Film Preview: The Greatest Showman (2017)

Page Revisions:

(July 2, 2017) Original
(November 19, 2017) New Trailer (#2) / New Posters (#1-#7)

Release Date:

December 25, 2017

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “Inspired by the imagination of P.T. Barnum, The Greatest Showman is an original musical that celebrates the birth of show business and tells of a visionary who rose from nothing to create a spectacle that became a worldwide sensation. ”

Poster Rating: B / A / C+ (5)

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Review: (#1) Employing a cool color palette doesn’t energize the viewer. There may be some action elements and Hugh Jackman being front and center might pique some interest, but the circus elements aren’t sufficiently displayed and it’s too dark a design to be engaging. (#2) While this one is still dark, it’s far more creative. A man with a vision of turning an empty space into a marvelous spectacle are perfectly envisioned in this poster. (#3-#7) While these aren’t traditional character posters, they seem to share a commonality of design aesthetic, which makes them each feel like they are all a part of a series. They all feature elements that are to blurry and also too simplistically colorless. They have pops of color, but none of sufficient depth or interest.

Trailer Rating: B / B+

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Review: (#1) The music isn’t annoying, which will help. However, outside of a single instance where it appears the cast is singing, the trailer does not play like a musical extravaganza. While that might have worked for something a production people are already familiar with, no one going into this film cold would know it was a musical and that’s dangerous for a film like this.

(#2) There’s more of a hint of the musical at play in this second trailer, but it’s still an insufficient amount, making it difficult to truly appreciate all that the film has to offer without knowing far more about it than what’s on display in the trailer.