Haunted Mansion | |
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Directed by | Justin Simien |
Screenplay by | Katie Dippold |
Based on | The Haunted Mansion by Walt Disney |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Jeffrey Waldron |
Edited by | Phillip J. Bartell |
Music by | Kris Bowers |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 123 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $150 million [2] |
Box office | $117.5 million [3] [4] |
Haunted Mansion is a 2023 American supernatural horror comedy film directed by Justin Simien from a screenplay by Katie Dippold. It stars LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson, Dan Levy, Jamie Lee Curtis and Jared Leto. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Rideback, it is the second film adaptation of Walt Disney's eponymous theme park attraction, following the 2003 version. In the film, a single mother and her son (Dawson and Chase W. Dillon, respectively) enlist the aid of an astrophysicist turned tour guide (Stanfield), a struggling psychic (Haddish), a conman posing as a priest (Wilson) and a college historian (DeVito) to help exorcise the ghostly inhabitants of the titular building that they have recently moved into.
Plans for the reboot adaptation based on the Haunted Mansion began in July 2010, when Guillermo del Toro, who intended to write and produce, stated the project would take place in a heightened reality rather than in a real-world setting. Del Toro was no longer attached as the project's director in July 2013. After years in development hell, Disney officially announced Haunted Mansion in August 2020, with Dippold signed on to write a new screenplay. Simien negotiated to direct the film by April 2021, and was officially confirmed three months later. The primary cast was confirmed from July to October, and additional cast was announced the following year. Principal photography took place from mid-October 2021 to late-February 2022 on a $150 million budget.
Haunted Mansion premiered at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, on July 15, 2023, and was released in the United States on July 28 by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $118 million worldwide, failing to meet box office expectations and losing Disney an estimated $117 million.
In New Orleans, Ben Matthias, an astrophysicist developing a camera to detect dark matter, marries Alyssa, a tour guide for the city's famously haunted places. Following Alyssa's death in a car crash, a despondent Ben gives up his career and continues to run her tour, despite his disbelief in the supernatural. Widowed doctor Gabbie and her son Travis move into the abandoned Gracey Manor, planning to turn the mansion into a bed and breakfast, only to discover that it is infested with ghosts.
Father Kent, an exorcist helping Gabbie, hires Ben to photograph Gracey Manor's ghosts. Unable to find any evidence of ghosts, Ben returns home and is haunted by a ghost of a mariner, forcing him to return to the mansion as he learns that Gabbie, Travis and Kent have also fallen victim to hauntings as well. They recruit Harriet, a psychic, and steal the mansion's blueprints from historian Professor Bruce Davis. The group finds a hidden séance room where Harriet contacts the spirit of William Gracey, who writes a message instructing them to talk to legendary medium Madame Leota. A malevolent entity forces Harriet out of the house, while Bruce arrives and is forced out as well.
The group stays at the mansion, searching for Leota. In the attic, Ben runs afoul of ghostly bride Constance Hatchaway and finds a locked trunk containing a crystal ball holding Leota herself. Leota reveals that Gracey recruited her to contact the spirit of his late wife every night for an entire year, resulting in the mansion's ghosts taking up residence. A malevolent spirit tricked Gracey into committing suicide and trapped Leota inside her crystal ball; having acquired nine hundred ninety-nine souls throughout the years, the spirit needs one more in order to escape from the mansion. When Harriet performs an astral projection, Ben is sent out of his body instead and encounters Gracey's ghost and the malevolent spirit, whose head disappears and reappears within a hatbox it carries.
A police sketch artist draws the ghost, allowing the group to identify him as Alistair Crump, a wealthy heir who was shunned by his father and high society; after his father's mysterious death, a vengeful Crump used lavish parties to lure his fellow socialites to their deaths while developing an obsession with the occult, until he was assassinated by his much-abused staff. Crump seals the mansion but Ben, Kent and Travis escape to Crump Manor, where the Mariner leads them to Crump's hat to use in a banishment ritual.
Returning to Gracey Manor, Kent confesses that he is actually a con artist, but he and Ben soon rescue their friends. Crump incinerates his hat and, having been impersonating Travis' late father, plots to make Travis his final soul. Ben convinces Travis not to give in to his grief and they and Gabbie confront Crump in the mansion's graveyard. Kent rallies the ghosts to rebel against Crump, while Harriet frees Leota and Bruce recovers the remnants of the hat to carry out the banishment ritual. Crump tempts Ben to become his final soul and be reunited with Alyssa, but Ben makes his peace with losing her as Crump is sent back to the netherworld upon the ritual's completion.
