Jonathan Larson’s “Rent” opened on Broadway in 1996, but Larson never got to see it. He died from an aneurysm the night of the production’s first off-Broadway performance. The musical, however, went on to earn a Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Almost 10 years later, the movie version reunites most of the original Broadway cast, along with two new members, Rosario Dawson and Tracie Thoms. “Rent” is an updated “rock opera” version of Giacomo Puccini’s “La Boheme” and chronicles a year in the life of Bohemians in New York City’s East Village dealing with love and the ravaging effects of AIDS as they struggle to make it on their own.

According to Playbill.com, more people bought tickets for the movie version of “Rent” on its opening day than for a year and a half of sold out shows on Broadway.

Many of those people – those who also plan to see the film multiple times – are known as “Rentheads,” and helped raise the stage version to an almost cult status.

These people won’t be disappointed when they see the film; for everyone who hasn’t seen the Broadway show, however, the movie may make them feel a little left out.

“Rent” is a pretty good movie musical, but, unlike “Chicago,” which was also based on stage material, it tries to play itself too much like its Broadway counterpart. Instead of incorporating transitions between scenes, director Chris Columbus chooses to use incessant fades.

On stage, these gaps in the story work because there isn’t anything else to be done, but in the film, the audience can almost see where the stage workers would be moving around set pieces in the dark during these dead spaces.

Mimi Marquez, played by Rosario Dawson, and Angel Dumott Schunard, played by Wilson Jermaine Heredia, provide much of the heart of the film because very real things happen to them amid some of their friends’ rather free-spirited lifestyles.

Marquez, a drug-addicted stripper who contracted AIDS through tainted needles, tries to kick her habit, and Schunard, an AIDS-infected drag queen, battles his incurable disease.

Having the film set in New York City is also an advantage the movie has over the stage version because the audience gets a very close look at the lifestyles and environment of these starving artists.

Above all that, however, is the music. Infused with attitude, all of the big numbers are still here, including “Take Me or Leave Me,” “La Vie Boheme,” and, of course, “Seasons of Love,” which opens the film.

The songs are what make the show, and here, even on a smaller scale, they’re one of the best things about the movie.

The point is that “Rent” is almost as much about its status as a cultural phenomenon as it is about anything else. People who have seen the stage show will love it, and those who haven’t may love the movie as well, but it may be harder for them because they are missing those fond memories of the musical that will carry over to the film.