Hugh Jackman Shines In Dazzling New The Greatest Showman Trailer

Hugh Jackman is P.T. Barnum in the newest trailer for his upcoming musical extravaganza The Greatest Showman. In the film, the Logan star plays the pioneering entertainment industry legend, following him from a young child in poverty to the launch of his first New York-based circus.

This trailer teases more of the film's music than the previous trailer, immediately kicking off with a gorgeously shot visual of Jackman in what looks to be one of the film's signature numbers. However, it then goes back to his pre-show business life, showing he and his family living in poverty as he dreams of something bigger. "Girls, I think I've had an idea," he tells his daughters.

"I'm thinking of putting together a show," he says, as images of his idea coming to fruition flash by. "It's a place where people can see things they've never seen before." "People aren't going to like it if you put us on stage," one of his many risky acts tells him. "Oh, I'm counting on it," he replies. 

This attitude is shown again later on in the trailer, as the circus starts to attract violent protests that Barnum seems to just shake off. "The world was ashamed of us, but you put us in the spotlight," one of Barnum's performers tells him. "You gave us a real family." "No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else," Barnum says.

The Greatest Showman went through seven years of starts and stops on its way to the big screen. Jackman previously credited the success of La La Land as a big part of why the musical was able to finally get off the ground, and, luckily, the upcoming flick has a big part of the film's success behind it: Oscar winning song-writing duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. 

Jackman notes that the songs will be fun and catchy, saying in a previous interview, "We were clear from the beginning that this wouldn't feel like a period movie or a historical piece. What would Barnum do now? I have an almost-12-year-old daughter. I wanted [the movie] to be as exciting for her as listening to Katy Perry's new song."

The rest of the film's cast includes Michelle Williams as Barnum's wife, Zac Efron as his business partner, and Zendaya as a trapeze artist and Efron's love interest. Rebecca Ferguson, Paul Sparks, Keala Settle, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Diahann Carroll, and Fredric Lehne also star in the film, which was directed by Michael Gracey (The Magician) based on a script from Jenny Bicks (What a Girl Wants) and Bill Condon (Dreamgirls). The Greatest Showman hits theaters on Dec. 20.