Ben continues to move on with his life and discovers the cat staying by his door is named Tater Tot, a nod to his wife's love for the food. The group reunites at the mansion for a Halloween party; Ben has returned to teaching, Harriet has regained confidence in her psychic abilities, Kent has been ordained, Travis is elected class vice president, Gabbie has been hired at the local hospital, Bruce maintains his newfound friendships and many of the ghosts have chosen to stay at the mansion, now in harmony with the living.
In July 2010, it was announced that a reboot adaptation based on The Haunted Mansion was in development for Walt Disney Pictures, with Guillermo del Toro as writer and producer. [9] [10] Del Toro stated the project would not take place in a real-world setting, but in a heightened reality. He revealed that the Hatbox Ghost would be one of the main characters and said the film would be "scary and fun at the same time, but the scary will be scary". [11] [12] In June 2011, Walt Disney World Imagineer Jason Surrell was brought onto the project as a creative consultant. [13] In August 2012, Del Toro submitted the final draft of his script to Walt Disney Studios, intended for a PG-13 rating. [14] [15] By July 2013, Del Toro announced he was no longer the project's director, but remained as co-writer and executive producer. [16] In April 2015, Ryan Gosling was in early negotiations to star, while D.V. DeVincentis was hired to rewrite the script. [17] [18] In September 2016, Brigham Taylor was hired as producer. [19]
In August 2020, it was announced that Katie Dippold signed on to write a new screenplay for the film, after it was decided that Del Toro's script was too scary for family audiences. Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich were hired as producers. The project would be a joint-venture production between Walt Disney Pictures and Rideback. [20] [21] By April 2021, Justin Simien entered early-negotiations to direct the film, [22] and was officially confirmed as director by July 2021.
Bryan Cogman, Del Toro, DeVincentis, Micah Fitzerman-Blue, Noah Harpster, Justin Haythe, Jeff Nathanson, Matthew Robbins, Simien, Steven Thompson, and Chris Weitz wrote additional literary material for the film. [23]
In a behind-the-features featurette, production designer Darren Gilford revealed that the crew had an after-hours tour on the actual Haunted Mansion ride at Walt Disney World. The crew then pulled details from the ride to use for the sets. [24]
Tiffany Haddish, LaKeith Stanfield, Owen Wilson, Rosario Dawson, and Danny DeVito were each cast to appear in the film. [25] [26] [27] [28] In July 2022, Jamie Lee Curtis and Jared Leto were revealed to have been cast. [29] [30] During the 2022 D23 Expo presentation, it was revealed that Winona Ryder, Dan Levy, and Hasan Minhaj were cast. [31]
Principal photography ran from October 4, 2021, [32] to late February 2022 in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Atlanta, Georgia. [26] [28] Production also occurred at Trilith Studios. [33] The visual effects were handled by DNEG [34] and Industrial Light & Magic. [35]
Kris Bowers composed the film's score. [36] The soundtrack album was released on July 26 by Walt Disney Records, two days before the film. [37]
Haunted Mansion had its world premiere at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, on July 15, 2023. Due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike occurring a few days prior, the film's cast members could not attend the premiere, with the park's Disney characters including Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Disney villains such as Maleficent, Cruella de Vil, and the Evil Queen walking the red carpet instead. [38] [39] It was released theatrically in the United States on July 28 [40] in 4DX [41] and Dolby Cinema formats. [42] It was previously scheduled for March 10, 2023, [43] and then August 11, 2023. [44]
Before the film's release, the cast appeared on the game show Celebrity Family Feud . [45]
Haunted Mansion was released on digital platforms on October 3, Disney+ on October 4, and Blu-ray and DVD on October 17. [46] [47]
In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside Talk to Me , and was projected to gross $25–30 million from 3,740 theaters in its opening weekend, though a debut of $20–25 million had also been considered possible. [48] [49] It made $10 million on its first day, including $3.1 million from Thursday night previews. [2] [50] It went on to debut to $24.1 million, finishing in third below Barbie and Oppenheimer , and failing to top the opening weekend of the 2003 film ($24.3 million, unadjusted for inflation). Reasons for the low opening have been cited for competition from Barbie and Oppenheimer, lack of marketing, divided word of mouth, and its Halloween-esque tone. Disney suggested that not having the cast available for promotional appearances (due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike) had a negative impact on the opening weekend. [51] Given its $150 million production budget, Variety opined the opening was "not a great result for a kid-centric tentpole", and that the film was "Halloween-esque". [52] The film fell 62% in its second weekend to $9.2 million, finishing fifth. [53]
