New Haunted Mansion Film? BOO! Guillermo del Toro Involved? YAY!

[filmfanatic]

SDCC: Guillermo del Toro Takes on The Haunted Mansion! - ComingSoon.net

SDCC: Guillermo del Toro Takes on The Haunted Mansion! Source: ComingSoon.net July 22, 2010


Guillermo del Toro made a surprise announcement at Disney's panel for Tron Legacy that he will next co-write produce and direct a 3D The Haunted Mansion reboot.

A teaser was shown with a very brief narration about the haunted house over animation that looked to be either done by Mike Mignola or Mignola-inspired. Mignola, the creator of Hellboy, also illustrated a poster for Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth.

"We are not returning Eddie Murphy's calls," del Toro said, making a surprise appearance onstage, "...and we are not making it a comedy... We are making it scary and fun, but the scary will be scary."

The story will be built around the Hatbox Ghost and del Toro hopes that he'll be reintroduced to the ride as well. Check out what he looks like below, courtesy of ShockTillYouDrop:

Here's the official announcement from the studio:

Guillermo del Toro surprised the 6,500 fans gathered today at Comic-Con with the announcement that he is currently developing a new film for The Walt Disney Studios based on the classic Disney theme park attraction, The Haunted Mansion.

“Dark imagery is an integral part of the Walt Disney legacy. After all, Disney himself was the father of some really chilling moments and characters - think Chernabog from Fantasia or Maleficent as the Dragon or the Evil Queen in Snow White,” said del Toro. “I couldn't be more excited to be a part of my own adaptation of the original theme park attraction Walt envisioned and that remains- for me- the most desirable piece of real estate in the whole world!"

“Millions of people from around the world visit The Haunted Mansion each year, but no one has ever had a tour guide like Guillermo del Toro,” said Rich Ross, Chairman of The Walt Disney Studios. “Guillermo is one of the most gifted and innovative filmmakers working today and he is going to take audiences on a visually-thrilling journey like they’ve never experienced before.”

Since August 1969, foolish mortals have dared to trespass on the macabre grounds of Disney’s Haunted Mansion. A hallowed landmark in Disneyland’s New Orleans square, it’s the dwelling place of 999 happy haunts dying to meet new visitors each day. The plantation-style of the mansion’s facade is a sweet deception for visitors. Inside, ghostly doom buggies line the hallways. Since its construction, the mysteries of the mansion have transcended the attraction with stories surfacing about horrifying encounters with the supernatural. Versions of the daunting edifice have been built at other Disney theme parks in Orlando, Tokyo and Paris.

 

[CynicismKills]

Man, thank God he left The Hobbit. We might have missed out.

 

[Espy]

Well alrighty. This man gets the benefit of the doubt in my book.

 

[Vagabond]

So will this be getting priority over At the Mountains of Madness?

If so, that bites.

 

[Soliloquy]

You know, I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up good. I was actually disappointed that the last one ended up horrible after the success of Pirates.

---------- Post added at 11:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:13 AM ----------

And I've got to say, when I was a kid, the floating candelabra towards the beginning scared the crap out of me. Nothing else in the ride did... just the candelabra.

 

[Silver Jelly]

He can do scary, but is a man obsessed with killing cildren on screen the right option to do a disney film?

Even with that, I'd say YES.

 

[Espy]

So will this be getting priority over At the Mountains of Madness?

If so, that bites.

If ATMOM is gets made, well, within the next 10 years, if ever, I will bite my shiny metal ass.

 

[Norris]

So will this be getting priority over At the Mountains of Madness?

If so, that bites.

Well, from what I've read, Mr. del Toro's version of ATMOM would be a tough sell in Hollywood. Doing a project like this for Disney COULD gain him enough mainstream (his films do well but not that well, IIRC) clout to gain trust from a studio. Which he can then squander by making an amazing but not widely appealing Lovecraft adaptation.

 

[AshburnerX]

So will this be getting priority over At the Mountains of Madness?

If so, that bites.

Well, from what I've read, Mr. del Toro's version of ATMOM would be a tough sell in Hollywood. Doing a project like this for Disney COULD gain him enough mainstream (his films do well but not that well, IIRC) clout to gain trust from a studio. Which he can then squander by making an amazing but not widely appealing Lovecraft adaptation.[/QUOTE]

If said Lovecraft adaption goes on to win lots of awards (which it likely would, considering the director) the studio would write it off as a prestige film and his trust would remain intact.

 

[Philosopher B.]

"We are not returning Eddie Murphy's calls," del Toro said

Lol. It's not exactly a film I've been dying to see made, but I'll watch anything Del Toro puts out.

 

[Cajungal]

:laugh: I got a kick out of that quote, too. This could be really good. I'll also see anything he makes.

 

[Fun Size]

Apparently he's basing it on the Disneyland version. As I'm only familiar with the one in Florida which continues to be THE BEST GODDAMNED RIDE IN THE WORLD (tm), I reserve judgment. Still, I like most of his work, so the potential for awesome is great here.

 

[filmfanatic]

Here's a one-sheet poster being given away at Comic-Con to go along with the announcement.

http://shocktillyoudrop.com/nextraimages/rag.jpg

 

[Fun Size]

I did read where he said he wanted to go the route Harry Potter went: yeah it's family friendly, but it's also scary as Hell where appropriate. This is a concept I can get behind.

 

[Hailey Knight]

I think there's better projects he could be doing, but I think he's trying to get himself in a Peter Jackson situation, where he does well enough to get free reign over his dream project (in Jackson's case, King Kong). That's probably part of why he was doing The Hobbit. Pan's Labyrinth was an award-gatherer, but it was a foreign language film; not exactly ticket-selling material in the U.S. And the Hellboy films don't do nearly as well as I like to imagine they do when I watch them so many times. (Reminds me, I still gotta watch that Troll Market featurette on the Hellboy II disc.)

I'm not interested in this aside from his involvement, and that's the only reason I'm going to see it.

---------- Post added at 11:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:53 AM ----------

I did read where he said he wanted to go the route Harry Potter went: yeah it's family friendly, but it's also scary as Hell where appropriate. This is a concept I can get behind.

Agreed with this also. Monster House, Coraline, Gremlins--all good family scare movies.