Haunted Mansion “leaves a door open” for a sequel

Director Justin Simien is confident Haunted Mansion will drum up enough demand for a sequel. It’s no secret that Disney — and Hollywood in general — adore keeping IPs alive and kicking well past the last time they were relevant, but it’s a whole other thing if the IP will find success in the market.

According to Comicbook, Simien believes the film set itself up for a sequel or, at the very least, a spin-off.

“It definitely leaves a door open for more and for other spaces where, you know, ghosts might materialize.”

It’s hard to really say how true this is. Review embargos have lifted, and so far, it’s kinda middling — sitting at a 51% and a 49 on Metacritic, it’s far from what we expect Disney wants from the reboot.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen the IP used meaningfully. The last high-profile film was 2003’s Haunted Mansion, starring Eddie Murphy. Unfortunately, it, too, was a failure in its own way, being blasted by critics for its failed comedy and lackluster scares.

It did make back its budget, and then some, but critics can be just as important as the audience in determining whether an IP is worth throwing money into. We’ll have to wait and see whether or not this flick, which is due out to theaters on July 28, is going to capture fans enough to draw them into the theaters or if they’ll wait months for when the film eventually comes to Disney+.