It’s everything you ever want. The Greatest Showman, and its success in the box office

Its+everything+you+ever+want.+The+Greatest+Showman%2C+and+its+success+in+the+box+office

Gracie Musgrave

Is it really the “Greatest Show”?  The hottest box-office story in Hollywood right now isn’t Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which made more than $600 million in the U.S. and became the sixth biggest hit in movie history. It isn’t the success of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. No, the most interesting film in last weekend’s returns was The Greatest Showman—the family-friendly musical about P.T. Barnum starring Hugh Jackman that has now made $113 million in five weekends.  

 

The movie opened on December 20, 2017, and appeared to have a shaky start with its first weekend on the big screens only bringing in $8.8 million. The following weekend, it made $15 million, almost twice as much. After five weeks,  the film is still playing on 2,800 screens and it’s studio, Fox, is now promoting “singalong” screenings with subtitles for the musical numbers. Only one movie has ever opened wide and made a higher multiplier—Titanic, which opened to a paltry $28.6 million in 1997 and finished at $600 million.

 

There is something about The Greatest Showman, because fans keep pouring in to see it. According to The Atlantic, the rate at which people are coming to see it (the multiplier) is only growing.

 

The soundtrack has proved to be popular as well. It has been number 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The album features performances by the movie’s stars, including Hugh Jackman ,Zac Efron, Zendya, and Michelle Williams. Four songs from the album debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated Jan. 13, led by “This Is Me,” by Keala Settle and the film’s ensemble.

 

Movie critic Steve Parcell said “The Greatest Showman is the feel-good (and feel good about it) movie every holiday season needs. P.T. Barnum is famous for saying, ‘There’s a sucker born every minute,’ and he’s still right. For 105 minutes I’m a sucker for his movie, that may not be the greatest show on Earth but close enough.”