Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.
The Greatest Showman is so omnipresent that it can be tough to remember just how long ago the film hit theaters. Released in late 2017, the movie grossed $435 million, set records with its soundtrack sales, and, most recently, picked up a Grammy for best compilation soundtrack for visual media. In addition, star Hugh Jackman performed the opening song “The Greatest Show” for millions of viewers at last week‘s BRIT Awards. Fans, it seems, still have yet to tire of the musical, which stars Jackman as (a much kinder take) on P.T. Barnum, a founder of Barnum & Bailey Circus.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone, then, that after all this success, producers are dreaming up a way to make a sequel to the film. In a post-BRIT interview with the Sun, director Michael Gracey confirmed a second installment is in the works.
“When a movie becomes as big a success as this, it’s only natural there is demand for a sequel,” he said. “So those discussions have started and we are working on one right now.”
So, what would that look like, exactly? The first film wraps things up pretty neatly, with Barnum getting his circus off on the right foot and settling more firmly into family life. In real life, Barnum became increasingly interested in politics as he got older, even making a failed run for Congress in the 1860s. He later became a Republican representative for Fairfield, Connecticut, then the mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Of course, The Greatest Showman is a very loose adaptation of Barnum’s life, so the sequel might skip all the political stuff and dive right back into the high-flying circus world.
In the meantime, fans who really need a fresh fix of circus musical can try to get tickets for Jackman’s upcoming arena world tour, which recently added a leg in his native Australia. Jackman originally announced the tour last November in an interview on the Today show, but just added the Australia dates, which will include performances by The Greatest Showman co-star Keala Settle. The tour, titled The Man. The Music. The Show., will see Jackman performing songs from Showman, Les Misérables, and other musicals he’s done in the past.
“It feels like a privilege; I was really excited to basically give the year up for it,” Jackman said in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald. “I’m at a point in my career where I don’t worry about that stuff: momentum, trajectory, or what people think. I really sort of march to the beat of my own drummer now, and I don’t think I’ve always been like that.”
The fact that The Greatest Showman has propelled a tour like this is still surprising to Jackman. Back when it was first released, the film was thrashed by critics and stumbled at the box office, picking up $13.4 million against a reported $84 million budget. But eventually it picked up steam, and somehow went on to become a smash hit. “When a movie comes out, in my position, you get e-mails from people at the studio—we got nothing. I mean, nothing,” Jackman said of that disastrous first weekend. “Not even a ’well, we gave it our best shot.’ It was looking grim . . . But then, word of mouth.”
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This story was originally published by Vanity Fair
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