Universal Pictures Drops IN THE HEIGHTS Film

IN THE HEIGHTS opened on Broadway to wide critical acclaim on March 9, 2008, and continues to play the Richard Rodgers Theatre. In addition to winning the 2008 Tony Award for Best Musical, Lin-Manuel Miranda, the show's creator, won the Tony Award for Best Music and Lyrics; Andy Blankenbuehler won for Best Choreography; and Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman won for Best Orchestrations. The original cast recording won the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album, and Universal Pictures has acquired the rights to produce a feature film based on the smash hit musical.

Today, the word is that Universal Pictures has removed the planned IN THE HEIGHTS movie from its projects, according to Deadline.com. Though the project carries with it only a price tag of about $37 million, Universal didn't see any firm commitments on big names in the supporting roles.

Lin-Manuel Miranda can pitch the film to other studios now that Univeral has dropped it, and expectation is that he will. He stated that "I have had nothing but a positive experience with Universal Pictures. We weren't able to make the film version of IN THE HEIGHTS together, but I'm looking forward to working with them in the near future."

Though Miranda - and fans of IN THE HEIGHTS - are no doubt disappointed by this development, the creator of the Tony Award winner is keeping an open mind. "Moving forward," he says, "I'm excited to explore other options to make the IN THE HEIGHTS movie a reality."