It features an all-star cast, but it also offered a rare opportunity for stage actress Samantha Barks.
"It's my first film, so for me, I'm on cloud nine," Barks said. "I've got a long-standing relationship with the history of this musical, but to be doing it on this scale with this cast, it's kind of epic for me. I'm having to jot it all down in the diary just to remember it all. It's exciting."
When Barks performed "Les Miserables," the stage musical, she loved the feedback she got from an audience. But she said she also enjoys the intimacy and realism that film allows.
"What this live singing actually allows us to do is to fuse those two together," she said. "People were applauding after the numbers."
This film also introduces movie audiences to the world of theater.
"It's exciting because people who wouldn't normally go and see 'Les Mis' they wouldn't consider themselves musical people," she said. "All of a sudden they go to the cinema and they're being moved by theater and it's like, 'I didn't know I could feel so much from something that I didn't really have an interest in.' It's exciting to be expanding musical theater to a larger audience, especially me, who's grown up being so passionate about musical theater."
There's a lot of attention on this film and Barks knows what it could mean for her career.
"I think for me, obviously stage being a huge love of mine, I got a taste of film and it's absolutely made me want more of it. If I could have a variation on both, I'm asking for a lot. I'd be thrilled," she said.
"Les Miserables" opened on Christmas Day.
