The musical premiered off-Broadway in 2001 but was not widely known until after Larson's untimely death in 1996. It gained significant recognition posthumously, with productions around the world. In 2020, it was announced that Steven Spielberg would be directing the film adaptation of "tick, tick... BOOM!", with Andrew Garfield set to star as Jonathan Larson. The film was produced by Spielberg's production company, Amblin Entertainment, along with Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark filmmakers Roberto Cucciola and Marc Platt.