'In The Heights' is being ignored in awards season and that sucks

2021 was a benchmark year for musical theatre fans as we saw a ton of movie musicals, both animated and live-action, being released. It felt as though the movie studio powers finally started understanding how much we love(obsess) these types of projects and answered the call we’ve been screaming for years.

While there were certainly some duds(Dear Evan Hansen, Everyone’s Talking About Jamie), there were some that were downright brilliant. From West Side Story to Encanto to tick tick Boom!, these films not only reinforced our love of the art form but also likely inspired a future generation of singers, dancers, artists, designers, and more.

But there was one movie that stuck out to me earlier in the year and that was In The Heights. Not only was it one of the more pleasant surprises for me, but it was also one of the most heralded films of the year. Critics and fans both seemed to have loved it and it scored at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.

As awards season started to begin, I was positive that In The Heights would be listed among some of the other fantastic musicals for major recognition. Yet, as nominations began to be announced, the Jon M. Chu film was nowhere to be seen.

At the time of publishing this piece, In The Heights has been basically ignored by every major film awards ceremony. It only received one Golden Globe nomination(yes, I still consider it a film major award) but was left out of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts(BAFTA’s) and the Screen Actor’s Guild Awards(SAG). At this rate, chances of multiple Oscar nominations, let alone just one, are slim.

So how did this happen? How has one of the best-reviewed films of the year been completely ignored by awards voters?

The obvious answer is that because the film flopped at the box office, Warner Bros. decided not to give it the awards campaign it deserved. Instead, it put its campaign budgets behind films like Dune and King Richard which has resulted in multiple nominations for those two films. In The Heights grossed just under $30 million at the box office.

But I still believe that the box office results of In The Heights were more of an anomaly and not indicative of the film’s actual popularity. I wish HBOMax had released its streaming numbers to show just how much the film had been seen.

The other reason I feel the film is being ignored by awards voters is that they feel, despite its brilliance, only so many movie musicals should be recognized in these categories. With West Side Story, tick tick Boom! and potentially Cryano getting nods, awards voters might feel other worthy dramas and comedies would be left out. Again, I find this unfortunate because a film would be disregarded based solely on its genre and not its quality.

Also, it’s very possible that the valid backlash the film received over issues of colorism is likely a contributing factor for it not getting votes for nominations.

At the end of the day, awards or not, In The Heights is a gorgeous, wonderful film that was a bright spot in a year where we really needed one. I just wish it was getting the recognition it truly deserves.