Haunted Mansion Exceeds Box Office Expectations: Surprising Success or Just a Fluke?

Summary

Haunted Mansion's box office has surpassed $100 million worldwide, but with a $150 million budget, it's far from profitable.

Despite receiving a high audience score of 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, the film encountered difficulties in terms of promotion and faced tough competition at the box office from other movies.

The star-studded cast of Haunted Mansion faced limitations in promoting the film due to their involvement in the SAG-AFTRA strike, which aims to secure fair compensation for actors.

According to Bloody Disgusting, the Haunted Mansion movie has achieved a significant milestone at the box office. It has surpassed the $100 million mark worldwide, surpassing the profits of other popular horror movies in 2023 such as Cocaine Bear, The Pope's Exorcist, and Talk to Me. Nevertheless, despite this achievement, the movie is still far from recovering its massive production budget of $150 million.

Haunted Mansion Has the Opposite Problem From the 2003 Original

The Haunted Mansion received a positive audience response, achieving an 84% score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, its box office performance was hindered by various factors. One of these was the inability of the star-studded cast to promote the film due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, which was demanding fair pay for actors. Additionally, the movie faced unfortunate timing, as it debuted the weekend after the popular releases of Barbie and Oppenheimer, leaving little opportunity for competition in the following weeks.

Haunted Mansion, despite its strong ratings and low dividends, faces a different problem compared to the original The Haunted Mansion. The latter movie, with a smaller budget of $90 million, achieved impressive success at the box office, grossing a total of $182.3 million. However, it received widespread criticism from both critics, who gave it a mere 13% rating, and audiences, who rated it at 31%.

In an interesting turn, Haunted Mansion could potentially experience the opposite fate of The Haunted Mansion. While the negative word of mouth tarnished the reputation of the original film in the long run, the same phenomenon might work in favor of Haunted Mansion. If enough people who watched the movie in theaters start singing its praises once it becomes available on Disney+, it could find a new lease of life through streaming, much like Encanto, Disney's late-breaking smash hit of 2021.

Source: Bloody Disgusting