There’s a reason why undeniably talented people like Lin-Manuel Miranda seem to suddenly burst into the social consciousness while being exceedingly prolific with the art they produce. It’s not that they unexpectedly hit the creative mother lode and quickly churn out a bunch of hits – it’s that one big success means that the projects studios have been turning down for years are suddenly very attractive, and potentially profitable. This is why Sony Animation has snapped up Vivo.
Vivo was happening at DreamWorks originally, but failed to find its feet there. Meanwhile, the actor, composer, playwright, rapper and writer delivered the music for the hit movie Moana, in addition to having created his wildly popular Broadway show, Hamilton – inspired by the biography of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow. These high profile successes mean that previously rejected projects are now finding themselves nestled in nurturing new homes. That includes the film adaptation of Miranda’s other Broadway show, In The Heights, which started life at Universal, and is now with The Weinstein Company.
Moving from DreamWorks to Sony, Vivo tells the story of a monkey who sets out to blaze a trail from Havana to Miami, in search of his destiny – which is, of course, expected to be filled with music and adventure. While Lin-Manuel Miranda will pen songs for the film, the screenplay will be written by his regular collaborator Quiara Alegria Hudes (In The Heights), with Kirk De Micco (The Croods) set to direct. Confidence, on the part of Sony Animation, is clearly high as Vivo has already been scheduled for release on December 18th, 2020.
With this increasingly successful foray into movies continuing, Lin-Manuel Miranda is on course to join the exclusive ranks of those whose awards cabinets contain the magical combination of Emmys, Grammys, Oscars and Tonys – with only the Oscar now needing to be added. Time will eventually tell if it will be Vivo that ticks that box for him.