Lin-Manuel Miranda's 'In The Heights' gets movie adaptation

NEW YORK, June 2 (UPI) -- Lin-Manuel Miranda's debut, Tony Award-winnig Broadway musical In The Heights is getting a film adaptation.

After being in turnaround since 2011, The Weinstein Co. has picked up the project as creator Miranda prepares to produce, The Hollywood Reporter said. The team is hoping to complete the project within an estimated $15 million budget.

"As a kid from Queens, I've always loved bringing New York stories to film," Weinstein said, according to THR. "In the Heights and Lin-Manuel brought Washington Heights to Broadway back in 2008 and in the process turned the theater world on its head. The movie musicals of the 1950s were incredible, but In the Heights will revolutionize what movie audiences expect from the genre."

The film was once in development by Universal, which had screenwriter Marc Klein and director Kenny Ortega on board. The company dropped the project in 2011 over casting issues, and the play was put into turnaround. The unfinished Universal film's budget was at the time $37 million.

Because of Lin-Manuel Miranda's age, it is reportedly unclear whether he will reprise his role as Usnavi, the story's young protagonist. Usnavi is a bodega owner in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan who faces a big decision whether to close his shop in the United States and move back to the Dominican Republic following his grandmother's big lottery win.

Miranda and writer Quiara Alegria Hudes collaborated on the final product that became the stageplay and book, In the Heights. It debuted on Broadway in 2008 and subsequently toured around the world.

Miranda is the creator of Broadways current must-see musical Hamilton and stars as the production's main character. Hamilton has earned 16 Tony nominations. He will also reportedly play Jack in Disney's upcoming Mary Poppins sequel, set for a 2018 release.