Packaging ‘Phantom’

Tired of watching others attempt to rework his musicals for the screen, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has decided to produce the film version of his current L.A. stage smash, “The Phantom of the Opera.”

Lloyd Webber has hired Joel Schumacher (“Cousins,” “Lost Boys”) to direct and actors Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman (Mrs. Lloyd Webber in real life) to reprise the roles of the Phantom and Christine, which they originated in the London and Broadway productions.

Schumacher told us the project’s embryonic, but could go before the cameras as early as next spring, when Crawford completes his contract with the L.A. production.

“The idea,” said Schumacher, “is to have a fully realized package, which can (then) be shopped to the studios.”