The fact that two editors are credited on screen suggests the film was heavily re-edited. While most critics felt it was a decent film many Americans felt the film was a Batman rip off, ignorant to the fact that the Phantom pre-dated the Dark Knight. It grossed just $5 million US on its opening weekend and $17.3 million US over all in that country. Where the character is very popular the film failed to impress where it really counts – America.
#THE PHANTOM MOVIES LIST MOVIE#
The movie suffered the same fate as two other period-piece comic book/pulp adaptations at the time, The Shadow and The Rocketeer, and did not fare very well at the box office in the US.Īlthough it fared well in countries such as Australia An action scene featuring the Phantom wrestling a lion and one with him fighting a snake were also cut. Many of the scenes took place in the Deep Woods of Bengalla.
Many scenes developing the romance between the Phantom/Kit Walker and Diana Palmer were cut in order to make the film more fast paced. The film wrapped on 13th February 1996, almost sixty years to the day since the character first appeared in print.
It is also the only film to be allowed to film on location at the Playboy Mansion (as the home of the wealthy Palmer family) as Hugh Hefner is a big Phantom phan. The film traveled from Los Angeles to New York, Phang Nga Bay (Thailand), and Australia (Gold Coast). A Batman-like costume with fake muscles was made for him, but by the time filming started, Zane was so beefed up that he did not need it.įilming began on 3rd of October, 1995. Billy Zane feverishly pumped iron for over a year to play the Phantom. Zane won the part after competition from cult-icon Bruce Campbell and actor Kevin Smith. Both Wincer and Boam felt the film should be a good, old-fashioned adventure film “action –adventure with a twinkle in the eye.”ĭirector Simon Wincer then cast Billy Zane, who had recently won praise for his work as a psychopath in Dead Calm. Joel Schumacher was also considered to direct the film. Dante ended up as one of the executive producers. However, when Paramount Pictures pushed the film back a year, Dante left for other commitments, with Simon Wincer replacing him as a director. Joe Dante was originally attached to direct the $45million US adaptation, and he developed a draft of the script together with Jeffrey Boam of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade fame. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa plays Kabai Sengh, leader of the Sengh Brotherhood (the name of the brotherhood was changed from Singh to Sengh in the movie), and Catherine Zeta-Jones plays Sala, leader of the Sky Band, a group of female criminal air-pirates. The film is loosely based on Lee Falk's first two Phantom stories, " The Singh Brotherhood" and " The Sky Band". The search for the skulls becomes even more complicated for the Phantom when he discovers that one of Drax's henchmen, Quill (James Remar), is the killer of his father. In the process of tracking down the skulls, The Phantom also meets his former girlfriend Diana Palmer (Kristy Swanson), who proves to be an invaluable help for him. The film tells us the story of Kit Walker, the 21st Phantom (Zane), and his attempt to prevent rich madman Xander Drax (Treat Williams) from obtaining a weapon of doom, the Skulls of Touganda, that will give him the secret to ultimate power and world domination. The role of the Phantom is passed on from father to son through centuries, causing people to believe it is the same, seemingly immortal man, giving him nicknames such as "The Ghost Who Walks" and "The Man Who Never Dies". When he grows to be a man, he adopts the identity of The Phantom, a masked avenger. He swears to devote his life to the destruction of piracy, greed, cruelty, and injustice, in all their forms. The legend of the Phantom starts when a young boy, the last survivor of a pirate attack, is washed ashore on a mysterious island called Bengalla.
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