'In The Heights' Moves Up Release Date One Week

We're one week closer to visiting Washington Heights. Warner Bros. has pushed up the release date for Jon M. Chu's feature musical In the Heights, which opens in both theaters and HBO Max this June.

Warner Bros. has moved the In the Heights release date up to June 11, 2021. It vacates its old June 18 slot, making Disney/Pixar's Luca the only wide release that weekend.

The release date change comes a few days after two new trailers for In the Heights dropped, teasing some of the big song and dance numbers from the feature adaptation of the Tony-winning Lin-Manuel Miranda stage musical. The buzz is real for the splashy Hollywood musical, which feels like just the kind of escapism that audiences are craving right now. And with Step Up 2 The Streets and Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu at the helm, it might just live up to those expectations. The glossy rom-com Crazy Rich Asians was one musical number away from a musical (and it actually had a dance sequence), while Chu showed he had a grasp on the big-screen musical language with Step Up 2 The Streets and Step Up 3D, the latter of which featured a gem of a dance sequence which paid homage to old-school movie musicals.

The film stars Hamilton co-star Anthony Ramos (who also appeared in the original Broadway production), Corey Hawkins, Melissa Barrera, Leslie Grace, Jimmy Smits, Olga Merediz, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Stephanie Beatriz, and Dascha Polanco. Oh, and Lin-Manuel Miranda will also be making an appearance, in addition to writing the music and lyrics, which includes a new song that wasn't heard in the original stage version of the musical.

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" fuses Lin-Manuel Miranda's kinetic music and lyrics with director Jon M. Chu's lively and authentic eye for storytelling to capture a world very much of its place, but universal in its experience.

You can now see In the Heights in theaters and on HBO Max on June 11, 2021.