The long-awaited - and delayed - movie adaptation of Disney's Haunted Mansion ride has an official release date.
Walt Disney Pictures' "Haunted Mansion" will open in theaters on March 10, 2023. The film is inspired by the popular theme park attractions at Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and other Disney theme parks around the world.
This is Disney's second go at a Haunted Mansion movie, following the 2003 Eddie Murphy vehicle. Originally introduced at San Diego Comic Con in 2010 as a Guillermo del Toro production, "Haunted Mansion" is being directed by Justin Simien, best known for the Netflix series "Dear White People." According to IMBD, D.V. DeVincentis [Grosse Pointe Blank, High Fidelity] gets the screenplay credit.
IMDB also has del Toro still attached to the project with a writing credit as well as producer and executive producer credits, though he is not listed in the Disney Parks blog post announcing the film.
Regardless, "Haunted Mansion" will star Rosario Dawson as a single mother moving into a "strangely affordable" New Orleans mansion - presumably our haunted one. Danny DeVito, Tiffany Haddish, LaKeith Stanfield, Owen Wilson co-star as local experts enlisted to figure out what's going on.
The New Orleans setting tracks with the New Orleans Square location of the Haunted Mansion's original installation at Disneyland. But unless it turns out Dawson's character has been offing her husbands for years (I guess we will see if that's a spoiler alert), it does not appear that the production will be adopting the ride's narrative. Though to be fair, the Haunted Mansion's narrative has evolved quite a bit over the years, and the attraction always has been driven more by the experience than a narrative, anyway.
Fans should expect to see at least a few sight gags from the ride in the film, as Disney has delivered in its Pirates of the Caribbean and Jungle Cruise films.
As a theme park fan, what are you expecting from Disney's Haunted Mansion movie?
* * *
If you're interested in visiting, please visit our authorized partner's Disneyland tickets page for discounted tickets to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.
We wanted you to read this article before we make our newsletter pitch, unlike so many other websites. If you appreciate that - and our approach to covering theme park, travel, and entertainment news - please sign up for our free, three-times-a-week email newsletter. Thank you.
Tweet
With a special cameo by Eddie Murphy? ??
I was a cast member at WDW when The haunted Mansion And Pirates of the Caribbean were released, Months before we were hearing buzz that Pirates was really bad and it was to bomb badly. Haunted Mansion was supposedly to be a huge hit and Michael Eisner was very strong on it to franchise. But then he's the kind of guy that thought mother-in-law jokes were still funny...
It's still funny how in 2003, the idea was Pirates would flop but Mansion be a sleeper success. Weird how things work out but some potential in the story.
2003 was a curious year. That November, we had movies based on a book from beloved author Dr. Seuss, the timeless Looney Tunes, and one of Disney's most popular rides. All disappointed at the box office, and the only successful family film that month was one where Will Ferrell played a man who thought he was an elf.
I always was under the impression that the Eddie Murphy movie was not good, but I finally watched it recently, and thought it was decent. You kind of needed Eddie Murphy's quips to balance the darkness of the setting. This hint of a story with Rosario Dawson as a single mother doesn't sound very interesting to me, but we'll have to see...
I didn't think Eddie Murphy's Haunted Mansion was that bad either, but its perception has been forever tainted by the success of Pirates of the Caribbean, which was released just 4 months earlier (Pirates was an early July release, while Haunted Mansion was a Thanksgiving release). Pirates was so surprisingly good that the success for Haunted Mansion was placed impossibly high.
I think the IP is a tricky one to pull off, and Rosario Dawson has a tough job ahead of her to craft a hit out of what sounds like a very convoluted plot. Hopefully the recognizable cast around her can make it work, but I'm setting my expectations pretty low (like Tomorrowland low).
Personally, I'm far more interested in the Tower of Terror film, which is still in pre-production (and still has ScarJo attached to it despite the controversy between the star and studio).
This article has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.
Ugh, why does it have to be another comedy movie?