The Haunted Mansion (2003 film)
The Haunted Mansion is a 2003 American supernatural horror comedy film directed by Rob Minkoff and written by David Berenbaum. Loosely based on Walt Disney's theme park attraction of the same name, the film stars Eddie Murphy as a realtor who, along with his family, becomes trapped in the titular building. Terence Stamp, Wallace Shawn, Marsha Thomason and Jennifer Tilly appear in supporting roles.
This article is about the 2003 film. For the 1998 Hong Kong horror film, see Haunted Mansion (1998 film). For the 2023 film, see Haunted Mansion (2023 film).The film was theatrically released in the United States on November 26, 2003, by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. The film received negative reviews from critics but performed well at the box office, grossing $182.3 million worldwide against a $90 million budget.[4] A reboot directed by Justin Simien was later released in 2023, 20 years after the film's release.
Plot[edit]
Jim and Sara Evers are successful realtors with a pair of children, Michael and Megan. However, Jim's workaholic lifestyle causes him to miss his wedding anniversary. When he tries to make amends by suggesting a vacation to the nearby lake, Sara is suddenly contacted by the occupants of Gracey Manor, located in the nearby bayou; Jim, eager to make a deal after learning the mansion's address, takes his family there, meeting its owner, Edward Gracey, his butler Ramsley and his other servants – maid Emma and footman Ezra.
When a rainstorm floods the nearby river, Gracey lets the family stay for the night. Ramsley takes Jim to the library to discuss the deal with Gracey, but Jim becomes trapped in a secret passage. Gracey gives Sara a tour of the mansion, discussing his past and his grandfather's death after the supposed suicide of his lover, Elizabeth Henshaw. Megan and Michael follow a spectral orb to the attic and find a portrait of a woman resembling Sara. Emma and Ezra soon appear and identify the woman as the late Elizabeth.
Meanwhile, Jim meets Madame Leota, the ghost of a Romani woman whose head is encased in her crystal ball. He runs into Emma, Ezra and his children, and returns to Leota for answers about Elizabeth's likeness to Sara. It is revealed that the mansion's inhabitants are ghosts, cursed a century ago by Elizabeth's and Gracey's untimely deaths, and can only enter the afterlife when the lovers are reunited; Sara is believed to be Elizabeth's reincarnation. Leota sends the Evers to the mansion's cemetery to find a key that will reveal the truth about Elizabeth's death which Ezra and Emma takes them on a hearse pulled by a skeletal horse. In the cemetery Jim and the children saw a number of ghosts residing there including three hitchhiking ghosts and a quartet of singing busts. When they reached a crypt beneath a mausoleum, Jim and Megan find the key, but inadvertently disturb its undead residents. The duo narrowly escape with help from Michael, who overcomes his arachnophobia when they become locked in.
Leota leads them to a trunk in the attic, which Jim unlocks to find a letter Elizabeth wrote to Gracey, revealing she truly wanted to marry him, indicating that she was murdered. Ramsley then appears and reveals that he murdered Elizabeth to prevent Gracey from abandoning his heritage, as he believed their relationship was unacceptable. To hide the truth, Ramsley traps the children in a trunk and throws Jim out of the mansion. As Gracey and Sara rendezvous in the ballroom, she is confused when he asks if she recognizes him and insists she is Elizabeth. The room fills with dancing ghosts as Gracey reveals his ghostly self, but Sara denies being Elizabeth and flees to her room. Gracey starts to have doubts, but Ramsley insists that Sara is Elizabeth and will eventually remember. Ramsley then blackmails Sara into marrying Gracey in exchange for her children's safety.
Encouraged by Leota, Jim manages to re-enter the mansion, saves his children and stop the wedding. He then gives Gracey Elizabeth's letter and Ramsley's crimes are exposed. Furious, Gracey confronts Ramsley, who rages at his master's apparent selfishness for loving Elizabeth and summons wraiths to attack the group. However, with the truth revealed, a fiery entity emerges from the ballroom's fireplace and drags Ramsley down to Hell to face eternal punishment. Ramsley attempts to take Jim with him, but he is fortunately saved by Gracey. Sara collapses, having been poisoned by Ramsley during the wedding ceremony, but the spectral orb appears and, possesses Sara, is revealed to be Elizabeth, who could only be released from her current form once the truth was revealed. She and Gracey then reunite as Sara is subsequently revived.
With the curse lifted, Gracey gives the Evers the deed to the mansion and departs to Heaven with Elizabeth, his servants and the mansion's other inhabitants. Afterwards, the Evers drive across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway for a proper vacation, accompanied by Leota in the back seat and the quartet of singing busts that Jim and the children encountered strapped to the roof.
In a post-credits scene Madame Leota encourages the audience to return using the same lines from the attraction's finale.
The film's chief makeup artist Rick Baker appears in the graveyard scene as a ghost behind a tombstone, using an appearance based on a portrait of the Ghost Host seen in the attraction. The cast also includes an uncredited Martin Klebba as Pickwick, one the ghosts in the graveyard, albeit unnamed and only credited as "Happy Ghost" and director Rob Minkoff's nephew, who appears as the paperboy in the opening scene. This film was the last live action film appearance of Don Knotts who plays a ghost version of the Caretaker in the original attraction.
Music[edit]
The music for The Haunted Mansion was composed by Mark Mancina who had previously worked on music for Disney animated films such as The Lion King and Tarzan. Mark used an original score for the film, but also briefly used the original attraction's song Grim Grinning Ghosts in the scene when Jim and his children came across the Singing Busts in the cemetery while looking for the mausoleum.
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
The Haunted Mansion grossed $24.3 million on its opening weekend with an average of $7,776 per theatre in the United States. With a final domestic gross at $75.8 million, the film made just more than a quarter of the earnings of its theme-ride predecessor Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. The film achieved better in other markets, with an international total of $106.4 million.[3]
