In The Heights (2021 Film)

[quinnmac000]

This film is about to make a buttload of money in Korea. The trailer paid and the entire theatre got silent just during that trailer while they talked through all the other ones.

 

[Nick]

This film is about to make a buttload of money in Korea. The trailer paid and the entire theatre got silent just during that trailer while they talked through all the other ones.

The early reactions to it have been nothing but stellar.

 

[Nick]

Reviews are in and this thing is definitely going to be a heavy awards player if the reviews are any indication (of which many are suggesting an awards run). Currently at 98%.

In the Heights (2021) | Rotten Tomatoes

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...

www.rottentomatoes.com

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

Having seen this live, and hearing these glowing reviews, this is absolutely a best picture contender. Likely film of the summer though at the very least.

 

[Legacy]

I wanted to like it a lot more than I did. The film felt inconsistent to me. Large portions of it would be played completely straight, then there would be sudden moment of “magic” that would jar me out of the rhythm of watching. The style and substance never really jived.

Until Claudia’s number, which came across like a freight train of style, substance AND purpose.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

For anyone who has seen the show, can you explain what was cut out?

 

[SailwiththeTide]

For anyone who has seen the show, can you explain what was cut out?

They could have cut out a lot. Too long and repetitive. Stage to screen needs trimming. Should have been 90 min.

 

[Nick]

They could have cut out a lot. Too long and repetitive. Stage to screen needs trimming. Should have been 90 min.

I agree 2 hours and 20 minutes is definitely long and i'd be lying if it didn't play a factor in my decision to watch it on HBO Max instead of going to a theater. I'll give my concrete opinion after I watch it for a second time.

In a world where stage to screen musicals go wrong more often than not though (Cats, Les Mis, Into The Woods, The Prom, Jersey Boys, Rock Of Ages, Mamma Mia, etc), it's hard to criticize this movie too harshly when it got so much right. The fact that we finally got this and The Last Of Us is also happening at HBO is basically making two of my practically decade-long dreams become a reality. For that alone i'm happy.

 

[quinnmac000]

For anyone who has seen the show, can you explain what was cut out?

They change a lot of Benny and Nina's stuff to boost Vanessa and Usnavi. So a lot of the lyrics changed as well as they cut out Enough as well as a few other songs.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

I’ll be fully vaccinated next Thursday and may check it out next weekend, I’m nervous to go to a theatre still though. This seems like a good movie to return to theatres for. I’ll do this or Kong

 

[HalfGlass]

I was blown away by the music, choreography and filmmaking. But the story and characters felt super hollow to me. I didn’t get invested in anyone’s journey except possibly Usnavi.

It’s weird - I enjoyed it, but I feel way more negative on it because of the hype. I think I was expecting this to be one of my favorite musical adaptations.

 

[quinnmac000]

I was blown away by the music, choreography and filmmaking. But the story and characters felt super hollow to me. I didn’t get invested in anyone’s journey except possibly Usnavi.

It’s weird - I enjoyed it, but I feel way more negative on it because of the hype. I think I was expecting this to be one of my favorite musical adaptations.

The movie is fun, inoffensive, bright, and colorful which after a long time of dreariness, its a bright light to see people enjoying life, no covid, dancing, singing, going to the club, no masks and more. That probably effected the reviews more than anything.

 

[Nick]

From the article:
Barring incredible legs (which is still possible), the $55 million In the Heights could be another example of audiences acting in opposition to online media narratives. We say we want Widows, but audiences show up for Venom, Halloween and The Grinch. Film Twitter championed Birds of Prey, but audiences showed up for Joker. Film Twitter decried Peter Farrelly’s Green Book and Bryan Singer’s Bohemian Rhapsody, while both films from both “problematic” directors won multiple Oscars and grossed $322 million (the biggest-grossing Best Picture winner in a decade) and $905 million (the biggest-grossing straight drama ever) respectively. Meanwhile, during that 2019 Oscar season, Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston’s “problematic” The Upside earned $108 million domestic from a $20 million debut. Conversely, alt-right trolls didn’t stop Captain Marvel from topping $1.128 billion, a lesson that came too late for Disney’s Star Wars trilogy.

