New ‘Haunted Mansion’ Movie in the Works

[Zorro]

The whole thing seems to be stepping out with the wrong foot. I would have thought that the way the Eddie Murphey film is remembered would have some bearing on the creative direction of the remake. Really, is anyone here interested in a Haunted Mansion comedy? I would love for Disney to have taken a chance and made something similar in tone to Watcher In The Woods. I remember when I saw concept artwork for the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, prior to release. I recall sadly thinking that Disney would never do skeleton pirates as eerie and gruesome as those depicted in the art. You can imagine how thrilled I was when those skeletal designs actually appeared in the movie! That's the kind of surprise that this Haunted Mansion adaptation should offer.

To do the HM justice, it absolutely has to be a comedy or at the very least darkly comedic, but I agree that they should steer clear of the "comedian in the haunted house" film genre. While it's been done well in the past (like the Bob Hope films The Ghost Breakers and The Cat and the Canary), it's been done too much. Also, let's steer clear of anything like Opie Taylor or Richie Cunningham exploring the mansion. Avoid the whole outsider stumbling upon the abandoned house motif. I'd rather see an origin story. How did the mansion become haunted? Where did the ghosts come from? Don't make it silly like the 2003 film, but at the same time it shouldn't be a humorless, dark horror film. Again, use those Vincent Price films I mentioned earlier as a template for combing comedy with horror. For that matter, maybe add a few dashes of The Addams Family, The Munsters and Alfred Hitchcock's droll wit.

 

[SplashGhost]

3. For some inspiration, take a look at some of Vincent Price's horror-comedies of the 1960s like The Comedy of Terrors, The Raven, and the Dr. Phibes films. These films successfully combined legitimate chills with macabre comedy. Just the perfect blend for a HM film.

I think this is the tone that a Haunted Mansion movie should go for. There is a long history of horror/comedies that can be used for inspiration. The great horror comedies generally are funny while still having elements of actual horror. I think taking inspiration from the Vincent Price movies would be the best for a Disney HM movie since those movies worked without being gory. I just don't know of any current actor that could ever equal Price in those types of movies.

Maybe the best case scenario is to build a time machine and make a Haunted Mansion movie with Price back in the 1970s.

Better idea- Disney should make a traditional hand drawn Br'er Tales film or series that focuses on the traditional African folklore and distances the characters away from Joel Chandler Harris, and gives them an origin that's removed from Song of the South.

And then cancel Frog Mountain, instead opting to create a high quality Tiana dark ride from the ground up where the New Orleans Square Train Station currently sits. Incorporate a new highly themed station into the structure, a fully fledged Tiana's restaurant into the ride structure.

Haunted Mansion doesn't need a new movie.

This would be great, but it would be far too good of an idea for Disney to actually do it.

 

[smooch]

Better idea- Disney should make a traditional hand drawn Br'er Tales film or series that focuses on the traditional African folklore and distances the characters away from Joel Chandler Harris, and gives them an origin that's removed from Song of the South.

And then cancel Frog Mountain, instead opting to create a high quality Tiana dark ride from the ground up where the New Orleans Square Train Station currently sits. Incorporate a new highly themed station into the structure, a fully fledged Tiana's restaurant into the ride structure.

Haunted Mansion doesn't need a new movie.

So when are you applying to become an Imagineer? I never even had the thought but I feel like having a hand drawn Br'er Tales series could be a fantastic way to change the association of the characters of the ride. Plus they could tell traditional African folklore and be respectful to history the way they were with Coco and Moana to their respective cultures and create even more diversity in their cultural impact. Then you get to keep one of the best rides in any Disney park, plus creating a new ride from the ground up allows Imagineers to have so much more room creatively to actually create a ride appropriate for PatF and not shoe horn it into an existing building that can make the ride feel forces a la Guardians of the Galaxy. Sure this would cost a lot more money because it requires creating a series as well as an entire new attraction but the quality would (hopefully) more than make up for that and could drive all the sales merch and Instagrammable moments they want. Sad how quickly this was announced after its apparent conception and has to remove such an iconic attraction in the process.

If you have anymore armchair Imagineering projects in your mind I would love to hear them.

 

[Phroobar]

I watched PATF last night and you can tell that movie was designed to replace Splash Mountain. Everything in it could easily be overlayed into the mountain. The setting is New Orleans Square. The Mark Twain and the Haunted Mansion can be seen in the movie. The plan for this overlay has been around for along time. It will just take the right internal political environment to make it happen. Too bad this movie doesn't work for Florida's Splash Mountain because there isn't a NOS.

As for a Haunted Mansion movie, those are good ideas except Hollywood isn't creative enough to come up with something like that. The easy route is to just put a popular comedian in the house and let things happen to him. Even the mentioned Bob Hope movie follows that formula. Disney needs the correct producer with enough vision to stand up against the suits and do it properly. If that movie did get made, it wouldn't be aimed at the family market enough be successful.

