It was two years ago at Comic-Con when Disney spontaneously presented Guillermo del Toro, who announced that he would be working with the House of Mouse on a new Haunted Mansion movie. It had been a while since we heard anything on the project but today, we finally have an update. In an interview with Collider, del Toro says he will be meeting with Disney soon to discuss his latest draft of the script.
“I delivered my last draft five weeks ago. I have a meeting with them in three weeks. I know they like the screenplay. I need to meet with them in three weeks. That’s what I know. I know their reaction to the draft was good. We have a bunch of conceptualist art, but you never know, to predict anything else is hard for me to know.”
Del Toro went on to say that he’s speculating as to whether Disney is waiting for him to become available to direct the film as well. He initially agreed to the project in a producing/writing capacity.
Currently, the Mexican director is still working on Pacific Rim for Warner Bros. and has not made any decisions about what he wants to do next.
Based on the Disneyland and Disney World theme park ride, the Haunted Mansion movie will lean more on scary side of things and focus on the lore integrated into the ride rather than the irreverent comedic take from 2003 starring Eddie Murphy.
There is no target production or release date for Haunted Mansion, but it seems as though things are moving in the right direction.
We’ll keep you posted when we hear more.