Disney's HAUNTED MANSION Movie Leaves Door Open for Sequels
I’ve always had my own ideas for what a Haunted Mansion movie could be. While the upcoming film from director Justin Simien looks like it will be fun and honor the Disney attraction that it’s based on, I still think there’s a much cooler way to tell the haunting stories in the mansion and how it could span multiple films.
If this film movie ends up finding financial success at the box office, I have no doubt that Disney will want to expand on the franchise and make more films. In a recent interview with SFX magazine, Simien says the door has been left open for a sequel, and there is potential for future films:
"It’s definitely in the realm of possibility. I sort of get my rocks off on world-building, so we certainly set up a lot that I think a lot of other stories could derive from and continue from. Not really up to me, but I definitely think there are possibilities there."
There are so many stories to tell within the Haunted Mansion universe, and it looks like a fraction of them are covered in this film. Remember there are 999 haunts in the Haunted Mansion. Obviously, some of those stories will get more attention than others, but it could also set up stories for future films.
When talking about exploring some of those stories and characters, the filmmaker said he got to "lean into the source material, but take it to a new place. We certainly get into the lore of the 999 haunts and particularly what brings these ghosts to this particular place – why this place versus other places. 'Can stuff like this happen?', we get into that a great deal.” He went on to say:
"It was really just about expanding what we know and what we can see around the story just a bit further, but not filling in every blank. Certainly Hatbox Ghost, that was a big one. We’re pulling from what has been established, what really has been rumored, and tried to flesh him out and flesh that story out too. I think it’s really satisfying. But it also leaves the door open for a lot more."
The film is about a mother and her son “who enlist a motley crew of so-called spiritual experts to help rid their home of supernatural squatters.” It has a great cast that includes LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Rosario Dawson, and Danny DeVito star, with Jamie Lee Curtis as Madame Leota, Winona Ryder, Dan Levy, and Hasan Minhaj will also appear in the new movie.
In this horror adventure, “a doctor and her 9-year-old son (Chase Dillon), looking to start a new life, move into a strangely affordable mansion in New Orleans, only to discover that the place is much more than they bargained for. Desperate for help, they contact a priest, who, in turn, enlists the aid of a widowed scientist-turned failed-paranormal expert, a French Quarter psychic, and a crotchety historian.”
Haunted Mansion will be released on July 28th.