Haunted Mansion grossed $67.7 million in the United States and Canada, and $49.8 million in other territories, for worldwide gross of $117.5 million. [3] [4] Deadline Hollywood calculated the net losses of the film to be $117 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues. [54]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 38% of 253 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.1/10.The website's consensus reads: "Haunted Mansion's talented cast makes the movie a pleasant enough destination, although it's neither scary nor funny enough to wholeheartedly recommend." [55] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 47 out of 100, based on 52 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. [56] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled at PostTrak gave it an 80% overall positive score, with 60% saying they would definitely recommend the film. [2]
Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian gave the film two out of five stars, and stated, "Lakeith Stanfield, Rosario Dawson, Owen Wilson and Jamie Lee Curtis cannot save this laborious story of a creepy old dwelling and the awful Hatbox Ghost." [57] Peter Debruge of Variety wrote, "While the visual effects are surprisingly weak for a film of this scale, the script proves far better than anyone might expect, establishing an emotional foundation for what might otherwise be a gimmick-driven haunted house movie." [58] Lucas Trevor of The Washington Post wrote, "It's too dark for a family film, too weightless and juvenile for grown-ups. In a season notable for high-level action spectacle and important auteur projects, Haunted Mansion is not just confused but inconsequential." [59]
The Haunted Mansion is a dark ride attraction located at Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, and Tokyo Disneyland. The haunted house attraction features a ride-through tour in Omnimover vehicles called "Doom Buggies", and a walk-through show is displayed to riders waiting in the queue line. Each location differs slightly in design, utilizing a range of technology from centuries-old theatrical effects to modern special effects, including spectral Audio-Animatronics. The Haunted Mansion inspired two similarly themed but distinct attractions, Phantom Manor and Mystic Manor, which exist at Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland, respectively.
Owen Cunningham Wilson is an American actor and comedian. He has frequently worked with filmmaker Wes Anderson, with whom he has shared writing and acting credits on the films Bottle Rocket (1996), Rushmore (1998), and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)—the latter received a nomination for the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay. He has also appeared in Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), The Darjeeling Limited (2007), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), and The French Dispatch (2021). Wilson also starred in the Woody Allen romantic comedy Midnight in Paris (2011) as disenchanted screenwriter Gil Pender, a role which received a Golden Globe Award nomination. In 2014, he appeared in Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice and Peter Bogdanovich's She's Funny That Way.
The Haunted Mansion is a 2003 American supernatural horror comedy film directed by Rob Minkoff and written by David Berenbaum. Loosely based on Walt Disney's theme park attraction of the same name, the film stars Eddie Murphy as a realtor who, along with his family, becomes trapped in the titular building. Terence Stamp, Wallace Shawn, Marsha Thomason and Jennifer Tilly appear in supporting roles.
Guillermo del Toro Gómez is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and artist. His work has been characterized by a strong connection to fairy tales, gothicism and horror often blending the genres, with an effort to infuse visual or poetic beauty in the grotesque. He has had a lifelong fascination with monsters, which he considers symbols of great power. He is also known for his use of insectile and religious imagery, his themes of Catholicism, anti-fascism, and celebrating imperfection, underworld motifs, practical special effects, and dominant amber lighting.
"Grim Grinning Ghosts (The Screaming Song)" is the theme song for The Haunted Mansion franchise and its attractions at Disney theme parks. It was composed by Buddy Baker, with lyrics written by X Atencio. Its melody has been adapted for numerous uses since its composition in the late 1960s.
Haunted Mansion Holiday is a seasonal overlay of The Haunted Mansion attraction at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland that blends the settings and characters of the original Haunted Mansion with those of the 1993 film The Nightmare Before Christmas. Taking inspiration from "The Night Before Christmas", the attraction retells the story of Jack Skellington visiting the Haunted Mansion on Christmas Eve, leaving holiday chaos in his wake.
