Back in the early 2000s, someone at the Walt Disney Studios decided to adapt three fan-favorite attractions from the Disney Parks into motion pictures. The attractions? Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion, and The Country Bear Jamboree. One of those spawned a mega-franchise for the studio (Pirates of the Caribbean) with multiple films and even a full circle changing of the theme park ride that inspired it. Of the others, one is remembered for how terribly it was received by critics and at the box office (in comparison to Pirates), and the other (The Country Bears) isn’t remembered at all.
So it’s with great hesitation and trepidation that any idea of a new Haunted Mansion-based film at all would be received by fans of the classic, nay, ICONIC, Disney Parks attraction. However, after more news about the movie came out, including cast reveals and/or their characters, there was a floating candelabra in an endless hallway of hope. Then came the trailer:
And now, even the most hardcore purist fans of the Disney Parks attraction are suddenly enticed to see the new film. But why? Let’s go back.
One of the crown jewels of any Disney Park, the Haunted Mansion has been a legendary attraction since it first opened to guests the Walt Disney’s original Disneyland back in 1969. Long before his death in 1966, the Haunted Mansion was in development, including an attached Museum of the Weird at some points in its design. Like the mansion itself, the attraction’s history is full of multiple storylines with some sects of fans clinging to one more than the other. My personal favorite is that Walt Disney assigned two art directors to the project – Marc Davis and Claude Coats. However, in terms of the tone of the attraction the two didn’t quite see eye to eye. One wanted it to be scary (Coats), the other taking a more silly approach (Davis). As such you get a creepy undertone all building up to a ghostly soiree. After opening at Disneyland, guests loved the attraction so much that it was later replicated as an opening day attraction at Walt Disney World in 1971, and later at Tokyo Disneyland in 1983. Not to be left without, Disneyland Paris had their own version of the mansion in 1992 with a decidedly darker take on the tale prominently featuring a more defined narrative with Phantom Manor. When assessing expansions at Hong Kong Disneyland, a new incarnation of the Haunted Mansion was developed, though it took a more culturally appropriate approach and focused more on the paranormal and mystifying aspects of the attraction in lieu of ghostly spirits and apparitions from the afterlife. In 2013, Mystic Manor opened at the park and wowed guests around the world with its 21st century approach to the classic ride.
In 2003, after a spectacular summer debut of the original Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, for that group of Disney Parks fans who always favored The Mansion more than the Pirates of New Orleans Square, now it was their turn to head to the big screen that fall. What waited for them was a critically panned romp that starred comedian Eddie Murphy as he played a realtor that was called to help sell a decrepit old mansion. What follows is a send-up of the original attraction, complete with scenes that were designed to get audiences to say “that’s from the ride!” more than actually drive the story of the film, which ended up with Murphy’s wife being the reincarnation of the (dead) homeowner’s wife. Oh and something with the butler being evil too. But hey! They have the singing busts singing the song!
The creative team behind the film had a large history of working with animated fare, so sight gags and cartoony humor won out in the telling of the story, but the general consensus of critics was “neither scary, nor funny.” You know, the exact opposite of the attraction and its two art directors.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is a great movie in its own right, telling a wonderfully creepy story that also features wit. Johnny Depp brought his original character of Jack Sparrow off the screen and into the hearts of fans, standing on its own having no pre-existing equivalent on the attraction. In fact, all the references to the attraction are subtly obvious for park fans but would not distract from the story for those who are unaware in the cinema. A moment where Captain Barbossa in skeleton form busts open a bottle of wine and you see it pouring down his throat and through his ribs is a visual gag to the casual viewer, but fans of the attraction – namely Disneyland’s – get to know that’s a nod to the ride that inspired what they are watching.
That’s why the trailer has inspired hope for those fans of the park attraction to see their beloved house on the big screen. This adaptation seems to have learned that lesson from Pirates of the Caribbean. The new film’s director, Justin Simien recently spoke to this in an interview with EW, saying "I had a little bit of beef with the first film, because the first thing you've got to give the kids is the candy of the mansion that they know and love…I looked at [the film] a lot, mostly to see how easy it would be to go awry in certain spots."
Simien spoke in other interviews saying that he and his team had access to all kinds of design assets from Disney Imagineering, taking inspiration from all the mansions around the world. From the looks of it, aside from two or three characters – namely Madame Leota and the Hatbox Ghost… the ghosts and characters we know from the attraction are background or visual nods. Simien promised "extremely direct influence," including chairs, doorknobs, and paintings lifted right out of the ride, as well as a scene that takes place in the iconic stretching room.
This will all tell a new tale focused on a single mother (played by Rosario Dawson) who enlists a band of paranormal experts (LaKeith Stanfield, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, and Tiffany Haddish) to battle the ghosts spooking her New Orleans home, where the aforementioned Madame Leota (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Hatbox Ghost (Jared Leto) tie the story together, while the references are more for aesthetic than story. Seemingly a vast departure from the 2003 film. Personally speaking, I’m already wowed by the detail and (what I sincerely hope is) subtlety. I especially love a moment in the trailer, where again the joke for those unaware is how fast a police artist (played by Hasan Minhaj) sketches up what the characters have seen, but fans recognize as O.G. Hatbox Ghost renderings. The other side of the coin is, it works so well, should the movie have the success of the original Pirates of the Caribbean, additions and alterations to the park attractions could happen seamlessly…and we know how protective over these attractions the fans can be.
Haunted Mansion debuts in theaters everywhere on July 28th.