‘Haunted Mansion’ is the Final Nail in the Coffin for Disney Remakes

Disney’s newest box office feature film is anything but new. Sure the faces are different,  and the story is slightly altered but it still leaves fans saying “we’ve seen this before.” It’s the same thing, different day and fans are weary of it. Even critics are over Disney remakes. With no controversy to drive ticket sales from fans eager to prove their social morality, Haunted Mansion has utterly failed to impress.

Credit: Disney

Disney has been on a remake kick for several years now. At first fans found it novel, then they found it strange, just wanted to stop. It’s not that Haunted Mansion is bad per se, it’s just the latest victim in a string of remakes that nobody asked for and definitely didn’t need. It’s also Disney’s third box office flop in a row (4th if you count The Little Mermaid). That many box office failures in a row will not sit well with the board or the investors. 

Something needs to change. What that something may be depends on who you ask. Many will say that Disney needs to stop adding “woke propaganda” to its films. Others will say that they need better storytellers. Most, though, would say that Disney needs to get back to what they are best at: creating new stories. 

Credit: Disney

A star studded cast hasn’t been enough to save the struggling reboot. LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito,  Rosario Dawson, Wynonna Ryder, Jared Leto, and Jamie Lee Curtis all stack the talent deck for the film, but movie-goers just don’t seem to care. The film earned a disappointing $33 million in its first week. For Haunted Mansion to be profitable it needs to earn at least $500 million.  After a slow opening competing with mega-hits like Barbie and Oppenheimer, that figure looks unlikely. 

If Disney wants to remain a leader in family entertainment,  they need to resume producing content families want to see. Could Haunted Mansion be the final nail in the coffin for Disney remakes? With Snow White filming already wrapped, we will see at least one more but the abysmal performance of recent reboots suggest perhaps Disney will see the light and return to fresh adaptations and original stories.