 

[MarvelCharacterNerd]

Random thought I just had... would Tim Burton be a good choice for the one in charge of a Haunted Mansion movie?

First reaction: ooooooooo that could work

And then I remembered his Dark Shadows film.

Yeah, no.

 

[Mac Tonight]

They should have given this to Taika Waititi.

 

[Deleted member 107043]

OK, since we're tossing around ideas for fun I'm going on a limb here.... but what about Steven Spielberg? My mind immediately goes to Poltergeist.

In his heyday Spielberg frequently made better "Disney" films or wrote better "Disney" screenplays than Disney.

 

[Mac Tonight]

OK, since we're tossing around ideas for fun I'm going on a limb here.... but what about Steven Spielberg? My mind immediately goes to Poltergeist. In his heyday Spielberg frequently made better "Disney" films or wrote better "Disney" screenplays than Disney.

I'd have said yes... if this was the 1990's.

 

[Phroobar]

For a successful Haunted Mansion movie, Disney needs to outsource to Ghost House or Blumhouse Pictures or at least the Asylum. Picture this, five girls between the ages 25-32 are hired to clean out the Haunted Mansion. They somehow get locked in for the night. After getting dirty from cleaning part of the house, they decide to take showers together and change into nighties for the night. The ghosts decide to chase them around the house and pick them off one by one until our heroine is left. She finds out the secret of the Haunted Mansion and escapes through the outdoor crypt.

 

[CraftyFox]

They should have given this to Taika Waititi.

I absolutely love this. Honestly I think he would have been an amazing fit, What We Do in the Shadows and all that. He’s worked with Disney in the past too.

 

[Mac Tonight]

I absolutely love this. Honestly I think he would have been an amazing fit, What We Do in the Shadows and all that. He’s worked with Disney in the past too.

Not to mention he's still attached to do a Star Wars film at some point, AND Thor 4. Why not? Give me a What We Do in the Shadows movie about the house Ghosts... and I'd be a happy guy.

 

[Zorro]

For a successful Haunted Mansion movie, Disney needs to outsource to Ghost House or Blumhouse Pictures or at least the Asylum. Picture this, five girls between the ages 25-32 are hired to clean out the Haunted Mansion. They somehow get locked in for the night. After getting dirty from cleaning part of the house, they decide to take showers and change into nighties for the night. The ghosts decide to chase them around the house and pick them off one by one until our heroin is left. She finds out the secret of the Haunted Mansion and escapes through the outdoor crypt.

So by default the Ghost Host becomes a drug dealer?

 

[PiratesMansion]

I'd have said yes... if this was the 1990's.

see also: Tim Burton

 

[Mac Tonight]

see also: Tim Burton

My only concern with Burton is that they could have seen fit to "Burton-ize" the whole mansion. I mean, HMH is probably the best compromise... but my feelings on that are well documented on this site.

 

[PiratesMansion]

My only concern with Burton is that they could have seen fit to "Burton-ize" the whole mansion. I mean, HMH is probably the best compromise... but my feelings on that are well documented on this site.

There would cease to be much of a difference between the two versions of the Mansion IMO.

 

[Mac Tonight]

There would cease to be much of a difference between the two versions of the Mansion IMO.

I'd probably like HM less that way.

 

[PiratesMansion]

So by default the Ghost Host becomes a drug dealer?

I'm your host; your DOPE Host!

Is this haunted room actually stretching? Or is it your inebriation, hmm?!?

 

[D.Silentu]

My mind immediately goes to Poltergeist.

This is an excellent template for a Haunted Mansion movie! Here is a film that is interested in building a sense of wonder inspired by the supernatural, with a only a teaspoon of scares peppered throughout. I could see a Mansion movie flourishing with a similar approach. Poltergeist relies on suspense, featuring only a few times where the characters are directly threatened. It has plenty of heart and a touch of humor. All of these elements, sans a moment or two, could make make for a fantastic Disney style ghost story with wide appeal.

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a sequel to Ghostbusters II instead of the reboot. So not successful enough for Sony to stick with the reboot.

No it's a soft reboot with the Stranger Things kids, meaning it occurs in the same universe as the first 2 films but it is not a direct sequel and this is really trying to be a passing of the torch film so we can have the stranger things kids be the new ghostbusters in future films. the original case will be in this movie at the end for like 5 minutes.

 

[Professortango1]

Random thought I just had... would Tim Burton be a good choice for the one in charge of a Haunted Mansion movie?

No. I love older Burton, but his recent stuff is mediocre at best. I enjoyed Frankenweenie, but his misses, especially as of late, far exceed his hits. Given his Dumbo and Alice, I don't think he's a good fit for the Disney machine.