Haunted Mansion Director Calls Movie's Released Date "Really Tough," Addresses Barbie's Success

Haunted Mansion was released back in July, and it had a few things stacked against it. In addition to getting middling reviews and earning a 37% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie had the disadvantage of being released only a week into the Barbenheimer phenomenon. Not to mention the fact that Haunted Mansion would have made more sense as a Halloween season release. Now, the film is streaming on Disney+ and available to purchase on DVD and Blu-ray. In honor of the movie's at-home release, director Justin Simien spoke to The Wrap about the film's "tough" release date.

"I think the release date was really tough – I saw Barbie coming from miles away," Simien explained. "I was disappointed by some aspects of our release, but I was not really surprised." He added, "I don't know that our campaign necessarily embraced or acknowledged that we were essentially coming out in the shadow of what was clearly such a box office phenomenon." 

"I certainly have heard the feeling from a lot of folks, and I can't say I disagree," Simien said of the film's summer release. "This is a much better time to receive a movie like this." He continued, "I think with the movie coming out now... I think everyone's head is in the right space. It's just Halloween. It's the season you want to kick back with your family."

Haunted Mansion Director Addresses Poor Reviews:

In another recent interview with Screen Rant, Simien addressed Haunted Mansion's poor reviews. However, it is worth mentioning that the film has an 84% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. 

"It's a bummer, to be honest. It's a bummer to feel like people don't get something that you're doing, and that you've worked so hard on, but ultimately, it's usually been the other way around," Simien. "Especially with Dear White People coming out of Sundance, where critics loved Dear White People, and audiences eventually loved it. But at first, it was incredibly divisive, and it was incredibly polarizing." 

He continued, "So, with this film, it was interesting, I went into it wanting to make a crowd pleaser, and kind of wanting to prove to myself that I could, that I knew how to bring an audience through a story. So, I'm glad that that part of it came to fruition, I'm glad I was able to accomplish that. I don't typically read my own reviews, I learned that lesson a while ago, especially when they're good. But on this one, I read a couple of them, and it felt like, I don't know, I wasn't quite sure what movie they were talking about all the time. It felt like there were some other things going on in those reviews, I gotta say, than just what was happening in the movie, and that kind of thing is just out of your control, you know? I think, if anything, it was actually a really great lesson as a filmmaker, in terms of who you make your movies for, and why you make them, and what your own marker for success is. To me, I'd rather have the audience go on the journey I want them to go on than anything. So, I don't know, the rest is just kind of take it as you get it."

Haunted Mansion is out now on home video and streaming on Disney+.