The Greatest Showman was a massive success, so of course, people want to know if we could get a sequel. While the movie may not have necessarily lent itself to an obvious follow-up, that doesn't mean it could never happen. In fact, Hugh Jackman says that he loved making the first one so much he would absolutely be on board for a sequel if it felt like the right thing to do. According to Jackman...
If a genuine opportunity came up where it felt like the right thing to do, then yep, I'd get the top hat back out. It's clear to me and to everyone that people love these characters. I loved this movie, I loved this character and it was one of the great joys of my life.
While Hugh Jackman doesn't elaborate on what "right thing to do" means exactly, we can probably safely assume he's talking about a good script with a story worth telling. The story of The Greatest Showman follows Jackman as P.T. Barnum through most of his life, and ends with him seemingly leaving the circus life behind, more or less, so it would appear that the story was complete, but if somebody found a reason to make a sequel, Jackman would certainly listen to the pitch.
And if we're being blunt, it's not like The Greatest Showman was a particularly historically accurate movie, so there's really no reason a sequel can't contrive a reason to get P.T. Barnum back under the big top one more time.
It's not too shocking that people would be curious about a potential sequel to The Greatest Showman. The film grossed over $400 million at the box office despite never finishing a weekend in higher than third place. The soundtrack was also a massive hit, outselling every other album last year by a huge margin.
Hugh Jackman does point out to BBC Radio Five Live that there is one potentially large hurdle to any talk of a sequel. The original Greatest Showman was a 20th Century Fox movie which means that the film is now, or shortly will be, the property of Disney. This means that there's going to be a fair amount of work to be done on the business side of things before any consideration of a sequel could really be made.
Having said it, it certainly feels like The Greatest Showman is something that would fit perfectly within the Disney family. It's family friendly. It's a musical. It's got songs that get stuck in your head. It made giant piles of money. Everything about that just screams Disney. I feel like the studio would be all for a sequel.
Time will tell whether a sequel actually happens. Once the Disney and Fox merger is complete and all the details are worked out you can be sure Disney will be looking at every film that's been acquired to see what the new company can do with it, so maybe a sequel isn't that crazy an idea after all.
