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Why’d it Bomb? The Haunted Mansion (2003)


https://lebeauleblog.com/2017/10/18/whyd-it-bomb-the-haunted-mansion-2003/

Kevthewriter wants to know why Disney’s The Haunted Mansion couldn’t duplicate the success of Pirates of the Caribbean.

In the early 2000’s, Michael Eisner got a terrible idea, among his other terrible ideas: to make movies based off of Disney World/Disneyland Attractions! The first attempt, The Country Bears, was a critical and box office flop. But Pirates of the Caribbean was a huge success and a big phenomenon that spawned many sequels that are being produced to this day. Then came The Haunted Mansion. While it wasn’t a giant flop at the box office, it did bomb domestically and, overall, when you look at the numbers, Eisner and the rest of the people at Disney were probably disappointed by the overall BO gross. But, considering this movie was based on such a popular attraction, why didn’t it do better? Especially following Pirates?

3. Bad Release Date
As I pointed out in my Cat in the Hat article, this movie was released in late November which, honestly, is probably not the best release date for a Haunted Mansion movie. If Disney had been smarter about this, they should’ve released it in October or at least some date that wasn’t close to Christmas time. I mean, would there really be that big of a market for a Haunted House movie in late November or early December? Probably not!

2. Competition
As I also pointed out in that article, there were a LOT of kids/family movies coming out around then-Brother Bear, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, The Cat in the Hat, and Elf. It probably got lost in the sea of other family movies, as families had a lot of choices during that time.

1. The Plot
As the previews made it clear, it was less of a creepy/scary movie then a family comedy starring Eddie Murphy that was set in a haunted mansion. This probably pissed off a lot of fans of the ride who wanted a creepier movie and, as a result, they stayed away.

Weirdly enough, Disney is releasing another horror-themed film, Coco, during Thanksgiving time. But, being a Pixar film, that already gives it an advantage to at least make more than this movie. Plus its only real competition for the family market is Wonder and The Star (which probably won’t do well). But will it do well critically or will it be another Good Dinosaur? Only time will tell. All we know is it probably won’t be another Haunted Mansion.

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I didn't hate it. The set design and the effects for the ghosts and some of the zombie makeup looks amazing. If it was closer in tone to the first Pirates movie, and wasn't a family comedy, it'd been awesome.

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I haven't seen this since it came out, but I seem to remember a scene where a load of zombies emerged from coffins and Murphy and the kids had to run up a long staircase (I may not be remembering that quite right). I thought it was pretty creepy!

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Yes, that scene is well done. Again the costumes look great for what's ostensibly a PG family comedy. I saw the trailer for the reboot before Indiana Jones 5 and was like "Really? this is what counts as a PG13 these days?"

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The new Indiana Jones movie does have scenes where people are bleeding graphically so it is was rated right.

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'Haunted Mansion': Critics hated 2003 Eddie Murphy version, and its star didn't care for it either

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/haunted-mansion-2003-eddie-murphy-version-vs-new-justin-simien-2023-remake-150028188.html

"Neither scary, nor funny," concluded most critics of Disney's first movie version of the famed theme park ride.

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