Did You Ever Think We'd Get More of The Phantom?
Filed under: Deals, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
He was the first to revel in skin-tight costumes -- a slippery slope that paved the way for Joel Schumacher to make superheroes nippley. He was also the first to throw on a mask with no visible pupils -- but while the Phantom may have been a trendsetter years ago, his trip to Hollywood was anything but. The 1996 release of The Phantom was a flop, even with the devilishly charming Billy Zane donning the purple tights.But that's not stopping an Australian production company. Yahoo reports that Sherlock Symington Productions has nabbed the rights to The Phantom Legacy -- a follow-up to the first film. Expected to boast an $87 million price tag, the film will rip The Phantom out of the past and into the present while dealing with "the Father/Son relationship, and what it means to be The Phantom." Tim Boyle wrote the script and producer Bruce Sherlock (who was also part of the first film) claims that this won't be the flop that the first was, saying it has "the makings of a blockbuster," and that they're in talks with "top talent" to cast the film.
Since this is being labeled as a follow-up rather than a sequel, I assume that Zane's Phantom is long in the past, and that a new purple-clad crime fighter is handing the responsibility to his son. I just wonder how they'll deal with the outfit. All heroes have gotten a fashion upgrade, but how do you handle the original skin-tight hero? And more importantly, is there any chance this could be a blockbuster?
And last but not least -- if we're getting any large and in charge purple dudes, I want to put a vote in for The Tick.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-15-2008 @ 12:21PM
Peter Hall said...
I think YouFaceTheTick is going to have something to say about that last line. Or am I colorblind?
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12-15-2008 @ 12:43PM
VinceB said...
Yay Phantom! Loved this comic strip as a child. The Sunday comics were in color too so I found out his suit was purple and not grey.
The Billy Zane flick was fun but a little too Indiana Jones toungue in cheek. CZ Jones was a plus however.
I think this coulkd work if they bring it back to africa and have the help of native tribes like in the original to help the Phantom appear to be the Ghost who walks...
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12-15-2008 @ 1:12PM
Kurt Munro said...
We need a reboot of Judge Dredd. It could be one of the best comic movies....
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12-15-2008 @ 1:36PM
Walking Ghost said...
I think every filmsite in the world is reporting this is a sequel, but none of the people involved has actually stated this anywhere. The screenwriter even claims to dislike the Zane film.
I think it's a reboot. All the producer says is that they're going to make a better movie than the last version, not necessarily a follow up.
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12-15-2008 @ 2:30PM
Eric H said...
Are you saying The tick is purple?
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12-15-2008 @ 3:32PM
Monika said...
Re: Purple:
I'm going by the Warburton Tick (http://www.thetick.ws/images/The%20Tick%202.jpg). I would normally call that color blue, but every time I call that blue, people tell me that I'm color blind and that it's purple, so I tried to head that off this time.
So much for that!
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12-15-2008 @ 9:59PM
YouFaceTheTick said...
The dearly departed Jeffrey Boam wrote the under-appreciated, very funny script for The Phantom. Seems most people don't remember how beautiful and snappy Catherine Zeta Jones was in that film too. Regardless, I liked the original and don't hold out much hope for this version as few writers today can do banter the way Boam could (Lethal Weapon 2, Lost Boys and Indy Jones 3 were also Boam scripts).
As for a Tick movie...nah. I loved the comic and dug the graphic novels but the live action Tick couldn't pull off some of the zany fun - Chairface Chippendale, for instance. Plus I don't think Americans would go for that style of humor. They like their heroes straight-laced and boring (Spider-man, Batman, X-men, etc).
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12-16-2008 @ 9:53AM
Jennifer said...
I like the original Phantom. It's the only role that I can currently think of that had Billy Zane as a good guy. Also, helped that he was lickable at the time...
The Phantom was funny and silly in all the right places. Ppl are so serious now. Whatever happened to having fun with a movie? It seems to have gotten lost somewhere. Now dont get me wrong, I love Nolan's interpretation of Batman, but really could u ever take Phantom that seriously? I've read many of the comics over the years and I just never could. Maybe it's just me...
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12-17-2008 @ 1:26PM
Bill said...
Purple Underwear-Man, The adventure continues. Why not? Since apparently we are going to get Batman and Terminator sequels until the end of time, why not pick more odball movies to do sequels to? Why not The Rocketeer 2? Or even a Dick Tracy reboot? I'd rather see some fun, underappreciated properties make their way back into theaters than see Christian Bale or Hugh Jackman scowl their way through a tough-guy hero role again.
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