Haunted Mansion Release Date Announced

[lrodk]

Mark your calenders. The Haunted Mansion movie will be released on November 7th 2003.

 

[raidermatt]

Wouldn't it make more sense to release it BEFORE Halloween? Sort of a family Halloween alternative to the inevitable slasher movies that will be out at that time?

Or is the release schedule already that full?

 

[lrodk]

I agree Matt. My guess is that they must know something that we don't. Many questioned why Santa Clause 2 was released so early in November, long before most people here in the states get into the holiday grove. As it turned out, two major obstacles made this the only logical window of opportunity(Potter & Lord of the Rings).

 

[raidermatt]

Maybe its the same thing, but I doubt there are too many big releases in October. That's ususally a slow time.

But even with SC2, its better to release it 7 weeks before Christmas than 1 week after.

But its probably a pretty small factor for HM, since its probably not really a "Halloween" specific movie. I was just looking for a little edge they could use...

 

[lrodk]

I've just learned that Haunted Mansion is going up against some very stiff competition on 11/7. It seems that the highly anticipated Matrix sequel(which is going to record monstrous numbers that weekend, and will probably overshadow any publicity Disney throws at Mansion) is set to premier on the same day. I'm afraid that things get tougher the following week, and the rest of the month for that matter, when "Looney Tunes, Back in Action" debuts on 11/14. You then have the live action version of "Cat in The Hat" starring Mike Myers the next week(11/21), with Disney's "Home on the Range" on 11/26. Both "Tunes" and "Cat in the Hat" are getting stong buzz in the family segment, which leads to me to believe that unless Mansion is one heck of a production, I don't see it grossing much more than 50 million at the box office. I just don't see it having legs in the face of such fierce competition. This further adds to the argument that Matt brought up concerning why they wouldn't release it in October. At present there aren't any major films scheduled at all for October other than a few scattered horror flics. Logic seems to dictate that they give this film a chance by releasing it at least 1-2 weeks prior.