Laemmle was an admirer, and Leroux gave him a copy of his book Le Fantôme de l’Opéra, published in 1910. After a chance encounter with author Gaston Leroux, their conversation took an interesting turn when the subject of the Paris Opera House came up. The idea for the movie received its genesis when Carl Laemmle, the head of Universal Pictures, took a family vacation in Paris in 1922.
Although 1923’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame could be considered the first movie in this genre for the studio, it really kicked off two years later with The Phantom of the Opera. Since then, Erik's redemption arc has become the standard when concluding the story of The Phantom of the Opera.Universal Studios has been synonymous with high-quality horror movies for almost its entire existence. Finally, in Lloyd Webber's musical, a similar ending to the book's was used to redeemed The Phantom. The Phantom being killed in a big action scene became the norm for subsequent adaptations. Had that ending stayed the way it originally was, it would have gone down as one of the most poignant moments in horror movie history. RELATED: Evil Dead Rise Director Shares Bloody BTS Photos as Filming Wrapsīy removing his redemption, it takes away from what made the novel compelling and made The Phantom one of the most interesting Universal Monsters. Once they are free, the mob storms the lair, and The Phantom takes Christine on a carriage ride before the mob saves her and get him. The newly added ending occurs after Christine agrees to marry The Phantom, and he releases her fiancée Raoul de Chagny and Inspector Ledoux from his trap. Instead, they brought in Edward Sedgwick. Director Rupert Julian wasn't even brought back to direct the scene. Test audiences and Universal Pictures didn't like that the supposed villain of the film was given a redemption arc and died peacefully, so they returned to the set to shoot the new climax.
Though he did kill people and haunted the Opera House, the mob goes from angry to somber and pay their respects. Before the angry mob arrives to the lair, he dies sitting at his organ of a broken heart. She shows him a moment compassion and agrees, and her expression of pity opens Erik's heart, so he sees the error of his ways. The first ending turns out more like the novel's end, where the titular character kidnaps Christine, the woman he loves, and threatens to blow up the Opera House if she doesn't marry him. RELATED: The X-Files: Fight the Future's Most Infamous Scene Purposefully Trolled Fans While being chased by an angry mob became standard in horror movies like Frankensteinand The Wolf Man, this ending was added on after audiences reacted poorly to the original version when shown in previews. The film concludes with an angry mob chasing The Phantom - real name Erik - from his lair and into the streets of Paris before killing him. Despite the character making his mark in cinema history, Chaney's Phantom received an ending that differed from the source material. Lon Chaney, an early Hollywood legend nicknamed "Man of 1000 Faces" for the incredible makeup used in films like London After Midnight and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, saved his most iconic makeup when playing the Opera Ghost. Six decades before Andrew Lloyd Webber made his musical adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera, the titular character was best remembered for his terrifying appearance in the 1925 film.