Haunted Mansion is Disney’s Lowest Performing Attraction-Focused Film Since the Last Haunted Mansion Film
Audiences failed to turn up to cinemas this weekend for a dose of the grim, grinning ghosts and happy haunts of Disney’s live-action Haunted Mansion film. According to a recent piece in ScreenRant, Haunted Mansion (2023) is the lowest opening weekend for a movie adapted from a theme park attraction since…the last Haunted Mansion movie!
Haunted Mansion, which opened on July 28th is the second film adaptation based on the beloved Disney theme park attraction. The original version of Haunted Mansion starred Eddie Murphy and also underperformed at the box office during its 2003 release.
Like Murphy in the original, this year’s Haunted Mansion film features a star-studded cast including Rosario Dawson, LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Dan Levy, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Jared Leto.
Despite the impressive casting, according to pieces in both ScreenRant and The Hollywood Reporter, the three-day total for the new Haunted Mansion fell short of expectations earning $24 – $25 million. This means the film is almost exactly on par with the 2003 version of the film The Haunted Mansion which earned $24.3 million during its opening weekend.
This weekend’s opening numbers are rather foreboding for the film, especially given the fact that Haunted Mansion needs to bring in at least $150 million just to break even. As ScreenRant points out, this figure is just production costs and does not include Disney’s massive promotional campaigns for the film.
So why did Haunted Mansion underperform at the weekend box office? Part of this could be due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strikes. This meant that characters from the Disney theme parks were brought in to replace the actors in the film to walk the red carpet. This resulted in lackluster publicity and lowered visibility for the project.
In addition, Haunted Mansion also had to compete with two box office juggernauts in the form of Barbie and Oppenheimer. Both films continued to dominate at the box office during their second weekend. According to a recent piece in DEADLINE, it is estimated that Barbie will bring in around $93 million on its second weekend and Oppenheimer $46 million.
Lastly, Haunted Mansion failed to win over the critics. It currently has a 41% score on Rotten Tomatoes which could have scared off potential moviegoers. However, it should be noted that the film is performing well with audiences with a score of 86%. It remains to be seen whether or not this word of mouth could have a positive impact on the film during the rest of the summer season.
We will continue to follow the fate of Haunted Mansion closely. Readers are encouraged to keep following along with MickeyBlog for Disney movie news and updates.
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Sources: Deadline, ScreenRant, THR