Star of The Greatest Showman High Jackman will open the Brits 2019 tonight with a performance of The Greatest Show from The Greatest Showman. The hit musical proved to be an absolute smash at the box office when it was released in December 2017, bringing in millions. The soundtrack ‘The Greatest Showman: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack’ topped the charts in the US, Australia, United Kingdom and Japan.
The album also reached number one on iTunes in more than 77 countries and in the UK it became the best-selling album of 2018.
Brits chairman Jason Illey said: “We are delighted to welcome the Golden Globe and Tony Award winning superstar Hugh Jackman to the BRITs stage this month with a performance that is set to be nothing short of spectacular.
“The Greatest Showman soundtrack dominated the charts in 2018 breaking records all over the world as well as here in the UK.
“It’s only fitting that the UK’s biggest celebration of musical successes should be kicked off with a performance from the biggest selling album in the UK of the last year.”
How much did the Greatest Showman make at the box office?
Hugh Jackman’s box office hit The Greatest Showman became an enduring success in the cinemas and defied the critics to remain on screens for many weeks.
The musical which was released in December 2017 made more than $400 million dollars worldwide and drew in a domestic profit of $150 million.
In the UK it earned $53 million from a $6.5 debut weekend.
The Greatest Showman was still in the UK box office top 10 in April and even drew audiences months after its release at singalong screenings.
Australian actor Jacman portrays circus founder P.T Barnum in the film – an American who founded the Barnum and Bailey circus in 1871 who managed to pull himself out of poverty to become a self-made millionaire.
Hugh Jackman acted, sung and danced in the fun and went through 10 weeks of rehearsals for the dancing numbers in the film.
There have even been talks of a New York stage adaption of the musical film.
Jackman told Forbes: “We were talking about a live version of the show even before [the film] came out.
“There was a discussion at one point in the eight-year journey of this movie of maybe going live first..the musical really works live.”
The soundtrack even earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song.