The AP is reporting that the Australian-based Sherlock Symington Productions has acquired the rights to The Phantom Legacy, a sequel to the 1996 film The Phantom produced by Paramount and directed by Simon Wincer.  The new film, which will also be based on the character created by Lee Falk in his classic newspaper adventure strip that debuted in 1936, will focus on the Phantom’s father-son relationship—in the mythology of The Phantom, the mantle of the purple-clad crime fighter is passed from father to son through some 21 generations.

According to the AP, The Phantom Legacy, which will be produced entirely in Australia, is budgeted at $87 million.  The film, which is set in the present day, is slated to begin production in 6-9 months.  No actors are currently attached to the project.  Billy Zane, Kristy Swanson and Catherine Zeta-Jones starred in the 1996 Phantom, which was set in the 1930s, and like other period adventure films of the 1990s such as The Shadow (1994) and The Rocketeer (1991) failed at the box office.  Solid home video sales of The Phantom, which is one of the best looking films of the 1990s, played a key role in getting The Phantom Legacy project off the ground.

Moonstone currently publishes a Phantom comic book series and Dynamite plans to take up the license King Features when the Moonstone deal runs out (see “Dynamite Will Delay Phantom Comic”).  It appears that the transition might occur at just about the time that The Phantom Legacy hits theaters (if all goes as planned).