Disney Hosting Haunted Mansion Premiere Without Actors Amid SAG Strike

Unlike the grim grinning ghosts in Disney's Haunted Mansion movie, its starry cast won't come out to socialize at the world premiere. Inspired by the iconic Disney theme park attraction, the new movie's star-studded cast includes LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson, Chase W. Dillon, Dan Levy, Jared Leto, and Jamie Lee Curtis. But with the performers union SAG-AFTRA striking as of midnight on July 14th, the actors aren't permitted to promote the movie or attend the red carpet premiere event scheduled for July 15th at the Disneyland Resort. 

According to the SAG strike rules, union members must immediately "cease rendering all services and performing all work covered by the TV/Theatrical Contracts." As of Friday, actors are to withhold all "promotion of/publicity services" for works covered under those agreements, which includes but is not limited to interviews, junkets, social media, fan expos, award shows, conventions, and screenings/premieres. (Haunted Mansion and more upcoming summer movies, including Barbie, Blue Beetle, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, banked interviews in anticipation of the actors' strike.)

Variety previously reported that the Haunted Mansion World Premiere, which includes a screening at the Hyperion Theater inside Disney California Adventure Park, would not be cancelled in the event of a strike. Should Disney roll out a traditional carpet for press interviews, the promotion is expected to happen with director Justin Simien, producers Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich, executive producers Nick Reynolds and Tom Peitzman, and composer Kris Bowers.

Disney also invited Cast Members from each Disney Park Haunted Mansion attraction around the world to attend the advance screening, which opened its creaking crypt doors to D23 Gold Members who managed to register for tickets through the official Disney fan club. The event, slated to begin at 4:00 PM PT on July 15th, has since sold out.

Haunted Mansion is about a woman (Dawson) and her son (Dillon) who enlist a motley crew of so-called spiritual experts to help rid their home of supernatural squatters. The movie opens exclusively in theaters July 28th.

For more coverage from the ongoing SAG strike: