New York, New York – The movie musical In the Heights opened on Friday following huge hype as the first summer blockbuster to kick off the reopening of movie theaters as the pandemic eases.

But the shining film is already fighting not to be overshadowed.

In the Heights grossed just $11.4 million in revenue from the over 3,400 theaters it was released in during its first weekend.

The numbers came in far below expectations.

Celebrities Sean "Diddy" Combs accused of using his kids to influence potential jurors

Warner Bros. spent $55 million making the film, and tens of millions more on its marketing and promotion, according to Variety.

It's not looking good for the company to be able to recoup its investment, despite gaining glowing reviews from film critics, theater fans, and celebrities alike.

Ariana Grande, The Rock, and Oprah Winfrey are just some among the many stars with videos circulating on social media that touted the film as a must-see.

"I am the biggest In the Heights stan that you will ever find on Earth," Grande said.

Warner Bros. is not giving up hope: "Even though it came in at a lighter level than we had expected, we’re proud of the movie that’s there," the studio's distribution chief Jeff Goldstein told the Associated Press. "Over time, the hope is that we can get an audience to sample the movie and tell their friends to."

It may point to a harsh fact that many Americans just aren't ready to sit maskless in a crowded theater yet. Others have wondered if the movie being simultaneously released for free on HBO Max could also have compounded the problem and affected numbers.

The streaming platform has not released its viewership ratings, so it remains hard to tell.

Yet the studio claimed differently, and refused to blame their streaming decision on the lackluster turnout.

"Our experience, which is backed up on In the Heights, is that if the movie hits a high level in theaters, it hits a high level on the service," claimed Goldstein in Warner Bros.' defense. "If it hits a low level in theaters, it hits a low level on HBO Max. They’re really very comparable."

It's now more clear than ever that In the Heights didn't have the big-screen draw beyond its core fanbase. The stage show was even widely unknown within the theater community before the film version was made.

It certainly doesn't have the clout that blockbuster franchises and sequels have, which usually out-perform most in movie theaters, regardless of a simultaneous streaming release.

Kylie Jenner Kylie Jenner trolls Kendall Jenner's cucumber fail on TikTok!

In the Heights relied heavily on of the name recognition of its creative team's previous commercial successes rather than bringing in Hollywood star power – creator Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton and director Jon M. Chu's Crazy Rich Asians. The musical had a hard time finding its way to a Hollywood production studio because of it.

Producers put their finances and faith behind a relatively unknown and large Latin cast as being enough to fill seats. Latin moviegoers make up one of the largest demographics of movie ticket buyers. According to an audience survey, about 40% of the opening-weekend patrons of In the Heights were Hispanic.

However, many felt that for a movie about representation, they didn't see themselves fully reflected on-screen – proving the casting may have been a misstep in more ways than one.

In the Heights' producers have battled a firestorm this week from the same Latin viewership they had hoped to inspire and capitalize on.

The film has faced severe backlash and criticism over its lack of Afro-Latinx representation in its leading roles. New York's Washington Heights community is largely comprised of darker skinned Latinx members, while In the Heights' main actors were almost all light-skinned or white-passing.

"I can hear the hurt and frustration over colorism...I hear that without sufficient dark-skinned Afro-Latino representation, the work feels extractive of the community we wanted so much to represent," Miranda wrote in a Twitter apology on Monday. He also appeared on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on Wednesday to relay the sentiment.

The conversation has sparked division between many in the entertainment industry, including Hispanics, who have such a small representation in Hollywood as it is, and for whom the film opens many doors.

Even Rita Moreno, the first Hispanic woman to win an Oscar for her role in West Side Story, publically flip-flopped between sides. On Tuesday, she defended Miranda in an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, saying, "You can never do right, it seems."

But by Wednesday, she herself had back-peddled.

"I’m incredibly disappointed with myself," she wrote on Twitter. "I was clearly dismissive of black lives that matter in our Latin community. It is so easy to forget how celebration for some is lament for others."

Chu has defended his directorial choices, saying he purely cast leading actors who were right for the roles. One of his leads, Melissa Barrera, also claimed there were many darker skinned Afro-Latinx actors up against her in the arduous audition process.

"Listen, we're not going to get everything right in a movie," Chu said. "We tried our best."

The combination of box office blows and behind-the-scenes blunders has left a convoluted atmosphere wafting over a film which was meant to provide joy and opportunity for its community. Its commercial success is now hanging in the balance.

"I'm trying to hold space for both the incredible pride in the movie we made and be accountable for our shortcomings," Miranda said.

The reckoning has put a damper on a film that's been a ray of sunshine for its fans and creatives alike – one that doesn't look like it's going away unfortunately.