The Phantom (1996)

The Phantom, descendent of a line of African superheroes, travels to New York City to thwart a wealthy criminal genius from obtaining three magic skulls which would give him the secret to ultimate power.

Director:

Simon Wincer

Writers:

Lee Falk (characters), Jeffrey Boam

Stars:

Billy Zane, Kristy Swanson, Treat Williams

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Billy Zane	...	The Phantom / Kit Walker
Kristy Swanson	...	Diana Palmer
Treat Williams	...	Xander Drax
Catherine Zeta-Jones	...	Sala (as Catherine Zeta Jones)
James Remar	...	Quill
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa	...	The Great Kabai Sengh
Bill Smitrovich	...	Uncle Dave Palmer
Casey Siemaszko	...	Morgan
David Proval	...	Charlie Zephro
Joseph Ragno	...	Ray Zephro
Samantha Eggar	...	Lily Palmer
Jon Tenney	...	Jimmy Wells
Patrick McGoohan	...	Phantom's Dad
Robert Coleby	...	Capt. Philip Horton
Al Ruscio	...	Police Commissioner Farley

Storyline

Four hundred years ago, a young boy witnessed his father's death during an attack on their ship by the bloodthirsty Sengh Brotherhood. He was washed ashore on Bengalla Island where he swore to devote his life to bring down piracy, greed, cruelty and injustice. He became The Phantom, a masked avenger whose role was passed down for father to son, leading people to believe in an immortal figure called "The Ghost Who Walks". The 21st successor to the role of Bengalla's resident superhero must travel to New York City to prevent a power-hungry businessman from obtaining three magic skulls that would give him the secret to ultimate power.

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Plot Keywords:

new york city | skull | ghost | superhero | male tied up | 

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Taglines:

Slam evil!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for action/adventure violence and some mild language

Details

Country:

Australia USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 June 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

El fantasma

Filming Locations:

USA

Box Office

Budget:

$45,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,072,346, 9 June 1996

Gross USA:

$17,300,889, 1 September 1996

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures,The Ladd Company,Boam Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Palmer's butler is named Falkmoore. This name is derived from Lee Falk, the creator of The Phantom, and Ray Moore, The Phantom's first artist.

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Goofs

In the pan shot of the Pan American dockside terminal when Diane Palmer is boarding the Orient Clipper you can clearly see a modern window-style air conditioning unit sticking through the front wall of the terminal building. Such units did not exist in the time period in which this movie was set (late 1930s).

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Quotes

[first lines]
Title card: In case you forgot...
Phantom's Dad: It all began a very long time ago, when a merchant ship was set upon by pirates of the Sengh Brotherhood. A small boy watched helplessly as his father was killed by the pirate leader, the Evil Kabai Sengh. He jumped overboard, and was washed ashore on a mysterious jungle island called Bengalla. It seemed like a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire, but the Touganda tribesmen meant the boy no harm. They scooped him up and carried him to their village...

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Crazy Credits

The film title appears from the Phantom's skull ring.

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Connections

Referenced in CollegeHumor Originals: Too Many Avengers (2012)

User Reviews

Harmless Old-Fashioned Comic Book Adventure

An old-fashioned adventure yarn is the best description of this modern-day comic book-hero-come to life-story. This almost like one of those early Tim Burton directed-Batman type adventures without all the darkness. The language is mild (as it should be in these type of films), the special-effects are decent and the sound is good. Best of all is the scenery, some beautiful landscapes filmed in Thailand and Australia.

Instead of the city being where our comic book hero performs his heroics, this is out in the jungle, more like an Indiana Jones-type story. It's fast-moving, it's hokey, it's unrealistic but its generally fun to watch. Even the villain ("Xander Drax" played by Treat Williams) isn't really all nasty.

The Phantom (Billy Zane) has the normal off-and-on corny romance situation with feminist-journalist (does Hollywood know any other kind?) "Diana Palmer" (Kristy Swanson) and the film gives you an entertaining 100 minutes. It's no award-winner but at least it's something you watch with your kids.