Critics Massively Got This Wrong!! It Is A Phenomenon

Rating: 10/10 (13 March 2019)

Continuing my plan to watch every Hugh Jackman movie in order, I come to The Greatest Showman (2017)
Following on from the misfires Chappie, Pan and Eddie The Eagle, Jackman was certainly not playing it safe with this movie. This film was a dream project for Hugh Jackman since 2009, and he really had to fight to get it made. According to Jackman, the seven year development process was due to studios' unwillingness to take a risk on an original musical.
When the movie was in the process of being green lit, the cast had to have a full read through in front of the studio and the producers. Hugh Jackman had surgery on his nose to remove skin cancer. Hugh Jackman had 80 stitches and was told by his doctor to not sing. Hugh Jackman followed the doctor's recommendation until it came to the last song From Now On where Hugh chose to sing. Halfway through he noticed his nose was bleeding. His stitches had burst when he was singing. Now that, my friends is dedication.
This is Michael Gracey's directoral debut. Jackman and Gracey met on a commercial shoot. Jackman told Gracey he wanted to make a film with him, and Gracey took it with a grain of salt (he said every famous person he'd worked with had made similar promises) To his surprise, Jackman later sent him the script of The Greatest Showman.
This was hands down my favourite movie of 2017. My eldest son watched it on its opening weekend and he said i'd love it, and recommended I see it on the big screen, or I'd regret it. He was right, I loved it. It's easy to forget the awful reviews this movie opened to, it became a phenomenon as people went back time and time again. In the UK, it was in cinemas longer than The Last Jedi and it still playing in cinemas, when the DVD was released. How often does that happen? It was also the biggest selling album of last year in the UK. NOT 2017, when it was released, but last year. Recently, Jackman himself admitted his family are getting sick of hearing the songs everywhere.
Hugh Jackman's charm makes it impossible to not get behind his PT Barnum, Zac Efron is clearly having fun, Zendaya is gorgeous (my son has a real crush on her) and is a talented actress too, but for me it is Katie Settle who steals the show as the bearded lady. Her song This Is Me, is now an anthem, that will be performed on talent shoes for a long time to come.
It's filled with good, catchy songs (as all good musicals should be) Rewrite The Stars, A Million Dreams, From Now On, Never Enough, The Other Side and of course The Greatest Show are all great and over heardnkost of them performed on karaoke in the time since it's release.
I could waffle on about this movie for a lot longer, but I will not bore you with it.
The Greatest Showman grossed $174 million at the domestic box office, to end 2017 as the 18th highest grossing movie of the year.