Nothing came of it, but there was an idea to change the attraction “Haunted Mansion” to match the Eddie Murphy movie.

Most of the attractions at Disneyland or Walt Disney World are based on popular movies. Some of the others, such as Pirates of the Caribbean, became films themselves, which, in turn, inspired the renewal of the wave itself. It turns out that once Disney briefly considered doing the same with the classic attraction “Haunted Mansion”, which means that we almost got Eddie Murphy as an animatronic and a new Ghostly host.

When I went on Twitter this morning, one of the first things I saw was a post about a supposed animatronics that someone claimed Disney once made out of Michael Jackson, probably something that was related to the 3D movie “Captain EO” of the 80s years. One of those who responded to the Twitter thread was Josh Bailey, one of the directors of the upcoming documentary “The Stolen Kingdom” about the history of behind-the-scenes debauchery that has been going on for decades in the World of Walt Disney. He mentioned that at some point there were conversations within the company (although, to be precise, only conversations) about creating an animatronic Eddie Murphy for the theoretical redesign of a Haunted Mansion.

I responded to Bailey’s comment about Eddie Murphy’s potential animatronics, and he added additional details about what this new version of the Haunted Mansion will be about. Following the 2003 film Haunted Mansion, in which Eddie Murphy and Marsha Thomason were husband and wife real estate agents, the attraction would essentially be an open house, where Eddie Murphy’s voice, replacing the traditional narrator of the Ghostly Owner, led you around the mansion as if you were a potential buyer.

Needless to say, this is absolutely wild. Many people do not like that Captain Jack Sparrow eventually became part of the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction both at Disneyland and in Walt Disney World, but it must be said that these changes do not fundamentally change what kind of attraction it is. Over the years, Pirates of the Caribbean has undergone many changes, but the essence of the attraction and its essence has remained unchanged since its creation.

The haunted Mansion is undergoing an annual renovation at Disneyland and is becoming a “Nightmare Before Christmas”-style haunted mansion celebration from Halloween to Christmas, but it sounds like it would be a much more significant change. It would still retain some elements, many of which appeared in the film, but it would not be the same attraction.

In the end, “Pirates of the Caribbean” became a billion-dollar franchise, and “Haunted Mansion”… did not. If Eddie Murphy’s film had been insanely successful, it is quite possible that this whole concept could have passed the “idea” stage and become a real project. It makes you think. What things are currently being considered now that the new movie “Haunted Mansion” is on the way?