Colbert Bump: Not that the show wasn't already popular, but it got a considerable boost when Miranda's second musical became a nationwide phenomenon. Notably, early trailers for the film toutedHeights' connection to Hamilton even before the COVID-19 Pandemic led to the filmed stage adaptation of Hamilton unexpectedly premiering nearly a year before the Heights film.
Virtually every song from the original demo was changed or cut, such as "No Me Meto," "Handball in Highbridge Park," "Benny Moves Out," "Who is He?," "It's So Fucking Hot," "Your Eyes," "I Can't Go Back," "I've Got Something to Say," and "Never Felt Like This Before."
"That's What's Up" was a song included in earlier versions of the play cut for cluttering Act II. It saw Benny calling out Mr. Rosario and Nina for fighting over his relationship with Nina.
Act II was originally going to feature Usnavi singing a short reprise of the opening number, "Everything Is Melting", recapping where things are now in the show.
"Breathe" was replaced for a time with a song called "My Fire Escape".
Dawson Casting: Several of the characters, like Nina and Sonny, are often played by adult actors despite being just old enough to get into college.
Underage Casting: Olga Merediz, who originated the role of Abuela Claudia, was born in 1956, 13 years after Claudia is said to have immigrated to the United States.
Miranda has admitted on Twitter that Sonny and Graffiti Pete were a couple in the first draft of the play, and set to share a kiss after Sonny convinces him to paint Abuela on the bodega's grate as a tribute.
The Rosarios were originally going to have a son Lincoln as well, who had at least one song ("I'm Out"). He was going to be a closeted songwriter with a complicated relationship with Kevin, and Benny's best friend. A flashback scene would show 13-year-old Nina singing about her crush on Benny ("I Feel in Love on a Saturday"). The climax would reveal that both Lincoln and Nina were in love with Benny. In the original version, things work out even less well for Benny and Nina. This version of the show doesn't have much of the supporting cast, including Daniela, Carla, and Claudia.
"Benny's Dispatch" was originally a song called "The Long Way Around," where Benny picks up Nina from the airport.
Benny and Nina's duet at the top of Act II was originally going to be in the style of an 80s ballad.
"Carnival del Barrio" was originally intended for Camilla, said to be an annual community event she organized.
"Champange" was originally a song called "Goodbye," in which Usnavi tries to get Vanessa to stay by offering her some of the lotto money.
Acclaimed Flop: The film generated positive reviews from both critics and audiences, but it significantly underperformed in theaters, even compared to other films that received same-day streaming releases on HBO Max. Some commonly cited reasons for this include the lack of A-list stars in the main roles, the original musical not having the same mainstream popularity as Hamilton or other musicals that made successful stage-to-screen adaptations like Les Misérables, and being released in the summer season when musical films have historically not seen box office success. The film’s long runtime also limited how many times it could be shown each day, American theaters had limited capacity, and 25% of American theaters were still closed.
Box Office Bomb: Budget: $55 million. Total box office returns: $44 million. The lack of returns was attributed to its simultaneous release on HBO Max, the long runtime limiting the number of daily showings, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic leaving many theaters closed, and the obscurity of the source material and lack of big-name actors.
Cut Song: Several songs from the stage production were cut: "Inútil", "Sunrise", "Hundreds of Stories", "Enough" (and the character who sang it), "Atención" and "Everything I Know."
Leslie Grace was in her mid-twenties playing Nina, who had just finished with her first year of college.
Corey Hawkins was in his early thirties playing Nina's boyfriend, Benny, who is implied but not outright stated to be about the same age as her.
Distanced from Current Events: One lyric in "96,000" in the original production involves Benny hoping to play golf with Donald Trump, who at the time was primarily known for capitalistic excess. Miranda elected to change the line to Tiger Woods for the film, due to the intense controversy surrounding Trump's 2017-21 presidency (which was still ongoing during filming and at the time of its planned release date).
Dueling Works: With Steven Spielberg's adaptation of another iconic stage musical centered on a Hispanic community in New York City released in 2021, West Side Story. Both movies were actually filmed in the same neighborhood, and both ended up getting rave reviews but low box office turnout. However, West Side Story ultimately did outgross Heights and was nominated for several Oscars while Heights was mostly shut out of the awards circuit. Heights also suffered from controversy over alleged colorism against Afro-Latinos, while West Side Story, with less characters, was noted for its representation by having Anita played by Ariana DeBose, who is Afro-Latina.
