The pattern of the Disney corporation capitalizing on their excellent theme park intellectual properties for movies looks commonplace now. However, back in 2003, The Haunted Mansion movie came out. The popular Eddie Murphy starred in that less than well received movie. Rumblings started a while back of Disney taking another attempt at making a movie based on that classic theme park attraction. This Haunted Mansion movie is scheduled to be released in 2023. As hype for this movie grew, we heard more about the cast. We heard talented names like Rosario Dawson, LaKeith Stanfield, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, and Tiffany Haddish being part of this project. It makes complete sense to start hearing more about this movie as Halloween season approaches. The fact that this movie releases in March 2023 adds to the reason information started “leaking” to the public.
Recently, we learned that Jared Leto would be playing “The Hatbox Ghost.” Leto’s movie roles do not always fit the more family friendly direction of Disney movies. As a result, I heard some of my Disney friends wonder about this casting.
However, we recently learned that a veteran of spooky movies would be playing the iconic character “Madame Leota.” Jamie Lee Curtis, of Halloween movies (and more movies than I can count) will be a part of this project. Based on Curtis’ skill and acting clout, I suspect that the Madame Leota character may be a very integral part of this movie.
With this movie role, Jamie Lee Curtis enters an obscure but interesting status of potentially being part of key parts of both Disney and Universal theme parks. Since Halloween gets used often at Halloween Horror Nights, the casting calls for people to play her role in those houses goes out often. When she becomes Madame Leota in this movie, she will join people like Chris Pratt, The Rock, and Domhnall Gleason as dual major theme park threats.
The Haunted Mansion attraction offers so many interesting ways to tell the narrative. Will we learn more about Madame Leota? Is this why the movie needed such a significant star in that role? We do know that this movie’s plot revolves around a woman attempting to exorcise her New Orleans mansion. Apparently, the happy haunts moved in before she got there. Will the medium, Madame Leota, help or hinder this quest? I guess we need to wait and see.
Pirates & Princesses (PNP) is an independent, opinionated fan-powered news blog that covers Disney and Universal Theme Parks, Themed Entertainment and related Pop Culture from a consumer's point of view. Opinions expressed by our contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of PNP, its editors, affiliates, sponsors or advertisers. PNP is an unofficial news source and has no connection to The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal or any other company that we may cover.