Disney’s new “Haunted Mansion” movie only made about $24.2 million during its opening weekend, according to The Hollywood Reporter, as “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” continue to dominate theaters.

Slow Start for ‘Haunted Mansion’

Outside of the U.S., “Haunted Mansion” raked in about $9.1 million from 53 territories, for a total of $33.3 million. The film cost at least $200 million to produce and market.

For comparison, the 2003 “The Haunted Mansion” made $24.3 million, not adjusted for inflation, during its opening weekend twenty years ago.

Movie-going has changed since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with many films making less than expected, but “Haunted Mansion” is particularly suffering for a few reasons. While audiences are mostly enjoying it, critics have been giving it poor to mediocre reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an 85% audience score versus a 41% Tomatometer.

The SAG-AFTRA strike also began just days before the Disneyland Resort premiere of “Haunted Mansion.” The premiere went on with fans and characters instead of stars. The “Haunted Mansion” cast is full of big names — like LaKeith Stanfield, Jamie Lee Curtis, Danny DeVito, Owen Wilson, and Rosario Dawson — but they didn’t have much of a chance to promote the film before going on strike.

Tony Chambers, executive vice president of theatrical distribution for Disney, told The New York Times, “Not having the cast available definitely had an impact, especially with ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ attracting so much attention — they’re just behemoths.”

The “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” casts mostly finished their promotional tours before the SAG-AFTRA strike began, with the “Oppenheimer” cast leaving the premiere after walking the red carpet but before the film began.

Chambers is hopeful “Haunted Mansion” could still do well in the coming weeks without many other family films on the horizon. “We’ve got a relatively clear runway for the next four weeks,” he said.

“Elemental” — another film from The Walt Disney Company with a fairly weak start — is close to crossing the $400 million mark in somewhat of a comeback. This places it ahead of other relative financial disappointments such as “The Flash” and “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.”

Have you seen this film yet? Let us know what you think in the comments. Read our “Haunted Mansion” review here.

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