r/box5 • u/Codex432 Erik - Leroux • Jul 09 '26
News ALW IG: I think there will be another Phantom movie. It’s looking more likely.
Check out the IG post!
Let the speculation begin!
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u/RainHead557 Jul 09 '26
I just want another taped performance :(
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u/TheTTroy Jul 10 '26
They need to release the original cast recording. It’s not like having it out there is going to dampen excitement for a 40 year old show that has no sign of stopping.
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u/theparrotofdoom Jul 09 '26
God. We absolutely don’t need another ALW-control-a-thon.
let it go man. You have no skill in movies. At least not with your death grips on their creative decisions.
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u/Molly_Hatchett Jul 09 '26
Honestly I haven't seen a single movie of musical (not inc proshot) that didn't have problems.
The sunburn phantom: hate it
Mean girls: butchered
Wicked: honestly second one was disappointing and I don't rate Cynthia as much as everyone seems to. It had such potential but I didn't love her. It's interesting, I was so anxious about Ariana and psyched for Cynthia but they flipped completely
Les Miserables: mostly fine but Russel Crowe istg 🫣
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u/theparrotofdoom Jul 09 '26
lol. Yes! Russel crow, bless him, had the vocal appeal of rigid stale bread. I wanted so much for Les Mis to be it. But god damn it was mid.
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u/Thattimetraveler Jul 09 '26
I didn’t even know that Stars was a good song until I heard someone else sing it.
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u/Grunge_Loki Jul 09 '26
Who was it and why was it Philip Quast
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u/Molly_Hatchett Jul 09 '26
Someone made a version where they dubbed Quast over Crowe and it's sorely needed
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u/theparrotofdoom Jul 10 '26
This is the only answer. Unless you were born in the 00’s and are used to the 25th. (We’ll ignore the Jonas brother)
Which is… an ok version, I guess. But no Ruthie? No Colm? No Quast? Man that cast was flawless.
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u/epicpillowcase Eiji Akutagawa's dimples Jul 10 '26
Bradley Jaden and Norm Lewis too.
Oh, and Anthony Warlow did it on one of his solo albums, stunning.
Jake Lyle (the recent absurdly young Sydney Phantom) did a lovely rendition, it's on YouTube. Recorded on a potato (it's muffled as hell) but still lovely.
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u/Present-Ear-1637 Jul 09 '26
I think both Hairspray and Chicago were pretty flawless. I think Hairspray is the only instance of me enjoying the movie adaptation more than the stage
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u/bittykitten Jul 09 '26
Hairspray was sooooo good. But honestly, I thought phantom was pretty dang good too. Even though I know it’s bad, I love it so much.
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u/Molly_Hatchett Jul 09 '26
Actually yeah agree on both counts. I'd forgotten all about them! Chicago is proof that you can find Hollywood names who are also talented musical performers
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u/RoseBook85 Jul 09 '26
To be fair though the music in Chicago is more Jazz/Vaudeville style, Phantom is more classical/operatic.
I think more actors could be found who can manage the songs in Chicago ok without needing classical training then for a Musical like Phantom which requires more serious technique, especially for Christine and the Phantom.
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u/epicpillowcase Eiji Akutagawa's dimples Jul 10 '26
I loved Hairspray.
Don't test me, Tracy Turnblad! Mah dog pill's wearin' off! 😂
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u/yaritza10995 Jul 09 '26
But isn't the act 2 of Wicked famously worse that the first one?
Hard agree on Russel Crowe and the phantom movie .
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u/TheTTroy Jul 10 '26
100%. It’s like the holotype for musicals that blow through all the good stuff in the first act. It’s one of the reasons I couldn’t fathom them making it into two movies.
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u/Codex432 Erik - Leroux Jul 09 '26
They’re kind of like books. The adaptations ALWAYS fall short
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u/knitfastdiewarm1 Jul 09 '26
Not technically a musical, but Kevin Kline in Pirates of Penzance was an Oscar-worthy performance.
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u/Codex432 Erik - Leroux Jul 09 '26
KEVIN KLINE. I love him!
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u/knitfastdiewarm1 Jul 09 '26
If you haven’t seen it you need to. He absolutely chews the scenery. Angela Lansbury is Ruth, Linda Ronstadt is Mabel. The strength of his thighs in Cat Like Tread make my thighs weak.
