Critics Say Boo to Haunted Mansion
Disney’s latest big budget family blockbuster is far from spectre-cular, according to critics. Ahead of Haunted Mansion’s cinematic release on July 28, reviews have gone live on aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, and the scores aren’t great.
With a 51% rating after 63 reviews, it’s a long way from the year’s best-rated films in the likes of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (96%) and John Wick: Chapter 4 (94%).
That’s not to say Haunted Mansion is among the worst films of the year, critically speaking. That title belongs to Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, a February release that managed just 3%.
Still, it doesn’t signify impending success at the box office. With a reported budget of $157 million, which is $10 million more than Barbie cost, Disney has an uphill climb ahead of it. It’s a similar story with the last them park ride Disney turned into a movie, 2021’s Jungle Cruise.
The Dwayne Johnson action flick cost an estimated $362 million, and grossed a worldwide total of $221 million. Usually, that would be a success, but because of high production and promotion costs, Disney failed to break even.
The House of Mouse’s plan of turning Disneyland attractions into movies might need a rethink. But however bad Haunted Mansion does, at least it can’t possibly be treated worse than the Disney movie scrapped after seven weeks.
