Phantom of the Paradise stars Jessica Harper before she was in Suspiria, and features songs written by legendary singer/songwriter Paul Williams, who also turns in a sinister central performance as the film's diabolical record magnate, Swan. Written and directed by De Palma just a couple of years before he helmed Carrie, the film was released with a resounding thud in 1974, decades before horror musicals were a thing and Beetlejuice was hanging out at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway. While definitely profitable, earning roughly $150 million worldwide, its $70 million budget doesn’t exactly scream “let’s milk some more out of this franchise.Some people love The Rocky Horror Picture Show, while others claim the ultimate cult horror musical is Brian De Palma and Paul Williams's Phantom of the Paradise.
It wasn’t exactly a box office hit either. While it has rebounded among audience members in recent years thanks to the increased popularity of Gerard Butler, Phantom of the Opera sits at an abysmal 33 percent critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
While there’s no need to throw shade at Andrew Lloyd Webber’s immensely popular adaptation, which can have its life in theaters throughout the world forever, there’s a certain attitude of “let’s move on,” that was left in the film version’s wake. It also seems like a smart move to get as much distance from Gerard Butler’s version of the story. What better place to set a drama all about love, loss, and the power that music has to create a haunting than one of America’s most ghost-riddled places, the French Quarter? Since the new version will apparently cut “ Of The Opera” out of the title, it seems that perhaps the new version could have more to do with jazz or another genre of music that calls NOLA home. It makes sense given that the original play is inextricably linked to music. Instead of being set in Paris in the 1800s, the new version of The Phantom of the Opera will instead be set in the French Quarter of New Orleans in the modern-day. That’s not the only change that the new adaptation of the story plans to make with regards to the Gerard Butler movie.
For those unfamiliar, Andrew Lloyd Webber merely adapted the play into a hit musical whose chilling organ score remains one of the most haunting melodies in modern memory. However, unlike Gerard Butler’s movie, which sought to do a film adaptation of the famous play, Phantom is taking a mental step backward and kicking things back to the 1910 Gaston Leroux novel Phantom of the Opera.
The film, which is tentatively titled simply Phantom, includes producers Harvey Mason Jr of Harvey Mason Media, and John Legend and his Get Lifted Film Co. According to Deadline, a new adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera (sans Gerard Butler) is in the works with Universal Pictures at the helm.
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