Fake Mixed Race: In the film, Stephanie Beatriz, who's of Colombian and Bolivian descent, plays Carla, who's of Chilean, Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican descent.
Fake Nationality: Dominican Republic-born Usnavi is played by Anthony Ramos, who is Puerto Rican, much like Miranda in the stage show. Also applies to Sonny (who's likewise Dominican and played by the Puerto Rican Gregory Diaz IV), Nina (who's Puerto Rican and played by the Dominican Leslie Grace), and Daniela (who's Puerto Rican and played by the Panamanian Daphne Rubin-Vega).
In Memoriam: The movie is dedicated to Doreen Montalvo, who died before its release.
Patrick Page is best known for playing a variety of villainous roles, but his brief role as Pike Phillips comes across as charming and friendly, despite being a symbol of the neighborhood's gentrification.
Chris Jackson's most famous roles are the Reasonable Authority FigureGeorge Washington, and Benny in the original Broadway cast of In the Heights. In this, he plays Mr. Softee, a minor antagonist to the Piragua Guy.
Several cast members also appeared in Brooklyn Nine-Nine; Jimmy Smits and Lin-Manuel Miranda as Victor and David Santiago, Santiago's father and brother, and Stephanie Beatriz and Olga Merediz as Rosa Diaz and her mother, Julia.
There is considerable overlap between the casts of Hamilton and In the Heights (both the Broadway and film version) — many alums of one, the other, or both shows appeared as cameos and in the vocal ensemble.
In 2016, Gregory Diaz IV rapped Hamilton with Javier Muñoz (standby Broadway & national tour principal Usnavi). Five years later, they appeared together in In the Heights with Diaz playing Sonny and Muñoz cameoing.
Melissa Barrera (Vanessa) auditioned for In the Heights "as soon as there was an In the Heights to audition for", and showed Karen Olivo (the original Vanessa) a Broadway stagedoor photo with the two of them when Olivo visited the set.
Queer Character, Queer Actor: Daphne Rubin-Vega and Lin-Manuel Miranda confirmed that Daniela and Carla are cohabitating partners in the movie. Carla is played by the bisexual Stephanie Beatriz.
Real-Life Relative: Lin-Manuel Miranda's parents cameo in "Breathe", saying "welcome home" to Nina as they exit a car on the street.
Reality Subtext: Anthony Ramos revealed in an interview that he found his grandmother deceased the same way Usnavi finds Abuela Claudia.
Release Date Change: Warner Bros. would've released the movie in June 2020, if not for the COVID-19 pandemic delaying post-production, and closing several movie theaters.
Olga Merediz again portrays Abuela Claudia in the adaptation.
Anthony Ramos played Usnavi in the Kennedy Center's 2018 staging, and again in the film.
Doreen Montalvo, one of the earliest cast members of In the Heightsnote she was in every version of the show from 2002 to her death in 2020 sings her original line as a barrio resident in “Breathe”: “Mira, Nina.” Additionally, the original audio of her as a bolero singer was used for Nina’s party and in “Finale”.
Saved from Development Hell: The film languished here after Universal relinquished movie rights, due to fears that it would fall into the un-profitable Minority Show Ghetto. The Weinstein Company picked them up in May 2016 with Jay-Z in talks to produce, but it appeared to be stagnant once again when Carter (Jay-Z) refused to work with Harvey Weinstein following Weinstein's sexual harassment charges. The rights shifted to Warner Bros. on May 18, 2018, with an initial summer 2020 release, but, due to COVID, it was pushed back a year.
Olga Merediz reprises the role of Abuela Claudia, but the film's Setting Update to the 2020's means she's still more than a decade younger than the character. Prosthetics were used to make her appear closer to Claudia's actual age.
Sonny is 16 years old, but Gregory Diaz IV was actually younger than him by two years during filming.
The film was in Development Hell for a while because execs wanted a bankable Latino star attached, with Shakira and Jennifer Lopez in consideration. Neither were cast, Shakira presumably because she is not primarily an actress, and Jennifer Lopez because she likely wasn't considered bankable in 2008 (she'd return to prominence as part of American Idol).
Lin-Manuel Miranda considered playing Usnavi as he did in the original Broadway production, but ultimately decided he had gotten too old for the role. He originally wasn't going to appear in the film at all, but agreed to play the Piragüero to prevent the song "Piragua" from being cut (he admitted it served little to the story, but meant a lot to him because it shows the grit of small business owners).
Stephanie Beatriz almost didn't audition for the role of Carla.
of the opening number, "Everything Is Melting", recapping where things are now in the show.