her. Everybody understood: Don’t take it away from her, give it to her. We had to fight for that every inch of the way.”
Warner Bros. describes the movie:
“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 tells the universal story of a vibrant community in New York’s Washington Heights neighborhood: a place where the coffee from the corner bodega is light and sweet, the windows are always open, and the breeze carries the rhythm of three generations of music. It’s a community on the brink of change, full of hopes, dreams, and pressures.”
Are you excited for In The Heights? Let us know in the comments!