UPDATE: I updated this post with a look at the new logo created for this film. You’ll find it at the bottom of the article.
In a surprise appearance during the Walt Disney panel at Comic Con, Guillermo del Toro revealed he has signed on to bring Disney’s “Haunted Mansion” ride back to the big screen. I say “back” because as we all remember, Eddie Murphy tread this territory back in 2003 with his comedic take on the story. In an attempt to quell any naysayers, del Toro told the Comic Con audience, “We are not returning Eddie Murphy’s calls, and we are not making it a comedy… We are making it scary and fun, but the scary will be scary.”
But how scary is “scary”. Del Toro told Borys Kit at The Hollywood Reporter, “We want a scary movie that’s as scary as the ride. If you’re 11 years old, you can go on the ride but it’s still scary… Tonally we’re going to make a movie that is for families but is a fun and, at times, scary movie.”
Coming Soon reports “a teaser was shown with a very brief narration about the haunted house over animation.”
As for the plot of the feature, specific details are not yet known, but one ghost that will appear is the elderly ghost in a cloak and top hat, leaning on a cane with a wavering hand and clutching a hatbox in the other known as the Hatbox Ghost (pictured). “There are several mansions around the world and he is the spider in the center of the web of these mansions around the world,” del Toro told The Hollywood Reporter. “He will be a pivotal figure in the screenplay.”
The Hatbox Ghost originally appeared in Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion attraction but was removed shortly after the attraction’s debut due to lighting issues.
Del Toro is currently only co-writing and producing the feature, though it is said he may direct.
This is just one of the many projects del Toro is looking at as he recently dropped out of directing The Hobbit, opening doors back up to a myriad of films he was already set to produce.
