Disney has tried twice to show among the finest Disneyland sights, The Haunted Mansion, right into a profitable movie. Whereas I’d argue that the primary Haunted Mansion film isn’t as dangerous as most individuals suppose, and the more moderen Haunted Mansion film is definitely actually good, it could possibly’t be ignored that financially each films have been failures. So, possibly the answer is to convey the Haunted Mansion to TV, and extra particularly, into the world of animation.
I lately had an opportunity to sit down down with director Shannon Tindle, and we spent most of our time discussing his new movie, Ultraman: Rising (which is great). Nevertheless, I additionally needed to discuss to him a few undertaking he by no means made, an animated collection based mostly on Haunted Mansion.
As CinemaBlend’s theme park knowledgeable, I discovered a kindred spirit in Tindle. He instructed me about his love for one among Walt Disney’s authentic 9 Previous Males animators, Mark Davis, who grew to become one of many major designers of the Disneyland and Disney World attraction, and the way he tried to fine-tune his pitch in additional methods than one to get Disney to chew. He defined…
I am an enormous fan. I like Mark Davis. I like his work and his transition from one of many 9 Previous Males in animation to working at WED. So yeah, it was a type of issues the place I used to be on an general at Disney and I mentioned, ‘I’ve acquired an thought for Haunted Mansion.’ And so we developed it first as an ongoing collection, then we pivoted and mentioned, what if we did it as a mini-series? The teaser is on the market someplace. The teaser is on the market. I’d like to make it.
Whereas information of the Haunted Mansion collection has been on the market, there’s loads we do not learn about precisely what it could have been. We all know the collection would have centered on a younger woman coping with the grief of a misplaced liked one, however past that, particulars are slim.
Tindle did give me slightly style of among the concepts he was enjoying with, although. His Haunted Mansion would have drawn collectively a number of characters from all through Disney’s historical past right into a form of cinematic universe. He even instructed me how he deliberate to incorporate one basic Disney character…
And I’ll say this one concept that I had for it was you go to all these wild, haunted areas, and I went to a parking zone at a mall, and also you see these ghostly lights come by way of the fog. And the little woman, who’s the primary character, is like, ‘Oh my gosh, what sort of spirit am I going to come across right here?’ And it is Herbie the Love Bug, and that was my rationalization for Herbie, is Herbie’s haunted. Lou Romano did nice work for it, and so like that simply offers you an thought. I needed to tug in. I used to be like ‘Disney has all these nice characters, let’s use them.’ However you realize, it was to not be. Hey, possibly, they will come again to the desk with that. I might like to do it.
Contemplating that Herbie the Love Bug was a part of an earlier Disney cinematic universe, together with him in a Haunted Mansion collection that might have drawn in different Disney characters over time as nicely would have been excellent. And the concept the explanation Herbie is a sentient VW is as a result of he is haunted is
Formally Disney handed on the thought earlier than it made it previous the pitch reel stage. Nevertheless, Tindle says right here that if Disney have been to alter their thoughts, he’d fortunately return and get to work on it. I for one would like to see this animated collection come to life.