It’s been almost a decade since Guillermo Del Toro teased crowds at San Diego Comic Con with a trailer that opened the gates of Gracey Manor and began haunting the dreams of all real Haunted Mansion fans. You see, once upon a time Mr. Del Toro who is now an Oscar winning director for his movie, The Shape of Water, was putting together the beginning storyline of a movie based on one of the most beloved attractions featured at Disney parks worldwide. As I said, it’s been almost a decade, roughly 8 years to be precise, but where is the movie? Why haven’t we gotten our glimpse into the wonderful world of 999 Happy Haunts?

 

Well Main Streeters, there is a perfectly good explanation for the delay, and here is what we’ve learned so far:

  1. The screenplay for the movie has been submitted to Disney, and it appears that it was well received.
  2. Del Toro who originally was said to be directing the film, will only take credit for co-writing the screenplay. This could be because he just inked a huge deal with Fox Searchlight and if you keep up with Disney’s power play moves, Disney recently acquired Fox Searchlight, making this Haunted Mansion idea finally feasible.
  3. The movie is centered around one of the most interesting and elusive haunts, The Hatbox Ghost. When you have that big of a Disney icon integral to the story of the Haunted Mansion and that spans the nightmares of generations who have seen him at the Mansion, you absolutely have to cast that role correctly, or you risk ruining the lore.
  4. Del Toro is aiming for a PG-13 rating, which could exclude a younger audience from watching the movie, which has been highly anticipated by all ages.

Additional reports give some insight into what big ticket actors are in talks to star in the movie, the most notable is a former Mickey Mouse Club member, Ryan Gossling.

Now that the spookiest of all seasons is upon us, and Del Toro has become part of the Disney acquisition family through Fox Searchlight, how much longer do you think we will have to wait until this movie materializes?

Let us know what you think Main Streeters. Would you go watch it? Who do you think should star in it?

Until next week!

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