The film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical under-performed at the box office, taking $11m , half of its predicted gross income.
The project was previously attached to the now disgraced Harvey Weinstein, while the eventual release date was delayed by a year due to the pandemic.
And yet, many aspects of the film have been widely praised since its release.
He would go on to create Hamilton , star in films like Mary Poppins Returns and make his directorial debut with the forthcoming Tick Tick Boom.
“I started writing the show when I was 19 years-old, in university,” Miranda told The One Show.
It’s telling that none of these films jumped to streaming services during lockdown, unlike so many others.
Anthony Ramos plays lead character Usnavi, the owner of a local bodega which sells a winning lottery ticket early in the film.
Many of them are simply rapped or sung lines of dialogue , delivered at rapid speed, and therefore don’t get stuck in your head.
It’s true that, away from the confines of the stage, movie adaptations provide the opportunity to make everything more ambitious.
In The Heights was shot in the summer of 2019, coincidentally around the same time as Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, which was being filmed just a few streets away.
Chu has also helmed two Step Up movies and the hugely successful Crazy Rich Asians.
The cast is admittedly impressive – alongside Ramos is Melissa Barrera, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, Jimmy Smits and Lin-Manuel Miranda himself, who takes a supporting role.
“There’s plenty of vibrancy and winning charm but a persistent and weird lack of grown-up plausibility,” wrote Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian.
The first 15 minutes of the film are superb, with Usnavi introducing the principal characters one by one, culminating with hundreds of locals dancing in the streets.
Unfortunately but inevitably, the film cannot sustain this quality and momentum throughout its 2hr 23min run-time.
But at its best, the film is unparalleled.
Ramos was cast in the film after previously working with Miranda in Hamilton.
“I’m grateful that this movie was shot in Washington Heights,” he adds.