Well, those hoping for that dream Guillermo Del Toro version of The Haunted Mansion will need to prepare themselves for disappointment. Disney is indeed moving forward on a film based on the popular theme park attraction, but it won’t be with Del Toro. Instead, it’ll come from the writer of 2016’s Ghostbusters.
THR reports Katie Dippold will pen a live-action Haunted Mansion movie for Disney. Joining her are producers Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich, the duo behind Disney’s Aladdin remake.
Dippold wrote the Ghostbusters movie that featured an all-female team, and was a disappointment at the box office. Her credits are strong overall, including Spy, The Heat, and Snatched.
The problem Dippold faces is that a great many people have been aching for Del Toro to direct The Haunted Mansion. He’s been talking about it for years , and there’s pretty much zero chance he would want to direct from a script he wasn’t involved in.
Dippold is likely going to turn Haunted Mansion into a comedy, which is the route Disney went in a 2003 film starring Eddie Murphy. That was the same year as the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. One of those became a gigantic blockbuster franchise. The other is The Haunted Mansion.