In October 2005, Slave Labor Graphics released a new bimonthly comic book series based on the classic Disneyland attraction, The Haunted Mansion. Each issue has roughly four or five separate stories, as well as a piece of the overarching story "Mystery of the Manse", which recounts the life of Master Gracey. Each issue, except for #3, features a cover by Roman Dirge.
The Haunted Mansion is a 2003 action-adventure video game developed by High Voltage Software, published by TDK Mediactive. The game is based on the Disney ride of the same name, rather than the eponymous film, which was released shortly after the game. However, some elements and set designs from the film are incorporated into the game's version of the mansion.
HalloWishes was a fireworks show that took place during "Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party" at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom theme park from 2005 to 2018. It was loosely based on the popular Haunted Mansion attraction and includes vocal appearances by Disney Villains. It was replaced by Disney's Not So Spooky Spectacular!.
The Hatbox Ghost is an animatronic character that appeared originally in The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland but was removed shortly after the attraction's debut in 1969. Located formerly in the ride's attic scene, the figure is described as "an elderly [male] ghost in a cloak and top hat, leaning on a cane with a wavering hand and clutching a hatbox in the other." After 45 years of absence, the character was returned to the attraction in 2015.
Crimson Peak is a 2015 gothic romance film directed by Guillermo del Toro and written by del Toro and Matthew Robbins. The film stars Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain, Charlie Hunnam, and Jim Beaver. The story, set in Victorian-Era England, follows an aspiring author who travels to a remote Gothic mansion in Cumberland, England with her new husband and his sister. There, she must decipher the mystery behind the ghostly visions that haunt her new home.
LaKeith Lee Stanfield is an American actor. He made his feature film debut in Short Term 12 (2013), for which he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. He received further recognition for his roles in the films Get Out (2017), Sorry to Bother You (2018), Uncut Gems (2019), Knives Out (2019), and Judas and the Black Messiah (2021), the lattermost of which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Justin Simien is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. His first feature film, Dear White People, won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Talent at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. It was later adapted into the Netflix series of the same name (2017–2021). Simien has also been named to Variety's 2013 "10 Directors to Watch" list.
The Shape of Water is a 2017 romantic fantasy film directed and produced by Guillermo del Toro, who co-wrote the screenplay with Vanessa Taylor. It stars Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Octavia Spencer. Set in 1962 Baltimore, Maryland, the film follows a mute cleaner at a high-security government laboratory who falls in love with a captured humanoid amphibian creature and decides to help him escape from death at the hands of an evil colonel. Filming took place on location in Ontario, Canada, from August to November 2016.
The following is a list of unproduced Guillermo del Toro projects in roughly chronological order. During his decades-long career, Mexican filmmaker and author Guillermo del Toro has worked on a number of projects that never progressed beyond the pre-production stage. Some of these projects fell into development hell and are presumably canceled, while some were taken over and completed by other filmmakers.
Brigham Taylor is a film producer for Walt Disney Pictures. He has worked for Disney since 1994, and became a producer for the company in 2014. He co-produced the live-action films The Jungle Book and Christopher Robin.
Leota "Lee" Toombs Thomas was an American artist and Imagineer at WED Enterprises, who worked on several original attractions at Disneyland Park. She had an extensive career at The Walt Disney Company, beginning in the company's Ink and Paint department in 1940 and later transferring to the Animation Department, where she met her first husband, lead animator Harvey Toombs. Toombs is best known for serving as the model for the character Madame Leota in the Haunted Mansion attraction. She was officially named a Disney Legend for her contributions in the categories of Attractions and Imagineering in 2009.
Muppets Haunted Mansion is a 2021 American comedy Halloween special based on the Disney properties The Muppets and The Haunted Mansion. It was released on October 8, 2021, via Disney+. It is the Muppets' first Halloween special. The plot stars Gonzo and Pepe as they face the challenge of staying in a haunted mansion for one night. It received generally positive reviews from critics.
Haunted Mansion (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album composed by Kris Bowers for the 2023 film Haunted Mansion by Justin Simien. It was released by Walt Disney Records on July 26, 2023.