In a turn-up for the books that would have sounded borderline unthinkable as recently as last year, a big budget Disney movie not bombing at the box office now appears to be the exception and not the rule, with Haunted Mansion failing to even match pre-release expectations that weren’t exactly all that great to begin with.
James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has been the one bright spot amidst an annum of disappointments and outright duds, with the likes of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Elemental, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and The Little Mermaid all falling short of where they need to be from a commercial perspective, and it’s not really a shock that a Halloween-themed movie releasing at the end of July is set to follow suit.
Per the latest projections, Haunted Mansion is on course to end the weekend with a haul of under $25 million, dire news for a production that carries an estimated price tag of $157 million. Director Justin Simien has been doing his best to promote the film as best he can, but even he knows he’s been fighting an uphill battle with writers and actors both on strike and refusing to acknowledge their most recent contributions to the industry.
That being said, ever since Haunted Mansion was first announced, questions have been asked as to why the Mouse House felt the need to mount a lavish, star-studded, and vastly expensive reboot of a 20 year-old Eddie Murphy vehicle that wasn’t all that popular to begin with, especially when so many of its theme park-inspired features have done nothing but tank.
Unfortunately, Simien’s invocation of Jack Sparrow and Pirates of the Caribbean is already decomposing faster than his latest flick’s titular ghouls.
