"Stretching" Teaser Poster.
In July 2010, Guillermo del Toro announced at Comic-Con that he was developing a new film based on the Haunted Mansion attraction. The film would be live-action and in 3D.
The Hatbox Ghost was to be a pivotal figure in the film's story, and Del Toro analogized his version of the character to a spider in the center of a web of Haunted Mansions all over the world. Ryan Gosling was set to star in the film while longtime Del Toro collaborator Doug Jones was slated to play the Hatbox Ghost.
On August 28th, 2020, a new version of the project unrelated to the Guillermo del Toro pitch was greenlit and would be written by Katie Dippold (Parks and Recreation, Ghostbusters). The final film released in 2023 and retained the idea of the Hatbox Ghost as an antagonist and featured both the Disneyland and Walt Disney World Mansions.
Legacy[]
Guillermo del Toro has said that one of his motivations in developing the film was to put pressure onto Disney into reintroducing the Hatbox Ghost character back into the attraction, which would eventually come to pass in 2015.
The idea of the Haunted Mansion being a network of multiple haunted houses with the Hatbox Ghost at the center would find its way into the Disney Kingdoms Haunted Mansion book with the Ghostly Materials Gallery and the Hatbox Ghost's ability to visit the houses displayed in it by way of the Endless Staircase.
Gallery[]
