Director Justin Simien has found himself in an unfortunate position heading into the release of Disney’s Haunted Mansion reboot next weekend, and not just because of the dual-pronged strikes to have ground the industry to a halt.
That’s definitely a factor, though, seeing as the do-over’s recent premiere was populated by performers dressed as some of the Mouse House’s most recognizable characters on account of the fact none of the cast members were attending in a show of solidarity with picketers everywhere.
In addition, the big budget horror comedy with a reputed price tag of $157 million is tracking to become the latest Disney misfire at the box office, and opening weekend projections are on a par with the Eddie Murphy-led version that hit theaters 20 years ago, which isn’t great considering tickets are now vastly more expensive.
During a panel appearance at Comic-Con, Simien was asked about any projects that ended up lodged in the deepest recesses of development hell, only to respond by saying “Disney is paying for me to be here, so I can’t.” However, he did elaborate without going into specifics, and you can’t help but get the feeling he’s talking about stalled Star Wars series Lando.
“You have a bunch of great initial meetings and the people are meeting with are genuinely excited, and then their bosses come into the picture. And they’re not so sure or they were in a shareholder meeting or whatever goes on above our pay grade. And somewhere in the middle, it changes. [It becomes the] very thing we hired you to do, let’s not do that.”
If Haunted Mansion is a hit, then maybe Simien will get the chance to finally drag Lando onto screens, but that remains entirely up in the air for the time being.
