It’s been a great year for Lin-Manuel Miranda ’02 – after having won a bunch of Tonys for “In the Heights“, which he wrote the first draft of while a sophomore at Wes, and which opened on Broadway earlier this year, he’s sold the film rights of the musical to Universal Studios, who will probably make an international monster hit out of it:
Set over three days in the upper Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights, In The Heights is an exhilarating musical journey into one of New York’s most vibrant communities, where the lives of three generations come together in an unforgettable story of hope and self-discovery.
“In The Heights is a musical rich with storyline and characters that transcend the setting in which they are cast to entertain and speak to audiences from all walks of life,” said Donna Langley, President of Production for Universal Pictures. “We are thrilled to be working with Lin-Manuel Miranda to bring this fantastic story to the big screen.”
…“Nearly nine years into my journey with Heights, I remain constantly humbled by all the opportunities we have been given. I am thrilled to work with Universal and help bring this story to millions of people around the world,” said Miranda.
The original Broadway producers of the show, Kevin McCollum, Jeffrey Seller and Jill Furman, will executive produce the movie, and Quiara Alegria Hudes, who wrote the Tony-nominated book for the show, will be writing the screen adaptation for the film.
Miranda will will probably be reprising his starring role in the movie, though no official casting had been done yet. He’ll also be producing along with Meryl Poster, who supervised the film version of “Chicago” as an executive at Miramax.
I’m having a little Entourage moment writing this up right now, awesome, Wesleyan, for having some claim to this.
Broadway World: In the Heights to be a Big Screen Musical
Variety: Universal gets “In the Heights” rights