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This Greatest Showman trivia quiz has 57 free questions with answers and covers the 2017 movie musical from every angle: the cast (Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Zendaya, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, Keala Settle), the songs Benj Pasek and Justin Paul wrote, the awards run for This Is Me, the soundtrack's record-breaking stay at number one in the UK, the Reimagined covers album, the film's slow-burn box office legs, and the stage adaptation and sequel talk that followed. Because the film is famously loose with history, the last third of the quiz turns to the real P. T. Barnum: his American Museum, the Feejee Mermaid, General Tom Thumb, Jenny Lind's actual tour, and what the film changed. Early questions suit anyone who has seen the movie once; later ones are for people who own the soundtrack and the Blu-ray extras. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia and its cited sources before publishing, and no lyrics appear anywhere in the quiz.
30 of 57 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who directed The Greatest Showman?
Michael Gracey
Michael Gracey directed The Greatest Showman, his feature debut after years making commercials and music videos and working in visual effects.
Q 02In which year was The Greatest Showman released in US cinemas?
2017
The Greatest Showman opened in US cinemas on December 20, 2017, a Wednesday, and grossed over $170 million domestically thanks to unusually small week-to-week drops.
Q 03Which actor plays Phillip Carlyle, the playwright who becomes Barnum's partner?
Zac Efron
Zac Efron plays Phillip Carlyle, a character invented for the film; Efron was reported in talks for the role in June 2016.
Q 04Which actress plays Charity, Barnum's wife?
Michelle Williams
Michelle Williams plays Charity Barnum and sings on two soundtrack numbers, A Million Dreams and Tightrope.
Q 05Zendaya's character, Anne Wheeler, performs which circus act?
Trapeze
Anne Wheeler is a trapeze artist; Zendaya trained for weeks and performed most of her own aerial trapeze work on set.
Q 06Who plays the opera singer Jenny Lind?
Rebecca Ferguson
Rebecca Ferguson plays opera singer Jenny Lind; her vocals were dubbed, so Ferguson lip-synced her showcase number on set.
Q 07Who provides Jenny Lind's singing voice in the film?
Loren Allred
Loren Allred dubbed Jenny Lind's singing voice; her recording of Never Enough reached the Billboard Hot 100.
Q 08Which songwriting duo wrote all of the film's original songs?
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul wrote all of the film's original songs; the duo also wrote the songs for Dear Evan Hansen, which reached Broadway in 2016.
Q 09Which song from the film won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song?
This Is Me
This Is Me won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song and went on to an Academy Award nomination in the same category.
Q 10At the 90th Academy Awards, the film's nominated song lost Best Original Song to a track from which film?
Coco
Remember Me from Pixar's Coco won Best Original Song at the 90th Academy Awards, having already taken the Critics' Choice prize.
Q 11Which Broadway performer plays the bearded lady Lettie Lutz?
Keala Settle
Keala Settle plays Lettie Lutz; she earned a Tony nomination for Hands on a Hardbody and originated Becky in Waitress on Broadway.
Q 12What was the film's production budget?
$84M
Deadline estimated the film would turn a profit of $50-100 million after a slow start at the box office.
Q 13Where was the film's December 2017 world premiere held?
Aboard the liner Queen Mary 2
The world premiere was held on December 8 aboard the Cunard ocean liner Queen Mary 2, with the ship docked in port for the night.
Q 21What grade did audiences polled by CinemaScore give the film?
A
Critics were far cooler, with a 56% Rotten Tomatoes score, but PostTrak found a 70% definite recommend.
Q 22Which studio distributed The Greatest Showman?
20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox distributed The Greatest Showman, opening it wide in US cinemas on December 20 ahead of the Christmas holiday.
Q 23Which director was reportedly brought onto The Greatest Showman as an executive producer during post-production?
James Mangold
James Mangold, fresh off Logan, was reportedly brought in during post-production and received an executive producer credit on The Greatest Showman.
Q 14During which song did Hugh Jackman defy doctor's orders and sing at the 2016 Greatest Showman read-through?
From Now On
From Now On closed the read-through: Jackman, told not to sing after surgery on his nose for skin cancer, stood and sang it anyway, and the studio greenlit the film.
Q 15Which Broadway performer sang Barnum's part at The Greatest Showman read-through while Jackman acted?
Jeremy Jordan
Jeremy Jordan, the Broadway star of Newsies, sang Barnum's part at the read-through while Jackman, recovering from surgery, acted the scenes.
Q 16Who choreographed The Greatest Showman?
Ashley Wallen
Ashley Wallen choreographed The Greatest Showman, staging numbers including the bar-top duet The Other Side.
Q 17Rehearsals began in October 2016 in which location?
New York City
Rehearsals began in October 2016 in New York City, where principal photography then started on November 22, 2016.
Q 18How many years did The Greatest Showman take to develop?
7
The project was first announced in 2009 as The Greatest Showman on Earth, with Jackman already attached to the title role.
Q 19By roughly what percentage did the film's gross rise in its second US weekend?
76%
The gross rose about 76%, from $8.8 million in the opening weekend to $15.5 million in the second, an exceptionally strong hold for a wide release.
Q 20Which film topped the US box office the weekend The Greatest Showman opened fourth?
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Star Wars: The Last Jedi was number one in its second weekend, with Jumanji and Pitch Perfect 3 also ahead of The Greatest Showman's $8.8 million.
Q 24Being taller than the real Tom Thumb, what did Sam Humphrey do to play Charles Stratton?
Walk on his knees
Sam Humphrey walked on his knees to play Charles Stratton, with visual effects hiding his legs; his voice was also digitally deepened.
Q 25The film's director went on to make Better Man, a biopic of which singer?
Robbie Williams
Better Man, the director's 2024 follow-up, is a Robbie Williams biopic built around his hits, including Angels and Rock DJ.
Q 26A stage adaptation of the film opened in spring 2026 in which UK city?
Bristol
The stage musical of The Greatest Showman had its world premiere at the Bristol Hippodrome in spring 2026, its first staging anywhere.
Q 27A sequel was announced in 2019 but stalled after Disney ended its distribution deal with which production company?
Chernin Entertainment
Chernin Entertainment produced the original film; when its studio deal lapsed it signed a Netflix pact, leaving the sequel without a home.
Q 28How many original songs by the songwriting duo feature in the film?
9
The soundtrack runs to 11 tracks because two of the songs get reprises.
Q 29The soundtrack was the UK's best-selling album of which year?
2018
The Greatest Showman soundtrack was the UK's best-selling album of 2018, finishing the year with more weeks at number one than any rival.
Q 30Which singer covered A Million Dreams on the Reimagined album, with her daughter singing the reprise?
Pink
Pink covered A Million Dreams on The Greatest Showman: Reimagined, with her daughter Willow Sage Hart singing A Million Dreams (Reprise).