WARNING!: As always, this page may be extremely spoilers heavy... If you didn't want to know, then don't blame me that you looked!
This is a sad section to say the least. Phantom of The Opera movies that for what ever reason never saw the light of day. A few of these, where actually completely filmed, or filmed in part, but were never ever made available. Needless to say, there will be no buyers guide to this section... There's nothing to buy.
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(193?) The Phantom of The Opera (Possibly also to have been known as 'The Return of The Phantom')
The Unmade Phantom film of the 30's. There is quite a bit of information/speculation in regards to this film on the Classic Monsters Collection DVD, of the 1943 version with Claude Rains. That DVD includes a documentary on Phantom history called The Opera Ghost, A Phantom Unmasked. In that documentary, we learn that this Phantom was to have been an WW1 vet, driven mad by the horrors of war, and falsely believing himself to be hideously disfigured. This film most likely would have been an extremely lavish project, had the Laemmeles not tragically lost the studio. Who would have played the Phantom is a still a big question, though many seem to think that it would have most likely have been Boris Karloff. Several other people have been named, yet its hard for me know why whether their names came up for this particular project, or whether it had been closer to the time of the 1943 film.
A poster from this film does appear to have been produced, yet without cast information. I used to actually have a picture of it, but its unfortunately become lost over time. It does appear however in the documentary that I spoke of above... This screen shot of it is unfortunately the best I could do for the time being. (I had to piece the two halves together in Photoshop... Pardon the line running through the poster. I'm not the best photoshoper in the world.)
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(1955) Unmade Phantom film
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(1957) Another Phantom Movie. World War 2.
Phantom is a dancer named Carlo Valperno. Scarred by fascists.
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(1989) The Phantom in Manhattan
No don't panic, this has nothing to do with the horrid Frederic Forsyth book of a very similar name. This was actually to be the sequel to the Robert Englund slasher version. 1989 may not have been the actually year for its intended release, but according to an interview with Robert Englund, his Phantom movie, was actually a part of a two picture deal, this being the sequel. Apparently the whole reason that the 1989 film took place, (in part) In New York at all, was so that it could eventually tie in with this would be sequel. Its a real pity this one was never made.
Read the interview here: http://www.upcominghorrormovies.com/shock/c13.php
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(1990) Wolfgang Peterson
Nazi occupied 1940's France.
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(1993) Susan Kay's Phantom
This is no rumor. A memo supplied with some early printings of the 1993 edition of the book, stated that film rights had been sold to Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, in conjunction with Warner Brothers. So far nothing known has happened with this project, but a film version still remains a possibility.
Like the book or not, I do think that there's a possibility this could be made into a amazing movie at some point. I also think its only a matter of time.
For those of you reading who may not know what Susan Kay's Phantom is, this was one of the very first novel that attempted to tell Erik's life story (The first was actually a childrens book.) Some fans love it, some hate it, but either way, its an important book to at least check out once if your a big Phantom of The Opera fan. Copies at one point were getting very expensive, but some of that has changed and new editions have been released. Check Amazon and E-bay.
*An extremely spashel thanks to Snow Phantom for providing this photograph.
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(2001) Progeny
Based on the book of the same title by Becky L. Meadows.
Shooting completed, but the footage was never edited. Probably rotting in a drawer somewhere. At one point, there was a fan site dedicated to Becky Meadows, that actually had still shots from this movie. I kick my self about once a month for never having saved those. This is a plea to all those who may be reading, if you have those photos and would like to donate them to this site, please e-mail me at Oldphan@hotmail.com. I desperately want them.
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(2005) The Phantom Menace of The Opera
Dir: Max Sitnikov
As you can see, much of this actually was filmed, though the full project was sadly never completed. Student film maker, Max Sitnikov conceived this to be mainly be a remake of the 2004 Phantom of The Opera, though ending on a twist which was never revealed. The photos below show this to have been and interesting and resourceful project. If you would like to learn more about this project, and to see more Photos and even some video clips, please visit: http://www.myspace.com/pmoto
Watch more clips of this movie here!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErVni_dZB_I
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(2005) The Phantom of the Opera
Jeremy Irons, Marie Gillain, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Dir:Volker Schlöndorff, Bruno Coulais et al.
According to the IMDB this has been in pre-production for years now. There are still some that hold on to hope, but this is very likely to never be made at this point. Its to bad. With Jeremy Irons in the lead, and Volker Schlöndorff, (Director of The Tin Drum.) in the directors chair, this production really sounded extremely promising.
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(2005-2007) Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera
Dir: John Woosley Wri: John Woosley Cast: Doug Kisgen, Sylvia Niccum, Jordan Baranowski
More information at: http://www.lighthouseltdpictures.com/
Originally this was to have been one of the only film versions to ever even attempt to remain totally faithful to the Gaston Leroux novel, Persain and all! But like a lot of independent pictures, plans fell through, and this project has since been remodeled, and is now going to be a film called Angel of Music. You can read more about the upcoming Angel of Music is the Features section of this site.
I was really excited about this project, and was sad to see it end. I have high hopes for the new Phantom project of John Woosley however, and believe he's taking the story into very unique territory.
See video clips here!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1n1EwYUMgw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V1vZB1VgDo
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All photos © their respective owners-no infringement is intended. This is simply a fan site dedicated to Phantom of The Opera. If you feel that your images have been used unfairly, please contact me at Oldphan@hotmail.com, and changes will be made immediately.
