Phantom of the Opera: Alex Bailey

Phantom of the Opera

RELEASE DATE Dec. 22

WHY WE CAN'T WAIT Well, we've already been waiting 16 years for a screen adaptation of the swoony musical.

THE PREMISE Disfigured-but-debonair composer, naïve ingenue, romantic rival, falling chandelier — you know the drill.

SOURCE Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, based in turn on the Gaston Leroux novel and several previous movie retellings

THE BACK STORY Lloyd Webber has wanted director Joel Schumacher to be the one to bring Phantom's mix of goth and camp to the screen ever since seeing The Lost Boys in 1987. Busy lives kept them from teaming up to make the film until now. ''It's so shamelessly romantic that you won't think I made it,'' says the Phone Booth director.

BURNING QUESTION Given the movie's lack of star power — it stars Gerard Butler as the Phantom, Emmy Rossum as Christine, and Patrick Wilson as Raoul — can the musical's built-in fan base still make it a Chicago-sized hit?

COME FOR The muuusic of the niiiight

STAY FOR The closing credits, featuring a brand new Lloyd Webber ballad