People have been declaring musical movies like The Greatest Shoman dead for years, but it seems to keep reinventing itself to stay fresh.
Critics also wrote off Michael Gracey’s tuneful biopic of P.T. Barnum, but it was a big hit at the box office and built a dedicated following. Hugh Jackman stars as the penniless visionary who starts the freak show that will become Barnum’s world-famous circus in this real feast for the eyes.
If you love musicals as much as we do, get ready to sing along with these great picks…
10 Moving Musical Movies Like The Greatest Showman
1. La La Land (2016)
A struggling young actress and an aspiring pianist try to kick start their dreams in LA meet, argue and fall in love. Can their relationship survive their burgeoning careers?
Racking up 14 Oscar nominations, Damien Chazelle’s La La Land is breezy, romantic, and shot through with a sense of melancholy. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone make an appealing screen couple.
Movies like The Greatest Showman and La La Land proved that musicals could still be a huge box office draw for modern audiences.
2. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
A silent movie star must move with the times when a new invention sends shockwaves through the film industry: sound. It doesn’t help that his screen partner has a voice like nails on a chalkboard…
If there’s a better expression of cinematic joy, I’ve yet to see it. With the fabulous trio of Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O’Connor knocking every song out of the park, it’s the greatest screen musical of all time.Â
Without Singin’ in the Rain, there arguably wouldn’t be movies like The Greatest Showman combining great tunes and spectacle. It’ll leave you grinning ear to ear.
3. The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
A young dancer is thrown into the limelight and attracts the attention of a secret admirer – a murderous stalker who lives in the catacombs beneath the opera house.
Joel Schumacher’s splashy adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s megahit stage production is big, cheesy, and campy, in the best possible way.
Movies like The Greatest Showman and The Phantom of the Opera are massively colorful and thrive on the charisma of their leading man. Here, Gerard Butler glowers and leers as the phantom…
4. Sunshine on Leith (2013)
Movies like The Greatest Showman don’t need to have an original songbook to strike a chord with audiences. Over the past twenty years, the jukebox musical has become increasingly popular.
Dexter Fletcher’s Sunshine on Leith is a great example, following two Scottish squaddies returning home to Edinburgh after a tour in Afghanistan. They attempt to resume their normal lives, only to find that everyday existence is no picnic either…
Built around the songs of The Proclaimers, Sunshine on Leith is a feelgood musical with a quality cast including George MacKay, Peter Mullan, and Jane Horrocks.
5. All that Jazz (1979)
We follow the life of an incredibly gifted, chain-smoking, womanizing Broadway director who continues to work hard and play hard in the last days of his life…
Legendary choreographer Bob Fosse takes the director’s chair and lets it all hang out in this dazzling semi-autobiographical musical version of his life.
The raunchy song and dance numbers burst off the screen and Roy Scheider gives arguably his finest performance. See it if you want to try a grittier alternative to The Greatest Showman.
6. Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
Hedwig was a “girly boy” from East Germany before she underwent a horribly botched sex-change operation. Now she’s touring the US, dogging the footsteps of her former lover who stole her songs…
This low budget rock musical is bursting with visual invention and great songs. John Cameron Mitchell directs this vibrant and kitschy tale with tremendous verve, also giving one of the 21st century’s greatest performances as his own leading lady.
Although they couldn’t be further apart budget-wise, movies like The Greatest Showman and Hedwig have built dedicated cult followings.
7. Grease (1978)
Fans of movies like The Greatest Showman will love Grease which also sets the action in a nostalgic version of the past.
Bad boy Danny and goody-two-shoes Sandy have a summer romance, but he has a reputation to uphold when school starts again. Romantic complications arise but nothing can keep this mismatched couple apart…
Grease was a runaway hit and still holds up today, thanks to its gutsy energy and raunchy lyrics. This and Saturday Night Fever made John Travolta a huge star, and his chemistry with Olivia Newton-John is irresistible.
8. Mamma Mia! (2008)
Phylidia Lloyd’s Mamma Mia! Is a hugely popular jukebox musical that repurposes ABBA songs to terrific effect.
A young bride-to-be finds out that any one of three men could be her father, so she invites all of them to her wedding. Much comic and romantic entanglement ensues…
Unapologetically cheesy, much of the fun of this bright and breezy romp is seeing the likes of Stellan Skarsgård and Pierce Brosnan gamely trying to sing, while Meryl Steep gives it 150% as the bride’s mum. A must for musical fans.
9. Chicago (2002)
It’s 1920s Chicago, and two death-row murderesses compete for media coverage and the attention of a cynical lawyer who might just save them from the gallows…
Rob Marshall’s sultry adaptation of the hit musical walked off with the Best Picture Oscar and it’s a thrilling ride. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Rene Zellweger both do a great job trying to out-vamp each other.
If you like your musicals with a little sex appeal as well as great tunes, then the Bob Fosse-inspired choreography of Chicago will get you hot under the collar.
10. Les Misérables (2012)
This list is in honor of a Hugh Jackman musical hit, so let’s end with another. A former convict who breaks parole becomes a respected businessman, but a ruthless policeman hellbent on catching him is still on his heels decades later…
Tom Hooper dials up the melodrama in his version of the global stage phenomenon and a gutsy cast do their best to sell the legendary tunes. Not least Anne Hathaway, who won an Oscar for her heart-rending efforts.
Musicals don’t come much bigger than Les Misérables, and Hooper’s barnstormer is a worthy way to close this list of movies like The Greatest Showman.