Hugh Jackman Reacts to Viral Video of Grandpa With Dementia Watching The Greatest Showman

Though the Academy Award nominated musical The Greatest Showman starring Hugh Jackman was released almost four years ago it continues to grow its audience around the world. The latest of these comes by way of E! News who report on a really heart warming viral video. Featured on TikTok from @CharlieMooseMedia, the video shows the user’s grandfather, suffering from the second stage of vascular dementia, being taken to an outdoor sing-a-long screening of the 2017 feature film and being nothing but smiles the whole time. Posted just yesterday the TikTok already has 1.1 million views on the app, prompting a response from the star.

Jackman took to Twitter to respond to the clip, posting a portion of it online and writing: “Thanks for sharing Charlie. Your Grandad sure made me smile. Please give him a hug for me. HJ.” The actor responding to the video, in addition to mentioning The Greatest Showman, prompted a swath of responses from his fans with one writing: “Thanks for sharing this and replying to Charlie and his grandad. You are a wonderful man.” Another added: “I’m glad you were able to respond & make this mans day, make him feel important”

Though roundly criticized for how it glosses over and portrays circus mogul P. T. Barnum (played by Jackman in the film), The Greatest Showman went on to become a major hit upon release. The Michael Gracey film went on to gross over $435 million at the global box office, a tremendous feat for any film but especially one that opened opposite other blockbusters like Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. As good a case as any for the argument of counter programming, The Greatest Showman had a tremendous hold on the box office when it was release dropping just 11% from week two to week three and just 9% from week three to week four.

Also starring Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, and Zendaya, The Greatest Showman would go on to be nominated for Best Original Song at the Academy Awards and win the same award at the Golden Globes.

Talk of a sequel to the film popped up back in 2019 but since the film was a 20th Century Fox release and The Walt Disney Company is no longer in a distribution deal with Chernin Entertainment it’s unclear if a follow-up will ever happen.