As Haunted Mansion arrives on home video, director Justin Simien spoke to The Wrap about the film's box office performance.
"I think the release date was really tough — I saw ‘Barbie’ coming from miles away,” Simien told The Wrap while reflecting on Haunted Mansion’s theatrical rollout in the face of the Barbenheimer cinema wave. In particular, Simien focused on Barbie's box office dominance and a personal desire to shift the film closer to Halloween.
“I was disappointed by some aspects of our release, but I was not really surprised,” continued Simien.
The film actually faced a second hurdle other than the release of Barbie and Oppenheimer, as the SAG-AFTRA strike commenced two weeks before the film's July 28th release.
"There was a lot of stuff going on with the strike…a lot of stuff that had nothing to do with the movie that I think really got in the way, and that was frustrating to see because I came up [working] in publicity. If you had asked me and sat down with me…I would have seen some of these things coming. I’ll put it that way," said Simien.
He went on to add, "There’s a lot of folks in the industry that just kept saying, ‘I don’t know’ and ‘That’ll probably not be as big as it sounds like.’ And I was like, ‘It’s going to be huge. What ‘Oppenheimer’ did so well — the marketing for ‘Oppenheimer’ embraced the fact that ‘Barbie’ was coming with this gigantic, cultural juggernaut. I don’t know that our campaign necessarily embraced or acknowledged that we were essentially coming out in the shadow of what was clearly such a box office phenomenon."
"I think with the movie coming out now [on home video]…I think everyone’s head is in the right space. It’s just Halloween. It’s the season you want to kick back with your family. There’s nothing more intense happening, and in anyone’s minds when they’re processing a movie like ‘Haunted Mansion’ right now and for that, I’m grateful because when I’m making the film, of course, it’s all I’m thinking about."
Do you agree with Justin's sentiment that the film would have performed better at the box office if it had been released closer to Halloween?
The film carried a production budget of $150 million and only grossed $116.6 million worldwide, well short of the figures the film would have needed to earn to turn a profit when you add in other factors such as marketing costs and revenue split with theaters.
In comparison, Five Nights at Freddy’s, a PG-13 horror film based on the video game IP is set to be released on October 27 and is currently projected for a $40+ million debut. Would those numbers be that high if it was releasing in the middle of the summer like Haunted Mansion? Probably not.
Take the ride to the other side.
Inspired by the classic theme park attraction, “Haunted Mansion” is about a woman and her son who enlist a motley crew of so-called spiritual experts to help rid their home of supernatural squatters.
Directed by Justin Simien, the film features an all-star cast ensemble cast including LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson, Chase W. Dillon and Dan Levy, with Jamie Lee Curtis and Jared Leto as The Hatbox Ghost.