Owen Wilson will soon pay a visit to Disney’sThe Haunted Mansion. The actor, who recently impressed fans and critics with his role on the Disney+ seriesLoki, has reportedly been cast in the upcoming movie based on the theme park ride of the same name. Wilson joins previously announced cast members LaKeith Stanfield and Tiffany Haddish for the project, which is described as having an ensemble cast.
Previously, it was reported that Stanfield and Haddish would respectively play the tour guide and psychic. Details about Wilson’s character haven’t yet been revealed.Disneyis similarly keeping a lid on plot details, though it is presumed that it will follow a family moving into the titular mansion. Per THR, it is the “characters around that nucleus that will have a big portion of the moonlight shining on them.” With this in mind, it seems likely other notable names may be soon added to the ensemble.
Justin Simien (Dear White People,Bad Hair) directsHaunted Mansion, marking his big-budget studio debut. The script comes from Katie Dippold, who’s perhaps best known for penning theGhostbustersremake and the hit comedyThe Heat. Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich (Aladdin) will produce the project under their Rideback banner. Rideback’s Nick Reynolds will executive produce.
Owen Wilsonhas appeared in dozens of roles over the years, though he’s coming off hot of his role as Mobius M. Mobius onLoki. Oddly enough, he has experience with haunted houses as one of the stars of the horror movieThe Haunting. His other movie credits include titles likeWedding Crashers,Night at the Museum, andCars. As for what’s next aside fromHaunted Mansion, Wilson will next be seen in this fall’sThe French Dispatch. He also recently wrapped filming the romantic comedyMarry Mewith Jennifer Lopez.
Walt Disney Pictures previously developedThe Haunted Mansionas a feature that was released in theaters in 2003. It was directed by Rob Minkoff, written by David Berenbaum, and starred Eddie Murphy, Terence Stamp, Wallace Shawn, Marsha Thomason, and Jennifer Tilly. Although it had a pretty big haul at the box office, the movie didn’t perform very well with critics, currently sitting on a Rotten Tomatoes ratings of 14%.
Before the current version of the reboot was in the works,Guillermo del Toro was at one point attached to develop a new Haunted Mansion moviefor Disney. Over the years while the project rolled around in development hell, Ryan Gosling entered talks to star at another point, though for whatever reason, the project eventually crumbled. With shooting on this new reboot scheduled to start soon, that doesn’t seem like it will happen this time around.
The Haunted Mansiondoesn’t yet have a release date officially set, but the movie will reportedly start shooting in Atlanta in October. The movie is also just the latest to be made by Disney based on one of thecompany’s theme park rides. Just recently,Jungle Cruisedsailed into theaters to gross more than $106 million at the domestic box office. That’s a big number considering the movie was also made available to stream on Disney+. This news comes to us fromThe Hollywood Reporter.
