"The Greatest Showman" is a musical drama directed by
Michael Gracey from a script written by
Jenny Bicks (producer on
"Divorce" and
"Sex and the City") and
Bill Condon (
"Dreamgirls"). The film chronicles the creation of
P.T. Barnum's Barnum & Bailey Circus and it stars
Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Zac Efron, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Keala Settle, Cameron Seely,
Eric Anderson and
Skylar Dunn.
The film features original songs written by Oscar-winning lyricists
Benj Pasek &
Justin Paul (
"La La Land"). The song
"This is Me" won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song and is nominated in the same category at the 90th Academy Awards.
The film had many difficulties during its production, which went on for seven years. This was
Michael Gracey's directorial debut. Gracey has been known mostly for music videos and commercials. In December 2017 it was reported that frequent Jackman collaborator
James Mangold (
"Logan") was brought in to oversee the film's reshoots and post-production as the studios were concerned with Gracey's lack of experience in handling a big budget production.
"The Greatest Showman" opened in theaters on December 20, 2017 and received mixed reviews from critics. While the cast and production values received ample praise, the film was overall considered too shallow.
While not a huge critical hit, the film found unexpected success at the box-office after initially opening with just $8.8 million. In its second weekend the film registered a 76.3% increase, the largest weekend-to-weekend increase ever for a film playing in over 3,000 theaters. Since then it has continued to perform well, dropping 11% and 14% in the next two weeks. The film has currently grossed $116 million domestically and another $120.1 million overseas against an $84 million budget.
Find out more about the movie after the jump.
