It’s easy pickings to pile on Disney and its woeful recent run at the box office, but things could somehow be about to get even worse if the latest projections surrounding Haunted Mansion are to be believed.
Director Justin Simien may have assembled a star-studded cast that features LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson, Jared Leto, and many more, but the opening weekend estimates are fairly disastrous for a movie that’s estimated to have cost around $157 million before marketing.
According to Box Office Pro, Haunted Mansion is on course to debut somewhere in the $22-32 million, although that could easily swing higher or lower based on recent history. For the record, the Eddie Murphy-fronted version that released 20 years ago scored almost $23 million in its first three days in theaters.
When you take inflation into account, that equates to somewhere in the $38 million range, so the reboot is actually tracking significantly lower if you want to split that particular hair. Of course, it wouldn’t be the first time this year that the Mouse House has suffered a crushing commercial blow at the multiplex, but the bean-counters will surely be hoping it’s the last.
There’s no guarantee international audiences will be able to save it, either, so Haunted Mansion V2.0 is already facing an uphill battle to ensure it isn’t the latest high-profile title backed by Mickey to go down in a ball of box office flames.