I haven’t mentioned the HBO Max factor yet. Godzilla Vs. Kong opened with $50 million over a Wed-Mon Easter debut despite being on HBO Max. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It opened with $24 million last weekend (on par with Annabelle Comes Home and Curse of La Llorona) despite being on HBO Max. Even friggin Tom & Jerry opened with $14.1 million despite being on HBO Max. While the same-day streaming availability bit into the opening day/opening weekend numbers, that In the Heights earned $5 million yesterday seems to imply that the film wasn’t pacing for a $10-$15 million opening day even in non-Covid/non-HBO Max times. Might the movie have opened higher had it opened last summer in a non-Covid timeline? Almost certainly so, but clearly we played ourselves in terms of “how big.”

There were hints. It didn’t make the top ten in Fandango’s “most anticipated of summer” poll. Warner Bros. knew the online excitement for the splashy musical melodrama wasn’t being matched by general audiences, hence the deluge of free public screenings over the last month. We in the film nerd bubble knew about the project and were rooting for its success, but to general audiences, it was a musical based on a show they’d never heard of, starring actors they’d mostly never heard of, and with a full-throated marketing campaign hamstrung by the fact that the show isn’t remotely plot-driven. The sheer emphasis (both in the press coverage and in the critical consensus) on demographic representation and cultural importance threatened to make the movie feel like homework. More importantly, online interest didn’t translate to general audience interest.

Box Office: ‘In The Heights’ Disappoints With $5M Friday

We tricked ourselves into convincing everyone that 'In the Heights' was the next 'Mama Mia,' but really it may end up being the next 'Rent.'

www.forbes.com

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

I will say I did watch In The Heights 3 times on HBO Max this weekend (bouncing around sometimes between scenes). The music is that infectious.

Anyways, although I don't trust Deadine to be unbiased given their naked bias towards theatrical and against streaming, I find their reasoning compelling. The film is good though, which is all that matters.

 

[TheGentTrent]

Even friggin Tom & Jerry opened with $14.1 million despite being on HBO Max.

That's a sobering statement if I've ever seen one.

 

[Nick]

Anyways, although I don't trust Deadine to be unbiased given their naked bias towards theatrical and against streaming, I find their reasoning compelling. The film is good though, which is all that matters.

*Forbes - But either way, I do think that there's a point to be made.

Either release a movie on Streaming or release a movie in theaters, but trying to do both at the same time isn't going to get you big box office returns. This is why, as I said in the musical thread, I think Universal has the best release model going currently. All of their theatrical releases are theatrical exclusive for at least the first three weekends, possibly five if a movie performs exceedingly well. But releasing home and theater at the same time incentivizes people to stay home, which means less box office returns, which means less ROI.

The big test will be Black Widow, but even that you at least have to pay $30 for and criticize that all you want, but at least it guarantees that Disney isn't just giving the Premiere Access films away. It means they are forcing people to make a choice - do I really want to go to a theater or do I want to spend the $30, stay home, and invite some friends over? While that can be seen as disincentivizing people from the theaters too, at least they are making people pay extra instead of just giving away literally their entire 2021 slate with the cost of subscription.

 

[Nick]

This is about as bad as they could’ve imagined. <$12M on opening weekend and came in second place to a film in its third weekend and only slightly beat out Peter Rabbit. Although if I had to guess, WAYYYY more people actually watched ITH than any of these movies.

‘A Quiet Place Part II’ Steals Box Office Beat Away From ‘In The Heights’ With $12M – Monday AM Update

MONDAY AM UPDATE: It’s Monday morning, and a Paramount’s A Quiet Place Part II is still No. 1 for the weekend after a solid third Sunday of $3.5M sending the sequel’s 3-day to $12M, -38%, for a running total of $109.3M. Warner Bros.’ In the Heights came in with $11.5M, after a $2.9M Sunday...

deadline.com

Seth Rogan spitting truth bombs.

 

[quinnmac000]

We are also making the assumption they are watching it at home. We don't know how many people are watching it on HBO Max.

