Disney has a long history of trying to turn its theme park rides into movies, usually to mixed results. The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has often been lauded as the exception to the rule, with five successful films, a long-rumored sixth entry, and a spin-off that’s been in development hell for years. But where Pirates had heart, most of Disney’s other attempts fall into mediocrity, failing to make a splash, such as 2021’s box-office disappointment, Jungle Cruise.
One of Disney’s most iconic rides, The Haunted Mansion, has seen two attempts at a cinematic adaptation. The first, released in 2003 and starring Eddie Murphy, was a modest success, but ill-received by critics. Twenty years later, the Mouse House would try again, releasing The Haunted Mansion three short years ago. Though the film had a star-studded cast, it would be overshadowed by the 2023 release of Barbenheimer, and lose Disney over $100 million.
The Haunted Mansion Was Crushed by The Success of Barbenheimer
In the summer of 2023, everyone was talking about “Barbenheimer,” the double feature of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, both released on July 21st of that year. , making big at the box office and earning numerous award nominations, including Best Picture at the Oscars, which Oppenheimer would ultimately take home. Barbenheimer worked not only because of the contrast between genres, but because they were made by two creatives with distinct visions. It was hard for any film to compete with that, let alone with the hype surrounding both movies, The Haunted Mansion included.
2023’s The Haunted Mansion was part of Disney’s summer line-up of movies that year, a roster which included Elemental and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. And maybe this was just the start of the movie’s problems: releasing a haunted house movie in one of the hottest months of the year, especially when the 2003 version has become a regular Halloween watch for many. The Haunted Mansion came at a time when Disney was trying to make a new franchise out of its attractions. It had released Tomorrowland in 2015, and Jungle Cruise in 2021, both of which performed below expectations. When The Haunted Mansion released, history would unfortunately repeat itself.
The Haunted Mansion follows Ben (LaKeith Stanfield), an astrophysicist whose wife is killed in a car crash. Following her death, Ben continues running his wife’s haunted tours, leading him to the Gracey Manor, where widower Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) and her son, Travis, enlist his help in ridding the manor of its many ghosts. Alongside Stanfield and Dawson, The Haunted Mansion has a full celebrity cast, with appearances from Owen Wilson, Tiffany Haddish, Jamie Lee Curtis, Danny DeVito, and Jared Leto as the Hatbox Ghost. But the movie’s cast wasn’t enough to save it from a middling script, an imbalanced tone, and what many felt was an overabundance of product placements. The Haunted Mansion would earn only $117 million on a $150 million budget, cementing it as a box office bomb for Disney.
The Haunted Mansion Failed to Emulate The Success of The Pirates of the Caribbean
The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was a hit when it came out in 2003, earning over $650 million at the box office. A sequel, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, would release in 2006, and is often considered the best of the series. Looking back, the fact that Disney was able to spin a successful franchise from one of their rides may be seem surprising, but it wasn’t the brand association that made Pirates so beloved, it was iconic performances like Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow, and the series’ strong use of action and visual effects.
But Disney, as they often do, took the wrong lesson from Pirates, and attempted to transform more of their rides into franchises. All of them would fail, because none recognized what Pirates of the Caribbean was in the first place: a film with a vision. For that same reason, Barbenheimer would crush Disney’s second attempt at bringing The Haunted Mansion to the screen, losing the company over $100 million.
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