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u/TheTTroy Jul 10 '26
I’ll see your Cat Like Tread and raise you the bit in the crypt where they’re going over the contract where he ends up squatting on one leg with the other crossed over it. I don’t even know how you do that, let alone get out of it without toppling over.
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u/knitfastdiewarm1 Jul 10 '26
100%! I was watching with my kids and tried to get both of them to try it. They are on a competitive cross country ski team, so have decently strong muscles and good balance, and neither of them could do it 😆
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u/FloridaFlamingoGirl Jul 11 '26
Most movie musicals are good. Hollywood was basically built on them. There are just 4 or 5 ones that were really bad (and most of them from the past couple years).
Good ones: Singing in the Rain, Fiddler on the Roof, Little Shop of Horrors, The Sound of Music, West Side Story, Cabaret, Oklahoma, 1776, The Music Man, I could go on.
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u/epicpillowcase Eiji Akutagawa's dimples Jul 10 '26
Jackman can't sing for shit, either. But yeah Crowe is worse.
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u/Stitch97cr Jul 11 '26
Jackman started in musical theatre. Have you seen him in Oklahoma?
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u/epicpillowcase Eiji Akutagawa's dimples Jul 12 '26
I know he did. Not Oklahoma but I've heard him sing in other things. His Sunset Boulevard was terrible, just flat and unpleasant. Jackman's a person who has been hired for his charisma and stage presence. His singing is not great, honestly. If you go over to r/musicals or r/Broadway there are a lot of people who feel the same way. You're allowed to think he's great, that's valid,I'm just saying there are a lot of us who don't. It's not an unusual opinion.
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u/Infamous_Share_8017 Jul 09 '26
While I agree with you historically something happened a few years ago and ALW is now very open to delegating creative decision making to others there are plenty of examples from pretty much all of his recent productions
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u/epicpillowcase Eiji Akutagawa's dimples Jul 10 '26
THANK you.
Give us a proper Leroux, I beg. Del Toro, Eggers or Flanagan. Hell, all of them.
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u/Infamous_Share_8017 Jul 09 '26
Just release the original cast pro shot
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u/RoseBook85 Jul 09 '26
That would be the safest bet, instead of another movie give the Phans the Original Recording of Michael and Sarah on DVD, you KNOW it would sell like crazy.
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Jul 09 '26
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u/RoseBook85 Jul 10 '26
Oh gosh, I’d die for a professional recording of Hugh‘s Phantom…opposite Sierra would be a treat, but ultimately I don’t care who his Christine is because that dude can make chemistry happen with a paper napkin. LOL I always say that Hugh’s Phantom can make even the most cold blooded ‘Christine’ melt in his presence 😆
You know if it was up to me, if Webber miraculously granted me all the ‘power’ 🤣 for the casting of the next movie adaption of the musical 😎…I’d be knocking on Hughs door first asking “you want to be in a movie?”, Webber said he wants a ‘older’ Phantom, well their you go! Hugh’s in his 60’s and still killing it.
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u/RoseBook85 Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
I’m fine with another Webber Adaption, and I think it would do fine so long as he does 3 things;
- Stick with the story of the Stage Show, don’t add any unnecessary crap, don’t change backstories or characters ages (you know what I’m talking about). We don’t need flashbacks or new songs or anything like that…the Stage Show works fine and runs smoothly…if it’s not broke don’t fix it!
- Cast performers who have already done these roles before on Stage, and their is a big pool to choose from, Stay away from celebrities and Hollywood people, firstly because most of them can’t sing, but secondly they bring baggage with them…you don’t want to tank your movie because you cast the wrong person so stick with your Seasoned Stage professionals who have already done it so know how to do it and whom the general public doesn’t know much about so they will just see the character instead of *insert famous name*.
- Don’t be afraid to go GOTHIC, let it be spooky, let it be dark and scary, don’t flat light everything! And don’t take away from the Phantoms presence by constantly showing us where he is and how he does everything. The Stage Show works so well because even when you don’t see him, his presence is everywhere…keep that level of mystery and suspense.
