Will "In The Heights" Be Seen In Theaters Or HBO Max? We Surveyed Our Readers To Find Out!

With a brand new movie musical “In The Heights” coming out in theaters and HBO Max on June 10th, OnStage Blog conducted a survey of over 100 readers to find out how many people were planning on seeing the movie and whether they were going to venture back into theaters to do it.

Key takeaways:

1) Theatre fans are really excited for “In The Heights”

The first takeaway is not a surprise: 70% of respondents said they were seeing this movie as soon as possible, with approximately 75% of these respondents having already seen a stage performance version. (This is the OnStage Blog audience after all!)

Only 6% of respondents said they were not interested in seeing the “In The Heights” movie or weren’t sure.

2) Audience is most excited about the diversity of the cast

The #1 reason cited for wanting to see the movie is the diversity of the cast, selected by 49% of respondents.

Other factors that scored well was the interest in seeing any movie musical (42%), the trailer being very appealing (42%), as well as preexisting affinity towards the soundtrack (32%)

Only 13% cited the 99% Rotten Tomatoes score as a reason they were interested in the movie. (We figured more people than just us religiously check Rotten Tomatoes the week before a release)

3) Most of the audience is venturing to the theaters to see In The Heights

We also asked whether they would first see the movie at theaters or on HBO Max: 72% of respondents selected the theaters! This pleasantly surprised us as avid movie theater experience fans; we were concerned HBO Max would keep the audience at home.

However, we asked why respondents wanted to see the movie in the theater, and the #1 reason (by far) was to experience this with other people (79% of all answers). After avoiding contact with fellow musical fans for a year, this looks to be a great movie to get back into the theaters for!

Still, 28% of fans plan to watch this first on HBO Max, and the main reason cited by respondents was safety concerns due to the pandemic (57% of respondents). The next cited reason was being more comfortable at home (38% of respondents). This tells us there are still a significant amount of people who need to be persuaded movie theaters are safe to return to, and this may be reflected in box office numbers.

4) HBO may have a winning strategy on their hands

Lastly of the 28% who are watching this on HBO Max, 57% are signing up for HBO Max just to watch “In The Heights” (that’s a win for HBO)

Overall, we think it’s a great sign the theatre community is excited for this movie and excited to see it in theaters (2021 may be the ultimate year for musical fans, as Dear Evan Hansen and West Side Story are coming down the pike).

Just remember if you’re venturing to the theaters for the first time in a year, these 9 rules to abide by that applies to everyone, and even for those that haven’t vaccinated yet.

Want to participate in these surveys? Join our Facebook group or sign up for our email newsletter. We’ll be surveying them for reaction to ‘In The Heights’, and you could win a gift card while you’re at it!

In the meantime, stay safe and enjoy “In The Heights”.