Let's also face some facts as well that In the Heights wasn't even that big on Broadway in comparison to other musicals. There was just the hope that latin audiences would attend with the CRA effect but the reason it didn't is because latinos/latinas/latinx audiences already have so many other content featuring them. Just turn on telemundo and Univision. It also helps me understand why Universal let the rights lapse when they had them.

The numbers are a bit low but I don't think anyone should be shocked but it. It will do well in Asia which is where Greatest Showman/Bohemian Rhapsody and all the other musicals tend to do best.

 

[Disneyhead]

The film just opened. Musical theater geeks are the ones that will turn out for opening weekend. The Latino community, for the most part, is just now finding out about it.

 

[Nick]

We are also making the assumption they are watching it at home. We don't know how many people are watching it on HBO Max.

Let's also face some facts as well that In the Heights wasn't even that big on Broadway in comparison to other musicals. There was just the hope that latin audiences would attend with the CRA effect but the reason it didn't is because latinos/latinas/latinx audiences already have so many other content featuring them. Just turn on telemundo and Univision. It also helps me understand why Universal let the rights lapse when they had them.

The numbers are a bit low but I don't think anyone should be shocked but it. It will do well in Asia which is where Greatest Showman/Bohemian Rhapsody and all the other musicals tend to do best.

I'm not gonna pretend it was a smash on broadway, but I can attest to musical theater geeks watching at home. I have a HEFTY amount of theater friends on my FB friends list and I know of many ITH watch parties that were going on this weekend and it was all I was seeing posted about on Thursday and Friday.

Of course, I realize that outside of those circles, there's probably a lot less people watching. I also think it's dangerous to expect this to be the next TGS or Bohemiam Rhapsody though considering comparing anything right now to pre-pandemic levels is fairly useless imo.

I also think the biggest thing working against this film is the biggest name in this movies is LMM and he's just The Piragua Guy. Anthony Ramos is fairly well known in some circles, but completely unknown in others and he's the lead. The rest of the cast are pretty much completely unknowns. TGS had Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron and Zendaya. Bohemian Rhapsody had the Queen/Freddy Mercury angle. ITH has none of that, unfortunately.

The film just opened. Musical theater geeks are the ones that will turn out for opening weekend. The Latino community, for the most part, is just now finding out about it.

This is also big. With positive word of mouth, I think it has a good chance of breaking out of just the theater crowd watching it, but it'll take some time and people discovering it.

I wanted to like it a lot more than I did. The film felt inconsistent to me. Large portions of it would be played completely straight, then there would be sudden moment of “magic” that would jar me out of the rhythm of watching. The style and substance never really jived.

Until Claudia’s number, which came across like a freight train of style, substance AND purpose.

Maybe it was my tempered expectations from hearing things like this after seeing incredible critic ratings (although I viewed it really just with excitement more than anything), but I didn't have too big of an issue with the first half of the film, which you seem to be describing, given Claudia's number is roughly at the halfway mark. I actually really enjoyed it for the most part. Anthony Ramos was absolutely perfect as Usnavi (I can't think of someone who could've played it better) and I enjoyed the rest of the cast too.

I felt like Sonny and even Nina were given a lot more depth in this, which I enjoyed. IMO, there was a lot of charm and the music flowed really well for most of the movie, but once it got to Blackout, that's where I got a little disappointed (although I also was a bit disappointed that Nina didn't go for the big "I'm Home!" finish on When You're Home). There was a lot of stopping and starting and it just felt off compared to the stage version, where it's such a grand performance. I wanted an equally grand number in the movie and I feel we were sort of robbed of that.

Wasn't really a fan of some of the lyric changes in Champagne as it just doesn't sound as good, but oh well. And i'm sure it's just because i've seen the musical, but I felt like it took to actually get to who actually won the lottery, when it could normally be revealed much earlier in the Stage version. However, I do get why they made the change as it's a big plot point and with no villain or anything in the movie, they needed something to come back to at the end.

I'm actually thinking of going to see it in a theater as I feel like it would be great in that setting.