The trailer for The Greatest Showman—Hollywood’s next showbiz-centric movie musical—has dropped, complete with scenes showing a down-on-his-luck protagonist and shots of a beautiful couple dancing while bathed in moonlight and all.
The 20th Century Fox film starring Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, and Michelle Williams is loosely based on the life of P.T. Barnum, an impoverished man who went on to become the creator of the Barnum and Bailey Circus and, as The Greatest Showman seems to suggest, the founder of show business.
The trailer is about 95 percent Jackman, which isn’t a complaint as it looks like he’ll be exuding every ounce of charm and charisma that we know he has in this movie. It also features one of the film’s original songs, which sounds like Katy Perry before her chakras opened. According to Entertainment Weekly, the entire movie will feature modern-sounding songs penned by La La Land songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, rather than musical numbers that would have made the late-19th-century-based film sound like a period movie.
The film was produced by Jackman himself and is directed by Australian Michael Gracey with a screenplay from Jenny Bicks (Sex and the City) and Bill Condon (Chicago, Dreamgirls, Beauty and the Beast).
The Greatest Showman is set to release on Christmas Day.
