In The Heights to kick off Tribeca Film Festival with indoor-outdoor showings across NYC
It’s been a minute—on account of the COVID—since Hollywood has been able to celebrate one of its really big “Hooray, a new movie!’ parties. (Also known, in elitist industry speak, as “premieres,” or “red-carpet hootenannies.”) That’s about to change, though, as the Tribeca Film Festival announced today that it’s kicking off this year’s festivities in maximal style, with a simultaneous screening of Jon M. Chu’s In The Heights at several indoor and outdoor venues around New York City.
Chu’s film—adapted from the musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes—was one of several that got bounced pretty hard by the pandemic shutdowns last year; the movie had already deployed its trailers and geared up for its theatrical run before COVID blew the whole “theatrical” industry out of the water. Now, though, it’s getting the prestige treatment, serving as the opening of Tribeca, the first major film festival to hold indoor in-person screenings this year (even if it did have to duck back to June to do it).
In addition to its screening at New York’s United Palace theater, situated in the heart of Washington Heights itself, In The Heights (and other Tribeca entries, still being finalized on the schedule) will broadcast from 40-foot HD screens in multiple locations in the city. Outdoor screenings will continue across Tribeca’s 12 day run this June. In The Heights, meanwhile, will begin its theatrical run just two days after its festival premiere, alongside the beginning of its one-month tenure on streaming service HBO Max.