A few months ago, it was announced that Dear White People and Bad Hair director Justin Simien had been hired by Disney to helm a new film inspired by their Haunted Mansion, a ride that's at both Disney Land and Disney World. Now we know who's going to star in Simien's film: Lakeith Stanfield (Get Out) has signed on to play "a widower who once believed in the supernatural but is now a rather lifeless tour guide in New Orleans' French Quarter", while Tiffany Haddish (Bad Trip) is taking on the role of "a psychic hired to commune with the dead".
Scripted by Katie Dippold (Ghostbusters 2016), Haunted Mansion will follow
a family that moves into the titular mansion.
Filming is expected to take place in Louisiana this fall. Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich of Rideback are producing Haunted Mansion, with Rideback's Nick Reynolds serving as executive producer.
The ride that inspired the project sees
theme park guests go inside a spooky and creepy manor that includes some classic characters like the spirit of psychic medium Madame Leota to the skeletal Bride to the cloaked Hatbox Ghost.
Disney previously released a Haunted Mansion movie back in 2003, and you can watch it at THIS LINK. That one had the following synopsis:
Workaholic real estate agent Jim Evers is accused by his wife, Sara, of neglecting his son and daughter, so he takes the family on a vacation. Along the way, the family stops off at a sinister mansion that Jim has been asked to sell, only to discover it's haunted by Master Gracey; his stern butler, Ramsley; and two other servants who need some help breaking a curse.
Directed by Rob Minkoff from a screenplay by David Berenbaum, The Haunted Mansion 2003 starred Eddie Murphy, Marsha Thomason, Marc John Jefferies, Aree Davis, Nathaniel Parker, Terence Stamp, Jennifer Tilly, and Wallace Shawn.