Audiences are in for an early Halloween treat this year as Disney is set to release Haunted Mansion on July 28. The House of Mouse just released the first trailer for this new version, and it appears to have all the fun spooks of the original but with a new storyline.
In this Haunted Mansion, Debbie (Rosario Dawson) and her son Travis (Chase W. Dillon) are eager to eliminate ghosts and spirits in their new home, so she hires paranormal experts with different backgrounds and expertise to help them. The trailer teases scenes that show the iconic stretching room and the moving chairs (similar to the doom buggy), clear references to the Disneyland ride, as well as Jared Leto’s The Hat-Box Ghost and Jamie Lee Curtis’ Madame Leota, the famous mansion ghosts. The story also takes place in New Orleans as it is in Disneyland’s New Orleans Square. This played an important role in the story and the casting, as director Justin Simien told Entertainment Weekly in an interview:
“There’s a lot of Black people in New Orleans. Let’s embrace the New Orleans of it all. If you do New Orleans justice and do justice to the culture clash that historically has always been there, you already have the tone right for the movie.” He continued, “In New Orleans, there’s mourning and celebration side by side, and on that ride you’re laughing, you’re a little scared. It’s about death, but the plates are always thrown up.”
The theme park ride-inspired movie features a fantastic cast. Joining Dawson, Dillon, Leto, and Curtis are LaKeith Stanfield, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Tiffany Haddish, Winona Ryder, Dan Levy, and Hasan Minhaj.
