One of Disney’s most popular theme park rides is getting another chance on the big screen, as Justin Simien (Dear White People, Bad Hair) will be helming a rebooted version of The Haunted Mansion, set to start filming in Louisiana in the fall of 2021. The new big-budget film adaptation of the ride will be written by Katie Dippold, writer behind The Heat and 2016’s Ghostbusters.
The project announced that the film’s two lead actors would be Lakeith Stanfield, who found early career success with his roles in Get Out, Atlanta, Sorry to Bother You, and Judas and the Black Messiah, as well as Tiffany Haddish, known for Girl’s Trip and Night School.
Stanfield will take on the role of a lonely widower who once believed in the powers of the supernatural but now works as a haunted tour guide in New Orleans’ French Quarter. Haddish will play a medium hired to communicate with the dead in the mansion.
The film is rumored to have a much more sincere story than Disney’s first attempt at bringing the ride to the big screen, 2003’s family comedy The Haunted Mansion starring Eddie Murphy. The Haunted Mansion isn’t the only ride from Disney’s theme parks that has a film based on it.
Pirates of the Caribbean became one of the company’s most popular film franchises, spawning five films. The Jungle Cruise, starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, is also slated to open this week.
To get a glimpse of the theme park attraction, check out this video from Disneyland Paris.
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