Hugh Jackman has starred in around two dozen films in his career, including almost two decades as Wolverine in the X-Men series. So it is interesting to hear that the Aussie actor attributes the improvement of Hollywood movies to quality television.
In a recent interview with Collider to promote his new film The Greatest Showman, Jackman revealed the age of “prestige TV” is what finally got his latest movie off the ground.
“There’s been now for a while this belief and this commitment to giving people more than they expect, changing things up, taking some risk. The landscape in TV has been changing so rapidly and there’s such high quality – high-quality writing and acting – and that it’s inevitable. If we’re gonna convince people to go out to a cinema, we have to give them more than they’re gonna get at home.”
The article also divulged that The Greatest Showman has been in the works for a while. Jackman was announced for the role in 2009, but the movie didn’t start filming until the tail end of 2016. But why?
According to the actor, the delay revolved around the fact that the studio didn’t see a profit in putting money towards an original movie musical, stating it was too risky. Television improved significantly over that seven-year period though, not to mention 20th Century Fox found its own success in that time period with Logan and Deadpool.
It’s likely no coincidence that both of those films feature Hugh Jackman as Wolverine/Logan in one way, shape or form – starring in Logan and being joked about frequently in Deadpool. Speculation dictates that this could have given him some pull with getting The Greatest Showman into theaters.
So far The PT Barnum musical biopic has had an up an down run. The movie only earned $19 million over its six-day opening. Yet it has also seen a resurgence over the holidays, earning $15.2m over its second Fri-Sun frame, a 73% jump over its $8.8m opening Fri-Sun frame.