Haunted Mansion movie storyline. Ben Matthias, an astrophysicist developing a camera to detect dark matter, meets and marries Alyssa, a ghost tour guide, and becomes entranced with her belief in the supernatural. After Alyssa dies in a car accident, Ben gives up his career and continues to run her ghost tour.
Years later, recently-widowed doctor Gabbie and her son Travis move from New York into Gracey Manor to turn it into a bed and breakfast, only to learn that it is haunted with ghosts. Ben is visited by priest and exorcist Father Kent who hires him to photograph the ghosts at Gracey Manor. Ben is initially incredulous until he returns home and is haunted by a ghost Mariner who forces him to return to the mansion. Ben learns that Gabbie, Travis, and Kent have also fallen victim to hauntings, forcing them to stay in the mansion.
Ben and Kent recruit Harriet, a psychic with legitimate powers, and steal blueprints to the mansion from haunted house historian Prof. Bruce Davis. The group finds a hidden séance room. Harriet manages to contact the spirit of Gracey who leaves a written message instructing them to talk to the legendary medium Madame Leota. Upon trying to do so, a mysterious entity forces Harriet out of the house. Bruce arrives shortly afterwards and becomes haunted.
The group stays at the mansion where they proceed to look for Leota’s ghost. Ben goes into the attic where he runs afoul of a ghostly bride and finds a locked trunk. Upon examining the contents, they find a crystal ball which houses Leota.
Leota reveals that William Gracey bought the mansion and recruited Leota to try and contact the spirit of his dead wife Eleanor every night for a full year, releasing hundreds of ghosts into the mansion. An evil entity then tricked Gracey into taking his own life and trapped Leota inside her crystal ball. Harriet attempts to perform an astral projection for more answers but ends up sending Ben out of his body. He discovers Gracey as well as the evil entity, the Hatbox Ghost.
The next morning, Bruce takes Ben to get a sketch artist to draw up the Hatbox Ghost. He is identified as Alistair Crump, a rich heir who was abused by his father after his mother’s death and eventually expelled from the home. Upon reaching adulthood, he killed his fellow socialites out of revenge for being shunned by society, before being beheaded himself by his mutinous servants.
The ghost of Crump proceeds to lock the mansion down but Ben, Kent, and Travis manage to escape. They find Crump Manor, which has become a historical site. They learn from the Mariner (who followed them) that Crump needs someone to willingly give up their life and become the mansion’s one-thousandth spirit in order to escape the mansion. Travis finds Crump’s hat, which they can use as part of a ritual to banish Crump back to the afterlife.
Haunted Mansion is a 2023 American supernatural horror comedy film directed by Justin Simien from a screenplay by Katie Dippold. The film stars LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson, Dan Levy, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Jared Leto. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Rideback, it is the second theatrical film adaptation of Walt Disney’s theme park attraction The Haunted Mansion, following the 2003 film of the same name. In the film, Gabbie (Dawson) and Travis (Chase W. Dillon) enlist the aid of a team (Stanfield, Haddish, Wilson, and DeVito) to help exorcise their mansion and destroy the ghosts around them.
Haunted Mansion premiered at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, on July 15, 2023, and was released in the United States on July 28 by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film received mixed reviews from critics and has grossed $75 million worldwide.
Haunted Mansion (2023)
Directed by: Justin Simien
Starring: LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson, Dan Levy, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jared Leto, Jo Koy, Marilu Henner, Steve Zissis, Daniel Levy, Winona Ryder
Screenplay by: Katie Dippold
Production Design by: Darren Gilford
Cinematography by: Jeffrey Waldron
Film Editing by: Phillip J. Bartell
Costume Design by: Jeffrey Kurland
Set Decoration by: Victor J. Zolfo
Art Direction by: Laurel Bergman, Shawn D. Bronson, Kristen Maloney, Carla Martinez
Music by: Kris Bowers
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some thematic elements and scary action.
Distributed by: Walt Disney Pictures
Release Date: July 15, 2023 (Disneyland), July 28, 2023 (United States)
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