Haunted Mansion

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
And before anyone points to Hocus Pocus as an example of a Halloween movie released in the summer, remember that Hocus Pocus FLOPPED hard on its initial release and only became popular after TV reruns and VHS sales.

What often gets overlooked is that same year The Nightmare Before Christmas was released in October and Disney likely didn't want the two movies competing with each other.

But in this case, yes, it would have made more sense to release Haunted Mansion closer to Halloween. Even with @yensidtlaw1969 's Disney+ strategy, they could have released it late September and then have a "surprise" streaming release on Halloween or a couple days before.
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
I'm really curious about Barbie. I can't tell what is a genuine groundswell of interest in the film, versus a really aggressive marketing push.

It's a genuine groundswell. Trust me. I knew it the moment I saw the YouTube preview. This one is going to be huge.

I already bought two different Halloween costumes before they sell out; Rollerblade Ken and Cowboy Ken.
 

WorldExplorer

Well-Known Member
In fairness, Hocus Pocus didn't have a Disney+ to land on just in time for the Halloween season.

Pretty sure that's what Disney's counting on with this one. It's not gonna make big money at the Box Office, but it'll get streamed a billion times across the month of October. Unless it's that bad.

Seems like that's part of why the release date was moved up - Open in theaters in September and you can't double-dip like that. But if it's in theaters in the summer and then available at home through the Halloween season it'll do numbers you'd never see if it hit Disney+ in, like, January.

Is it dumb to suggest maybe they could've released it in October 2023 and put it on Disney+ in October 2024? Give it the best chance at the box office AND an appropriate Disney+ release date? Even if you presume it definitely won't make a significant amount of box office money, surely it's still better to get as much as possible?

I don't really understand why things need to show up on streaming near immediately after release.
 

Disney Irish

Premium Member
Is it dumb to suggest maybe they could've released it in October 2023 and put it on Disney+ in October 2024? Give it the best chance at the box office AND an appropriate Disney+ release date? Even if you presume it definitely won't make a significant amount of box office money, surely it's still better to get as much as possible?
The issue comes when you move one movie its not just that movie that has to shuffle. Studios have too many movies being released, so when one movie shuffles it ends up affecting potentially their whole release schedule. You saw this recently when Disney had to go and adjust almost their entire 2024/2025/2026 release schedule.

At least the July date is better than the original release date of March 10th.

I don't really understand why things need to show up on streaming near immediately after release.
They aren't anymore, Disney and other studios are changing that strategy for a lot of movies to wait months before they get to streaming.
 

WorldExplorer

Well-Known Member
The issue comes when you move one movie its not just that movie that has to shuffle. Studios have too many movies being released, so when one movie shuffles it ends up affecting potentially their whole release schedule. You saw this recently when Disney had to go and adjust almost their entire 2024/2025/2026 release schedule.

At least the July date is better than the original release date of March 10th.


They aren't anymore, Disney and other studios are changing that strategy for a lot of movies to wait months before they get to streaming.

I'm not expecting a shuffle, I'm questioning more why they wouldn't just do that to begin with, if we're taking it as a given that the July release date is for the sake of making a Disney + in October.

Months still seems short, from both the perspective of how long you used to need to wait, and the perspective of how long seems like too long to wait to see the thing "for free", but I guess that's opinion based (or based on information I don't have, in a general population sense).
 

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
Is it dumb to suggest maybe they could've released it in October 2023 and put it on Disney+ in October 2024? Give it the best chance at the box office AND an appropriate Disney+ release date? Even if you presume it definitely won't make a significant amount of box office money, surely it's still better to get as much as possible?

I don't really understand why things need to show up on streaming near immediately after release.
They want to get their return as fast as possible. There’s no major benefit to waiting a year to put it on Disney+ when they could possibly be getting *some* streaming in the meantime. It’ll be just as big next October whether it’s brand new on the platform or not.

Unless it absolutely tanks in theaters and gets immediately sent to Disney+ like Encanto did (Which proved popular with families once it was very easily accessible, but probably won’t be repeated here), they want a healthy window between the film’s release and its arrival online. Opening in July gives them a couple months of buffer before it hits Disney+ at . . . I’d guess the end of September/early October.

They want enough time to try and discourage people from waiting who might otherwise see it in theaters, but also not SO much time that people forget it even existed. Disney+ (among other streamers) think they have a problem with dead media taking up space but getting no viewership. This will probably not be one of those, but waiting a year and letting people forget the thing exists - especially if the box office is soft - wouldn’t help.

They seem to think this is their best shot with Haunted Mansion.
 

MagicHappens1971

Well-Known Member
Question - if those “friends of Mickey/Minnie” are SAG members as well, does that cause an issue given the strike?
Disney Character Performers are not in any big entertainment union. Actors like Belle & Gaston in Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage and the performers from Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser are part of AGVA.

On that note, I can't speak to Disneyland Character Performers, but I would say pretty confidently that they are not in SAG. Only little other tidbit I'll throw in here is that SAG has come out publicly and said that anyone who is an aspiring SAG member and "crosses the picket line" during this strike will not be able to ever become a member. I would say that would apply to these performers as they are "promoting a movie from a struck studio". Murky waters ahead for sure.
 

Tha Realest

Well-Known Member
Disney Character Performers are not in any big entertainment union. Actors like Belle & Gaston in Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage and the performers from Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser are part of AGVA.

On that note, I can't speak to Disneyland Character Performers, but I would say pretty confidently that they are not in SAG. Only little other tidbit I'll throw in here is that SAG has come out publicly and said that anyone who is an aspiring SAG member and "crosses the picket line" during this strike will not be able to ever become a member. I would say that would apply to these performers as they are "promoting a movie from a struck studio". Murky waters ahead for sure.
Thanks for the update here. I just wasn’t sure if , say, a character CM also happened to be in SAG, and then, in another non-union job, performed a duty that would be considered a strikebreaker.

Walking the red carpet in the capacity conventionally expected (and required by many contracted actors) of the lead actors seems like it might be a problem, even if the character CM role isn’t a unionized one?
 

MagicHappens1971

Well-Known Member
Walking the red carpet in the capacity conventionally expected (and required by many contracted actors) of the lead actors seems like it might be a problem, even if the character CM role isn’t a unionized one?
Yeah, SAG actors cannot participate in any capacity that relates to promoting “struck” work.
 

GimpYancIent

Well-Known Member
They want to get their return as fast as possible. There’s no major benefit to waiting a year to put it on Disney+ when they could possibly be getting *some* streaming in the meantime. It’ll be just as big next October whether it’s brand new on the platform or not.

Unless it absolutely tanks in theaters and gets immediately sent to Disney+ like Encanto did (Which proved popular with families once it was very easily accessible, but probably won’t be repeated here), they want a healthy window between the film’s release and its arrival online. Opening in July gives them a couple months of buffer before it hits Disney+ at . . . I’d guess the end of September/early October.

They want enough time to try and discourage people from waiting who might otherwise see it in theaters, but also not SO much time that people forget it even existed. Disney+ (among other streamers) think they have a problem with dead media taking up space but getting no viewership. This will probably not be one of those, but waiting a year and letting people forget the thing exists - especially if the box office is soft - wouldn’t help.

They seem to think this is their best shot with Haunted Mansion.
July 16th, 1993, Hocus Pocus was released and has come on to become a Halloween classic so Haunted Mansion stands a very good chance of developing long term legs.
 
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