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Incidentally, 108,830 is the maximum number of Winnipeggers who are sober at any given time.

The best actual explanation anyone can offer is that seeing the movie somehow became an essential adolescent social experience, like sneaking out to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show or trying to negotiate a handjob in the back row of a slasher flick. Whatever the cause, the movie was such a hit in Winnipeg that it's been able to maintain a cultural footprint and become a cult classic. Winnipeggers pushed the official soundtrack into gold status in Canada by snatching up 20,000 copies. Then the star, Paul Williams, came and played a concert in Winnipeg not long after the movie finally closed there and got immediately mobbed by fans.

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To this day, the legend of Phantom Of The Paradise persists. The movie's made irregular returns to Winnipeg theaters, there's a documentary about its phenomenon, and there have even been Phantom fan conventions, presumably held without a trace of irony.

Phantompalooza

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"DIGNITY ALREADY SOLD OUT!"

While it would be fascinating to explore more deeply the phenomenon of a rock 'n' roll opera becoming a quasi-religion in a random Canadian city, any further investigation would require a visit to Winnipeg itself, which means this will remain a mystery forevermore.

Mark is on Twitter, has a book, and is huge in Romania.

Also check out 7 Things From America That Are Insanely Popular Overseas and 4 Types of Music That Are Bizarrely Popular Overseas.

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