In The Heights: Will It Gain Momentum In Weekend Two?

In The Heights took second place at the box office during its opening weekend in theaters, raking in $11.4 million. The Lin-Manuel Miranda musical trailed slightly behind A Quiet Place II which made $11.7 million during its third weekend in theaters. But, how will it fare during its second weekend at the box office with competition like Disney and Pixar’s Luca or The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, starring Mexican actress Salma Hayek?

Between comparisons to other movies that have premiered simultaneously on HBO Max and theaters or Latino-centric films, we could go on and on theorizing about why this particular movie hasn’t yet become the breakout hit many were expecting it to be, especially since it had gotten a score of 96% from Rotten Tomatoes.

Despite its critical acclaim and organizations like NALIP starting its #LatinxGoldOpen movement, which encouraged people to buy out theaters to watch In The Heights, the film still has a long way to go financially. According to reports, the movie had a $55 million production budget. Add to that millions in marketing costs, backend pay to Miranda and Chu for premiering the movie on HBO Max and theaters, plus the fact that theaters have barely reopened due to the pandemic, and you’ve got a hefty price tag for this film. Variety reports the flick may need to make about $200 million to be financially successful.

I received a press screener for In The Heights back in March and had been itching for others to watch it ever since (and I’d only seen it on my TV screen). Despite that, I could tell how visually amazing the Jon M. Chu directed flick was. I’ve even heard some say they liked it better on the big screen. On the flipside, some have also criticized the movie saying it didn’t have enough dark-skinned Afro-Latinos to truly represent the Washington Heights gente. Putting all this aside, though, I’ve heard many folks (even outside of the Latinx community) say they loved it.

Will this movie need more word of mouth to get the ball rolling? Will it redeem itself during awards season? Have you or will you be watching it, and where? Share your thoughts with us on Twitter or Instagram @LATVNetwork .