Crusader Entertainment and Hyde Park have tapped Olympic gold medalist-turned-feature film scribe Mel Stewart to pen a project based on the well-known comic The Phantom. The comic has been adapted for the screen before. Billy Zane, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Kristy Swanson and Treat Williams teamed to star in the Simon Wincer-directed 1996 feature The Phantom, which grossed $17 million at the boxoffice. The superhero, clad in a purple suit, has no supernatural powers but appears immortal and fights evil in Africa. It is understood that the updated version will be modernized. "While I like the comic book franchises of the 1990s, I always wanted to be able to identify with my hero more," Stewart said. "Take all of the technology of 2004, where science fiction is no longer that -- it's science fact. If you had all that technology at your fingerprints, you would be a superhero." That is The Phantom, Stewart adds. The project marks the latest sale for Stewart, who won three medals -- two gold and one bronze -- as a swimmer in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. After his medal run, Stewart moved to Los Angeles and had his own show on ESPN before segueing to a career as a screenwriter. He previously sold Fly to Fox 2000, which is a project based on his life story, and also had a recent sale for his spec They Scythe to Ken Badish and Active Entertainment. He is repped by Genesis, manager Scott Karp at Immortal Entertainment and attorney Mark Temple.
- 10/27/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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