20th Century Fox did some shuffling of its release calendar, pushing Hugh Jackman’s long-gestating P.T. Barnum biopic The Greatest Showman on Earth to December 2017.
The film was supposed to be released on Dec. 25, 2016 but The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that it was pushed to Dec. 25, 2017.
The site notes that the film is probably being delayed so Jackman can make the next film in the Wolverine series with director James Mangold. Fox is still hoping to release that film on March 3, 2017.
Greatest Showman has been in the works for years and is planned as a musical biopic. Michael Gracey has been assigned to direct since August 2011 and production was expected to start this summer, but it looks like shooting hasn’t even started yet.
Fox has decided to release Tim Burton’s new film, Miss Peregine’s Home For Peculiar Children on Christmas Day 2016 instead. That film was previously set for March 2016.
In addition, Fox has also scheduled the Bryan Cranston/James Franco comedy Why Him? for Nov. 11, 2016. Ted Melfi’s Hidden Figures, a film about the African American female mathematicians who helped make John Glenn’s orbit a reality, opens on Jan. 13, 2017. Johannes Roberts’ The OtheR side of the Door, a horror film, will open on Feb. 26, 2016.
Lastly, Fox has decided to release DreamWorks Animation’s Boss Baby on Jan. 13, 2017 instead of March 10, 2017. This means that the Jeffrey Katzenberg studio’s Captain Underpants film is now undated.
Jackman can be seen next in Pan, which opens on Oct. 9.