Schumacher to direct film adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera

Out director Joel Schumacher is set to direct Andrew Lloyd Webber's stage musical hit The Phantom of the Opera, which has struggled to get onto the screen for nearly a decade, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The cast has not been named, but key members will be announced Wednesday at the American Film Market in Santa Monica, Calif. Schumacher and Webber created a script several years ago and now intend to produce the film independently. Phantom, with music by Webber and lyrics by Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe, premiered in London in 1986 and opened on Broadway in 1988.