{"id":816297,"date":"2025-01-01T05:18:52","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T11:18:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/01\/haunted-mansion-director-saw-barbie-coming-from-miles-away\/"},"modified":"2025-01-01T05:18:52","modified_gmt":"2025-01-01T11:18:52","slug":"haunted-mansion-director-saw-barbie-coming-from-miles-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/01\/haunted-mansion-director-saw-barbie-coming-from-miles-away\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Haunted Mansion’ director saw ‘Barbie’ ‘coming from miles away’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Haunted Mansion<\/em> director saw Barbie<\/em> ‘coming from miles away’: ‘The release date was really tough’<\/h2>\n

“This is a much better time to receive a movie like this,” Justin Simien said.<\/p>\n

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Published on October 16, 2023 08:13PM EDT<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Releasing a movie about a haunted house in the middle of summer was a choice, particularly since we’re now in the throes of Spooky Season.\n<\/p>\n

But that’s what streaming is for, at least according to Disney, which released its star-studded, $150+ million Haunted Mansion<\/a><\/em> in the middle of July, just as Barbenheimer<\/a><\/em> fever had gripped the nation, nay \u2014 the world<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

“I think the release date was really tough \u2014 I saw Barbie<\/a><\/em> coming from miles away,” Haunted Mansion<\/em> director Justin Simien<\/a> reflected in a new interview with TheWrap<\/a><\/em>, “I was disappointed by some aspects of our release, but I was not really surprised.”\n<\/p>\n

‘Haunted Mansion’ and ‘Barbie’.<\/span>
\nDisney;Warner Bros. Pictures<\/span>
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Compounding the film’s release, SAG-AFTRA went on strike two weeks before Haunted Mansion<\/em>‘s release on July 28, while Barbie<\/em> and Oppenheimer<\/a><\/em> both premiered on July 21, a date that will live in box office infamy.\n<\/p>\n

Simien tried to warn folks \u2014 that Barbie<\/em> was “going to be huge” \u2014 and praised Oppenheimer<\/em>‘s marketing team for hitching their WWII wagon to “this gigantic, cultural juggernaut.”\n<\/p>\n

“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,” Simien added.\n<\/p>\n

Based on the Disney theme park ride, Haunted Mansion<\/em> starred Owen Wilson<\/a>, Tiffany Haddish<\/a>, LaKeith Stanfield<\/a>, Jamie Lee Curtis<\/a>, Rosario Dawson<\/a>, and Danny DeVito<\/a> and received mixed reviews<\/a> from critics. The film <\/em>opened to $24.1 million domestically, third behind Barbie<\/em> and Oppenheimer<\/em> and went on to gross $67.5 million ($114.7 million globally).\n<\/p>\n

Aside from the stiff competition, there’s also the glaring fact that Haunted Mansion<\/em> seems more like a movie for, say, now, than the end of July. A fact that’s not lost on Simien.\n<\/p>\n

“I certainly have heard the feeling from a lot of folks, and I can’t say I disagree,” Simien said of the incongruous timing. “This is a much better time to receive a movie like this.”\n<\/p>\n

He continued, “I think with the movie coming out now\u2026I 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.”\n<\/p>\n

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