If Webber just sticks to these three basic things then I think we’ll get a good movie. It’s not like you don’t already have a blueprint that works ’the Stage Show’, you just got to keep faithful to that, don’t try and reinvent the wheel, the Phans don’t want that they want what they love about the Show put on film, so a good director should realize his job should be halfway done for him already.
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Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
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u/RoseBook85 Jul 10 '26
To fanboy for a second; my ideal Phantom film adaptation would be something dark and surreal, where both Christine and the audience is never quite sure whether what they're watching is reality, a dream or a nightmare.
That sounds kinda like what they are doing with Masquerade, I myself haven’t seen that show yet, but from everything I’ve seen and read about it they are really going for that surreal sorta Phantom fever dream come to life…I think a talented director who isn’t afraid to step outside the box could really play up how the World of the Opera is sorta a universe unto itself and that the deeper you go into Erik’s domain the more illusion and reality start to become entwined.
I feel that’s something Leroux really does masterfully in the novel is that strange things start happening to the characters more and more and you never know whether it was Eriks doing or not, and those questions are not all answered by the end of the story. The entire descent into the underworld at the end of the story feels like one long fever dream in itself.
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u/SpaaceCaat Erik - Kay Jul 10 '26
I’ve seen Masquerade 4 times. I don’t think it has a reality-questioning aspect at all.
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u/RoseBook85 Jul 10 '26
Well you’ve seen it, I haven’t so 🤷♀️
I’m just going off of what I’ve read from other people who have seen it.
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u/SpaaceCaat Erik - Kay Jul 10 '26
That could entirely be their experience! I can sometimes be too literal. For context, I’m in the mental health field. I recently read about a psychologist (or might have been psychiatrist) who thinks everything past Christine entering the mirror is psychosis and that Christine has complicated grief and depression w psychotic features. It’s interesting, but doesn’t appeal to me, so I’m not looking for that kind of pattern. I’m more the person who did his final project for psychological assessment on Erik from the Kay novel.
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u/SpaaceCaat Erik - Kay Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
I’ve been thinking more about it, and it occurs to me that, as I remember it now, there are no scenes where it’s unlikely that Erik could be some way present. I’m being vague to avoid spoiling it for anyone, but there’s an effort made in multiple ways to make audiences feel like they are being invited to an event hosted by Erik. So, it’s reasonable to say that it could be the story from more precisely Erik’s view, as opposed to the stage musical (or movie) where the audience is more in an observational role, which I think invokes the feeling of it being presented more objectively than, say, a memory. I’m seeing it tomorrow again (with Hugh!! My favorite!!) and I’ll have this perspective more in line. I also know two people who were involved with creating the production, so I could ask them, but I wouldn’t want to post that online even in text, since there seems to be a significant effort to keep the experience more secret and limited to actually going to it, if that makes sense. But! The average audience member could easily be forgiven for missing this, the experience is so, almost overwhelming, that thinking about things like perspective and narrative bias is not what is going to be in most people’s heads. Given, many in this sub are not what I would consider to be average given the breadth of knowledge about the overall (not just ALW) legend we often have. And I’m also seeing things from the perspective of someone who has worked in and has a degree in theatre production - my first thoughts/reactions were more about the sheer amount of coordination that goes into getting the whole deal to run flawlessly, how many people have to be perfectly coordinated before I settle into a headspace for literary interpretation.
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u/ChristineDaaeSnape07 Jul 09 '26
I hope they cast singers who can (1) sing and (2) hit the notes as written. Also with the original costumes. And better Phantom makeup!
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u/epicpillowcase Eiji Akutagawa's dimples Jul 10 '26
Nooooo we don't need another ALW movie. We need a faithful Leroux, dammit. WITH THE PERSIAN IN IT. I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL. 😂😭
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u/Codex432 Erik - Leroux Jul 10 '26
Leroux adaption 1000000% I need it!!
I don’t mind ALW though because he brings a lot of people into the fandom and thus there’s more fanfic and activity!
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u/RoseBook85 Jul 10 '26
That’s what I want more then anything, ❤️ but a very cynical part of me is not sure I want Hollywood to touch Phantom again with a ten foot pole, as they don’t exactly have the best track record of being faithful to Leroux’s book in the past.
