Tuesday
16Dec2008
'The Phantom' Returns to Thundering Apathy
Tuesday, December 16, 2008 at 8:45PM
No, thanks, I'm good. Really, keep all that
Phantom for yourself.
...
Nope. Still don't need a Phantom movie. Unfortunately, we're going to get one. At first it was thought that it would be a sequel of the 1996 gold medal winner for awfulness, but according to Australian writer-director Tim Boyle, it's going to be a reboot, so just forget the first movie ever happened. If you can.
On his MySpace page, Boyle corrects comments from the reports of multiple websites earlier in the week claiming that something called The Phantom Legacy was on the horizon.
"Being able to bring the first masked comic superhero back to the big screen is an absolute honor. I've been researching The Phantom intensely for the last year or so and I've been working with the support of King Features Syndicate to try and bring you the tightest possible film. Yes, this is a new look at the comic book hero, but rest assured - He wont be 'heavily gadget man' (as that is another comic book hero named Batman) and he wont be an 'angry mob killer' (as The Punisher - Frank Castle has been made into a film 3 times - remember the Dolph Lundgren film - that too was shot in Australia... old skool). He will be, without doubt The Phantom. A man who has sworn an oath to protect - but at what cost?"Unfortunately I can't say too much else on the project apart from that we're ALL working very hard to do this film right. We're making choices. We're trying to keep the essence of the characters real and not get caught up in the 'wrong stuff'."
Is he talking about meth there at the end? What "wrong stuff" does he mean? Is he just referring to how awful the first movie is?
This is, of course, a natural reaction to the success of The Dark Knight and most other comic book heroes on the big screen. But I wonder if people in their early 20s give a continental damn about the first masked superhero. My guess is that they don't, and it will take an awful lot of persuading to convince people in the key demographic that they should give it a shot. It's different than Batman, which has had many pop culture iterations apart from two film franchises in the past generation, while The Phantom pretty much has one of the five worst superhero flicks ever made.
I'm not saying it can't be done, but I am saying it's a tough sell. And that it might not be one worth the gamble.
Reader Comments (2)
The Phantom has a lot of potential with its mix of action and mystery.
The Phantom movie was unbelievably bad but in those days most comic book conversions were.
The only problem I can see is that a lot of later comic books and films have borrowed ideas from the Phantom so that world may simply not seem fresh enough for today's audiences.
I just hope they use the best catch phrase of ALL TIME!
SLAM EVIL!