The Phantom of the Opera, he’s there… on Disney+. Deadline has revealed that the streamer is looking to make a reimagined Phantom of the Opera movie with a YA twist. This piece of IP has, of course, seen numerous adaptations over the years and it’s no surprise another one is in the works. But the idea that this film would be a “YA movie re-imagination” of The Phantom of the Opera has its fans raising their eyebrows for several reasons.
Firstly, The Phantom of the Opera already basically appeals to the YA demographic in pretty much every way. I know I was in the YA age range when I first encountered the story, and many others online appear to express similar sentiments. So then, what will it even mean to have a “YA” specific version of The Phantom of the Opera? For some reason, I imagine a high school alternate universe where Christine is a shy singer type, and the Phantom is that loner kid skulking under the bleachers.
Secondly, that said, although The Phantom of the Opera does appeal to the YA among us, it very much deals with adult themes. When you brush away the dust of gothic glamor, Phantom highlights incredibly twisted relationships, sexual awakenings, and some fairly dark themes of murder, mistreatment, and obsession at the end of the day. That’s all wonderful to explore, but it doesn’t totally feel like it aligns with the rest of Disney’s YA fare. But hey, who knows?
The truth is we still have very few details about Disney+’s YA The Phantom of the Opera movie. All we know, aside from its demographic skew, is that Kenny Ortega, who has overseen Disney’s High School Musical and Descendents franchises, will take the helm here. Theater kids indeed love High School Musical and Descendents, but once again, I’m having visions of Christine Daae trying to get the lead in the school musical… and I’m not sure how to feel about it yet.
Fans of The Phantom of the Opera will also no doubt want to know if the Broadway musical’s iconic songs will feature in the Disney movie version, but there remains no word on that for now.