Robbie Williams is heading to the West End following the success of his movie biopic Better Man.
The 51-year-old star’s movie has received glowing reviews from critics, as they praised the film as ‘riveting’, ‘bombastic’ and ‘utterly inspired’.
The semi-biographical movie follows the singer’s meteoric rise to fame as a member of Take That and subsequent dramatic fall, as he battled with his personal demons and the challenges that success can bring.
But in a twist on the genre, the pop star is portrayed as a chimpanzee in the film, while everyone else is human, with Jonno Davies acting the movements via motion capture technology and Robbie doing most of the voicework.
A stage show spin off of the BAFTA nominated movie is being planned, the film’s co-writer and director Michael Gracey has now revealed.
Gracey has revealed his inspiration for the West End transfer is the upcoming theatre transformation of beloved film series Paddington, and he hopes to use the same technology for Better Man.
Robbie Williams is heading to the West End following the success of his movie biopic Better Man
The semi-biographical movie follows the singer’s meteoric rise to fame but in a twist on the genre, the pop star is portrayed as a chimpanzee in the film
‘It is the most magical thing I’ve ever seen in person,’ he told The Mirror of Paddington. ‘In a world where we are fed imagery every single day that is unreal and we just dismiss all of it, to have something that magical in front of you physically is incredible.’
‘So, using that same technology, imagine a monkey. And yes, this is very much going to be a stage production. Probably in the West End first before Broadway.’
Asked about a possible stage version, Robbie said: ‘What are my non-negotiables if this becomes a stage play? I don’t have that power. I’m sure I do, but I’m not going to get in the way of myself.’
‘Whoever my management choose to partner with – if we’re lucky enough to do that – we will partner with them because they know how to do it and we don’t, so we’ll just leave them to it.’
While Better Man has been popular with critics and reached number five at the box office during its UK run,—the film has been labelled a box office bomb after grossing just $1.1million (£908k) in the US.
The West End show though could rake in millions for Robbie, boosting his already staggering bank balance.
This week it was revealed that the singer has pocketed a huge £75.2million from his recent world tour XXV – 30 years after going solo from Take That.
The singer took to the stage across the globe from October 2022 to December 2023, bagging a mᴀssive £1.4million a week.
Robbie paid himself £22million last year and gave an incredible £250,000 to charities.
A stage show spin off of the BAFTA nominated movie is being planned, the film’s co-writer and director Michael Gracey has revealed
New figures for the Let Me Entertain You hitmaker’s firm You’re Not Famous, show he turned over £75.2million in 2023 up from £30.7 million the previous year.
Robbie’s firm is now sitting on cash reserves of £18million and cars worth £151,000.
They disclose £3.4million of his income came from the UK, £55.3 million from the rest of Europe and £16.3 million from various other parts of the world.
And things are not slowing down for Robbie any time soon as he is set to head back on tour later this year.