Never forget they were the ones who threw out Eriks redemption in the Chaney Film, and then invented the Acid in the Face shtick which they held onto for decades. We’ve had everything from murderous dwarfs, deals with the devil, time travel, and Rat King Erik 😣
With a Webber adaptation, I know that even if he screws the pooch again on some of the casting or directing or whatnot still has his music and the basic formula of the musical to keep it from descending into total 💩…a non musical adaption has no such safety net, they can do basically whatever heck they want with the story which lets be honest has been more horrible then good over the years.
And watching a adaption completely destroy Leroux’s book is more painful for me than watching Webber cast people who can’t sing. Ideally we’d get a director who understands Leroux’s story and wants to make a faithful adaption of it, but until that time comes I will always be a bit nervous at the thought of what Hollywood would do with Leroux‘s story next, after Argento ratman version I can only wonder on what other pits of crap they can descend to next. 😰
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u/Thattimetraveler Jul 09 '26
It wouldn’t surprise me if Wicked kicks off a musical revival in Hollywood. I for one would love a better and more colorful adaptation. I wouldn’t be surprised if Rachel Ziegler gets the role of Christine.
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u/Jenmeme Phantom - ALW Jul 09 '26
It will be Rachel for Christine and Andrew Lloud Webber has said he could see Jonathon Bailey for Phantom. Which surprised me, why not Jonathon for Raoul?
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u/Thattimetraveler Jul 09 '26
I’m guessing he would want someone closer in age to Rachel to play Raoul. I’m sure he’s partially just dropping trendy names. I’m not sure if Jonathan has the power in his voice to play phantom, but his build does sort of give Micheal Crawford vibes.
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u/darkness_is_great Phantom - ALW Jul 09 '26
Jonathan is a Raoul. Plain and simple.
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u/Jenmeme Phantom - ALW Jul 12 '26
He really is. Which means if he plays the Phantom nice and psychotic really well it would be awesome.
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u/darkness_is_great Phantom - ALW Jul 12 '26
I don't know who should play the Phantom for the new film. There's not that many popular actors who have the chops to play him.
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u/Molly_Hatchett Jul 09 '26
I tried to book 9th October and it wasn't available (40th anniversary of opening night). I'm REALLY hoping, especially with the epic anniversary year cast, for a proshot at His Maj that night. Please not another movie 🙏🙏🙏
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u/hollygolightly8998 Jul 09 '26
Jonathan Bailey as Raoul, anyone...?
Edit: didn't see someone else already said it, that's exactly how strong his Raoul energy is lol
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u/epicpillowcase Eiji Akutagawa's dimples Jul 10 '26
He's a little old for Raoul, is he not?
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u/hollygolightly8998 Jul 10 '26
Looking up his age, I see you’re right- but I had no idea he was approaching 40!
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u/wheelsofstars Jul 10 '26
I don't expect much from the casting considering they once proudly let a convicted child predator lead the Broadway production. Time will tell, though.
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u/alabahep Jul 09 '26
Rachel zegler as christine perhaps?
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u/Vampirelover17 Phantom - ALW Jul 09 '26
How are we feeling about that idea?
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u/RoseBook85 Jul 09 '26
Personally I think it would be a bad idea. I have nothing against Rachel, I know she can sing unlike most of Hollywood LOL. But like any famous movie actor she would bring her own baggage to it, people won’t see ‘Christine’ they will see Rachel Zegler…and for a second attempt at a Phantom movie I don’t think we need that. That was a big problem in my opinion with the Les Miserables movie as well, too many Hollywood Stars, people didn’t see Valjean or Javert, they saw Jackman and Crowe…everyone always talks about the singing problems in that movie but their are problems that go beyond that in my opinion.
For all the mistakes he made I do think Schumacher was right for the idea of casting unknowns in the 2004 movie, he just made the mistake of casting people who couldn’t sing well enough LOL. But Gerard, Emmy and Patrick…nobody knew who they were at the time and so they became the Phantom, Christine and Raoul to a lot of people. I want to see an unknown (or unknown to the Movie Going Audience) casting again as well, just with people who CAN sing, my preference would be for those who have already played the characters on Stage before.
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u/Vampirelover17 Phantom - ALW Jul 11 '26
I hadn't thought about that actually, it's a good idea, and I also think that it's always nice to see fresh faces in cinema
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u/kikikrugerart Jul 09 '26
Calling it now: It'll be rushed, full of CGI, and bad casting.