‘The High Note’ Trailer: Dakota Johnson, Tracee Ellis Ross in New Comedy From ‘Late Night’ Director

The summer movie season is around the corner and first out of the gate as far as indie films are concerned will be a new comedy from “Late Night” director Nisha Ganatra. “The Hight Note,” formerly titled “Covers,” is a music business-set comedy that turns the beloved Tracee Ellis Ross into a music superstar and indie darling Dakota Johnson into a personal assistant with dreams of making it big in the Los Angeles music scene. The supporting cast includes “Waves” and “Luce” breakout Kelvin Harrison Jr., playing opposite Ice Cube, Zoe Chao, Eddie Izzard, Bill Pullman, and Diplo.

Focus Features’ official synopsis for “The High Note” reads: “Set in the dazzling world of the LA music scene comes the story of Grace Davis (Ross), a superstar whose talent, and ego, have reached unbelievable heights. Maggie (Johnson) is Grace’s overworked personal assistant who’s stuck running errands, but still aspires to her childhood dream of becoming a music producer. When Grace’s manager (Ice Cube) presents her with a choice that could alter the course of her career, Maggie and Grace come up with a plan that could change their lives forever.”

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“The High Note” is Ganatra’s follow-up to “Late Night,” the Mindy Kaling-starring comedy that was a sensation at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. The Amazon Studios release notoriously bombed at the box office in summer 2018, losing the company as much as $40 million, but it went on to become a popular hit on Amazon Prime. Ganatra’s latest marks the screenwriting debut of Flora Greeson.

Focus Features is gearing up for a big 2020 after scoring box office hits in 2019 with “Downton Abbey” and “Harriet,” the latter earning Oscar nominations for both Best Original Song and Best Actress (Cynthia Erivo). “The High Note” will be one of two May releases for Focus, as it’s followed at the end of the month by Jon Stewart’s “Irresistible.” The studio is opening Sundance favorites “Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always” and “Promising Young Woman” in March and April, respectively. Later in the year, Focus will be behind the release of Edgar Wright’s “Last Night in Soho.”

“The High Note” will open in theaters from Focus on May 8. Watch the official trailer for the summer comedy in the video below.