No Me Diga! Universal Pictures Drops Plans to Bring In the Heights to Big Screen

Broadway fans hoping to see Usnavi and his Washington Heights friends on the big screen may need to sit tight. Universal Pictures has dropped their plans to bring the Tony-winning musical In the Heights to the big screen, according to Deadline.com. The report says that the film’s $37 million budget was deemed too risky once the project failed to attract popular Latino actors in small roles.

“I have had nothing but a positive experience with Universal Pictures,” In the Heights creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, who was to star in the film, said in a statement. “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. Moving forward, I’m excited to explore other options to make the In the Heights movie a reality.”

Kenny Ortega was slated to direct the film, which was aiming to start filming in New York City this summer.