2005 film by Chris Columbus
Rent is a 2005 American musical drama film directed by Chris Columbus. It is an adaptation of Jonathan Larson's 1996 Broadway musical of the same name, in turn based on the 1896 opera La bohème by Giacomo Puccini, Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, which is itself based on the 1851 novel Scenes of Bohemian Life by Henri Murger.
The film, which features six of the eight original Broadway cast members reprising their lead roles, depicts the lives of several bohemians and their struggles with sexuality, drugs, paying their rent, and life under the shadow of AIDS in the gritty East Village of New York City from 1989 to 1990.
Rent was produced by Columbia Pictures, Revolution Studios, 1492 Pictures and Tribeca Productions and released by Sony Pictures Releasing on November 23, 2005. The film received mixed reviews from critics and failed to cover its production costs at the box office, grossing $31.7 million against a $40 million budget.
Plot summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.