James Mangold Helped With ‘The Greatest Showman’ Reshoots, Editing & Post-Production

More than ever, studios are eager to manage risk as much as possible, with opening weekends increasingly the make or break moment for any movie. Disney has proven to be fairly ruthless in this regard, reshooting massive portions of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” butting heads with “Solo: A Stars Wars Story” directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller to the extent they exited the picture, and even doing over a month of reshoots on the upcoming “The Nutcracker And The Four Realms.” With a budget of $84 million — which likely doesn’t include marketing — when things were looking dicey on “The Greatest Showman,” the folks about Fox followed in the steps of their new masters, and didn’t hesitate to get help.

Variety reports that James Mangold earned an executive producer credit (and a hefty seven-figure fee) on the movie by coming in to help oversee a week’s worth of reshoots on the musical, while also sticking around to help consult on the editing and post-production process. First time feature filmmaker Michael Gracey was apparently in over his head on the movie, and concerned, Fox brought in Mangold to help advise on the later stages of production. His input proved successful, as test scores improved for the film after the reshoots.

Of course, Mangold and the film’s star Hugh Jackman are tight, having made three films together — “Logan,” “The Wolverine,” and “Kate & Leopold” — not to mention that the director knows his way a little bit around musical material thanks to “Walk The Line.”

All that said, “The Greatest Showman” didn’t exactly light things up with critics and with plenty of competition over the holiday frame, it has a long road ahead.

“The Greatest Showman” is now playing.