If a SAG-AFTRA strike begins this week, the planned “Haunted Mansion” premiere at Disneyland this Saturday could become a fan event, Deadline reports.
The SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) contract was extended through Wednesday, July 12. If negotiations between the union and studios fall through, actors could be on strike alongside WGA writers.
If a SAG-AFTRA strike goes forward, actors cannot do press unless nominated for a Primetime Emmy. Disney is figuring out what the “Haunted Mansion” premiere could look like and are reportedly still considering having a press line with studio executives and crew members. This could include interviews with director Justin Simien, producers Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich, executive producers Nick Reynolds and Tom Peitzman, and composer Kris Bowers.
‘Haunted Mansion’ Movie
The upcoming “Haunted Mansion” film follows a doctor (Rosario Dawson) and her 9-year-old son (Chase Dillon) moving into a haunted abode in New Orleans. Dawson’s character ends up calling in a priest (Owen Wilson) to exorcise the manor. They also get help from a widowed scientist-turned-failed-paranormal expert (LaKeith Stanfield), a French Quarter psychic (Tiffany Haddish), and a historian (Danny DeVito).
Jamie Lee Curtis portrays Madame Leota, and Jared Leto serves as the Hatbox Ghost. Curtis called the film “modern, fresh, old-fashioned, and scary, but not scary like a monster movie. It’s scary, like a Disney ride, and funny. If you go on that ride, there’s a lot of humor as well as the scary, ghost-y stuff.”
Curtis, Wilson, and Stanfield recently worked the Haunted Mansion attraction at Disneyland to promote the film.
During the “Studio Showcase Day 1: Celebrate the Magic of Disney and Pixar” panel at the D23 Expo 2022 in Anaheim, Disney debuted the “Haunted Mansion” trailer. Director Justin Simien took to the stage to speak about the project and detail some of the cameos audiences can expect from Winona Ryder, Dan Levy, Hasan Minhaj, and more.
Walt Disney Studios will present a behind-the-scenes look at “Haunted Mansion” during Midsummer Scream — Halloween & Horror Convention in Long Beach, California, at the end of July.
The film will be in theaters on July 28, 2023.
The Haunted Mansion
This classic Disney attraction can now be found at several Disney Parks around the world. The first iteration opened in 1969 at Disneyland as part of the New Orleans Square expansion. Two years later, it was an opening day attraction in Liberty Square at Magic Kingdom, and in 1983, it was an opening day attraction at Tokyo Disneyland, too.
The Disneyland Paris version of Haunted Mansion is named Phantom Manor, while at Hong Kong Disneyland, Mystic Manor is a completely different attraction that draws some inspiration from the original whilst avoiding references to the afterlife out of respect toward traditional Chinese cultural precedent.
Haunted Mansion is full of famous ghostly characters and spirits like Madame Leota, the Bride, the subjects of the stretching room portraits, and the Hatbox Ghost.
The Hatbox Ghost was in the original Disneyland Haunted Mansion on opening day. Technology had not quite caught up to the ghost’s vanishing and appearing head, however, so the effect only lasted a few weeks before disappearing for nearly 50 years.
This effect returned to the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland in 2015. He appears at the end of the attic scene, after the Bride “greets” guests. The Hatbox Ghost will soon be installed in the Magic Kingdom version of the Haunted Mansion, too.
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