


Although! I have a theory that addresses all the movie’s issues, so keep reading for that. And the movie was…not as bad as I feared. And ever since I saw the play, I’ve been afraid to go back to the movie… But I finally did, because I’m writing a retelling and this is research. I liked this movie when it came out–but I was seventeen and I’d never seen the play. If you’re not familiar with it, the Butler Phantom is a movie version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical–but very much not the play (for that you want the 25th anniversary/Karimloo Phantom). Since the last time I watched this movie, I’ve watched just about every version of Phantom I could find, including the stage production…eight times, actually! I know this, because I know I haven’t seen it since the first time I saw the stage production.

I say “finally” because I haven’t seen it in…at least eight years. I finally watched the Gerard Butler Phantom.
