Rosario Dawson has joined the cast of Disney’s live-action The Haunted Mansion movie, inspired by its famous park attraction of the same name, as reported by Deadline. While the project is being kept under wraps, the new The Haunted Mansion adaptation had already cast Owen Wilson, Tiffany Haddish, and LaKeith Stanfield.
It seems like Disney is trying to keep big cast names busy with multiple projects, as Wilson recently starred in the Loki TV show, and Dawson is set to come back as the Jedi Ahsoka Tano in a solo series next year, after her cameo on Season 2 of The Mandalorian. The Haunted Mansion will be directed by Justin Simien, who has been announced to be serving as the creator and writer for the Lando series for Disney+. Ghostbusters scribe Katie Dippold will be writing the screenplay, while 2019’s Aladdin producers Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich will be producing The Haunted Mansion under their Rideback label.
The Haunted Mansion is Disney’s second shot at adapting the park attraction into a live-action movie. The first movie, starring Eddie Murphy, failed to meet the studios’ expectations after grossing only $182 million worldwide. Curiously, the first Haunted Mansion movie was released in 2003, the same year Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl created a highly successful franchise inspired by another park attraction.
The Haunted Mansion comes in on the heels of Disney’s Jungle Cruise, which used Dwayne Johnson’s and Emily Blunt’s charisma to create another success based on a park ride. Jungle Cruise already made $193 million on international box office as the pandemic still affects movie theaters, a number that doesn’t take into account the sales through Disney+ Premier Access. Disney already confirmed a sequel to Jungle Cruise, which indicates the studio is invested in the idea of expanding its park rides into profitable franchises.
There’s no news about The Haunted Mansion’s possible release, but we should learn more about the project as the movie goes into production.
via Collider