UPDATE: 20th Century Fox Confirms Hugh Jackman's GREATEST SHOWMAN ON EARTH is a 'Go' for 2017

At yesterday's CinemaCon in Las Vegas, 20th Century FOX announced that the highly anticipated musical movie GREATEST SHOWMAN ON EARTH, starring Hugh Jackman, is a 'go' for 2017. It was recently reported that the producers were still working on financing for the project, but now it appears that the film will be one of the studio's biggest titles for next year.Tony Award winner Jackman will star as P.T. Barnum in Michael Gracey's directorial debut. In February of this year, a reading was presented to producers featuring a cast which included Cynthia Erivo, Keala Settle, Carrie Manolakos, Marcus Paul James, Adam Halpin, Natalie Weiss, Loren Allred, Tamika Lawrence, Alison Luff, and Ben Thompson.

THE GREATEST SHOWMAN ON EARTH has a screenplay by SEX & THE CITY scribe Jenny Bicks and BIG HERO 6's Jordan Roberts, with a subsequent draft written by DREAMGIRLS's Bill Condon and the final draft by THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU's Jonathan Tropper. Tony nominated songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul have written the score, with musical contributions by Brian Lapin, Bonnie McKee and Jake Shears.

This will not be the first time the LIFE STORY of P.T. Barnum will be portrayed through music. In the early 1980's, Jim Dale and Glenn Close starred in the Cy Coleman/Michael Stewart Broadway musical BARNUM. It was later presented on video via the West End mounting with Michael Crawford in the title role. P.T. Barnum's story has made its way to celluloid over the decades, as well, with the title of this new film project alluding most notably to 1952's Oscar-winning circus-set THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH.

Source: Deadline

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos