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UPDATE: Luke Y Thompson reports from Comic-Con 2010 today: Walt Disney Studios ended the TRON panel with a surprise: the logo of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion ride! The green drawing of a ghost was shown along with some of the spiel from the ride. The audience is asked who it thinks the perfect director would be. Crowd yells out “Tim Burton,” but goes crazy when Guillermo Del Toro comes out! He says he’s nervous because it’s a Disney panel, which limits his vocabulary. He says he has ridden the ride at least once a year since he was a kid, and notes he always felt there were more story possibilities than just a horror movie. That said, “the scary will be scary. We’re being true to the spirit of the original Imagineers… We are not returning Eddie Murphy’s call.” It will be shot in 3D, live-action, and the Hatbox Ghost is the pivotal character.
End panel, for real this time.
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – July 22, 2010 –Guillermo del Toro surprised the 6,500 fans gathered today at Comic-Con with the announcement that he is currently developing a new film for The Walt Disney Studios based on the classic Disney theme park attraction, The Haunted Mansion.
“Dark imagery is an integral part of the Walt Disney legacy. After all, Disney himself was the father of some really chilling moments and characters – think Chernabog from Fantasia or Maleficent as the Dragon or the Evil Queen in Snow White,” said del Toro. “I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of my own adaptation of the original theme park attraction Walt envisioned and that remains- for me- the most desirable piece of real
estate in the whole world!”“Millions of people from around the world visit The Haunted Mansion each year, but no one has ever had a tour guide like Guillermo del Toro,” said Rich Ross, Chairman of The Walt Disney Studios. “Guillermo is one of the most gifted and innovative filmmakers working today and he is going to take audiences on a visually-thrilling journey like they’ve never experienced before.”
Since August 1969, foolish mortals have dared to trespass on the macabre grounds of Disney’s Haunted Mansion. A hallowed landmark in Disneyland’s New Orleans square, it’s the dwelling place of 999 happy haunts dying to meet new visitors each day. The plantation-style of the mansion’s facade is a sweet deception for visitors. Inside, ghostly doom buggies line the hallways. Since its construction, the mysteries of the mansion have transcended the attraction with stories surfacing about horrifying encounters with the supernatural. Versions of the daunting edifice have been built at other Disney theme parks in Orlando, Tokyo and Paris.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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so disney is just conveniently overlooking the post-Pirates eddie murphy haunted mansion here?
Can’t help noticing that the press release somehow forgot to mention Disney’s last attempt at a Haunted Mansion movie, a dud from 2003 starring Eddie Murphy.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338094/
I like how they totally ignore the fact that they already tried this not that many years ago with Eddie Murphy in the lead. I guess they figure no one saw it so they can pretend it didn’t exist… Here’s to V2 being better.
Am I crazy, or didn’t Eddie Murphy do this recently?
I’m confused. Wasn’t this already done? Didn’t it star Eddie Murphy? And didn’t it really suck?
Didn’t Disney already rape this attraction with its unsuccessful family film approach back in 2003 starring tranny-hooker enthusiast Eddie Murphy?
Will lightning strike twice at Disney?
No, because it has already struck three times with Pirates of the Caribbean…and, the fourth bolt of lightning is in production.
I never thought Pirates would work out, but Johnny Depp makes it all worthwhile.
Guillermo, are you casting Johnny in the Haunted Mansion? If he is not available go for Lindsay Lohan or Mel Gibson. They are truly scary people and should fit in nicely!!!!!
Shut up all you dorks. Hasn’t there also been three Incredible Hulk movies in the the past ten years? This is a great potential franchise and this is the perfect director. Yes, the Eddie Murphy film sucked. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be done right. Smart move by Rich Ross & Co. I say…
Del Toro will make it work. He’s a genius.
guillermo should know that disney will suck him dry and kick him to the curb with no appreciation for any profits he shows them… just ask verbinski
Anyone recall how Del Toro said “As a child, I made friends with the monsters in my room”? Well… clearly they are controlling his career. Why else would he do this as his next movie?!!!
I will venture to say it could be a hit, Del Toro made it clear they were going in a different direction than the Eddie Murphy POS. Disney and 3D are a powerful combination, but they will have to seek a PG rating so don’t expect to see anything too scary. Factoid: EM’s Mansion did better in foreign markets than at home.
cool ragnar poster… got mine…
What about Space Mountain, the movie, or Expediton Everest? I sincerely hope this turns out much better than the Eddie Murphy version. I think they just realized it was a good idea that was poorly executed, which it was. I say good luck to them. Can’t be any worse than the other shit that’s in theaters this summer.
Del Toro left production of The Hobbit to do this deluxe POS? I guess MGM’s checks were bouncing and Disney offered some reliable cash.
Can’t believe the complaining in this thread. HAUNTED MANSION is as ripe a “cinematic franchise” as PIRATES, Disney just got it all wrong the first time by casting Eddie Murphy and everyone knew it — viewers hated, critics hated it, and it did poorly at the box-office.
Del Toro’s sensibilities are IDEAL for this material. Kudos to Disney for going after it, this has the potential to get the film geeks excited and general viewers as well.
This.
Everything about the Murphy one was wrongheaded and catastrophically unrelated to what informs the attraction at Disney.
This is great news.
Agreed–this is a _very_ smart call on Disney’s part. They’ve got product-name recognition (as it were). (And, really, who even remembers the Murphy HM move?) And with del Toro on board, it’s a win-win: they’ll either get a terrific scary movie; a movie that revitalizes the haunted-house genre–or both.
Tim Burton Would Have Been A Better Director. Hopefully Del Toro Knows What He’s Doing, Since They Clearly Are Trying To Make This A Horror Movie Instead Of A Family Movie.
So Guillermo impatiently left The Hobbit…to make THIS? What an artist!
LIIIIIISTEEEEEENNN PEOPLEEEEEE…
this won’t really have anything to do with eddie murphy and THAT movie, although I still actually enjoy that version. THIS one stars the hatbox ghost, and has an entirely DIFFERENT plot. And STOP asking the same question over and over.It’s annoying. They probably didn’t bring the old movie up because the only similarities will be the house and the ghosts. End of story. do more detective work before posting, jezz..