Why Didn’t Disney Save ‘Haunted Mansion’ for Halloween?

Rebecca Rubin
·3 min read
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Disney opened “Haunted Mansion” in the heat of summer and months removed from the spookiest time of year.

Whether the release date is connected, ticket sales were veering on scary as the comedic thriller debuted in third place to a lackluster $24 million. Competition was heightened as “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” remained unexpectedly strong in their sophomore outings, collecting a combined $140 million over the weekend. Of course, nobody anticipated the power of “Barbenheimer” when setting the film calendar.

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The $150 million-budgeted “Haunted Mansion” reboot was also hobbled by the actors’ strike because the cast, including LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Jamie Lee Curtis and Jared Leto, wasn’t able to promote the movie on talk shows or in the press.

Internationally, the film collapsed with $9.1 million from 35 markets, bringing its worldwide tally to just $33 million. That’s a disappointing start for a family-friendly tentpole, which will struggle to get out of the red in its theatrical run. It extends an unfortunate summer streak for Disney following “Elemental,” which has rebounded in recent weeks, and “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.”

Disney positioned the film in late July to take advantage of kids being off from school during summer vacation. But it’s possible that sun-soaked moviegoers weren’t in the right state of mind for a supernatural story like “Haunted Mansion,” which is based on the theme park ride and follows a single mother and her son who move into a mansion, only to find out that it’s haunted with ghosts.

“Disney definitely missed the memo trying to launch their spooky pic in the middle of summer,” says Jeff Bock, an analyst with Exhibitor Relations. “While horror can certainly succeed at any time on the release calendar, this family friendly product would have been much better served in the fall and sheltering clear of all the summer popcorn pics.”

The studio may have been trying to avoid the pileup of scary movies on schedule around Halloween. The line-up includes “The Nun II” (Sept. 8), the Agatha Christie-inspired “A Haunting in Venice” (Sept. 15), “Saw X” (Sept. 29), “The Exorcist: Believer” (Oct. 13) and “Five Nights at Freddy’s” (Oct. 27). Yet unlike “Haunted Mansion,” those films, for the most part, aren’t geared toward family audiences.

As Bock mentions, there’s evidence that a movie like this one can succeed even when trick-or-treating isn’t on the minds of ticket buyers. The original “The Haunted Mansion,” starring Eddie Murphy, debuted in late November of 2003. It opened to $24 million, not adjusted for inflation, and managed to gross $180 million on its $90 million budget.

But there were warning signs. After all, Disney’s Halloween-set “Hocus Pocus,” starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy as a trio of witches, flopped in theaters when it opened in July 1993 and only later became a cult classic. The movie is inescapable on TV around the month of October, which is the studio’s dream scenario with “Haunted Mansion.”

That’s where the Disney+ factor comes into play. The studio has been inconsistent with scheduling, though most of its releases have appeared on streaming around 45-90 days after opening in theaters. Disney hasn’t set a digital release date for “Haunted Mansion,” but that timeline suggests the film will be available on premium video-on-demand and Disney+ in late September or early October. That means more content for Disney+ subscribers around Halloween.

“Horror-themed movies often live to haunt small screens down the road,” says Paul Dergarabedian, a senior Comscore analyst. “With Halloween just around the corner, Disney+ will provide a great revenue enhancing opportunity for this mansion.”

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