Even though directors aren’t on strike and manning the picket lines alongside actors and writers, you need to be dead on the inside not to sympathize with Haunted Mansion‘s Justin Simien just a little bit.
After all, the filmmaker hasn’t been shy in admitting he’s out there publicly promoting the movie because it’s his contractual obligation to do so, regardless of whether or not he stands in solidarity with those refusing to work until the industry changes its ways (which he most definitely does, for the record).
Not only that, but the Haunted Mansion premiere was populated by in-costume Disney characters just to make up the numbers, never mind the fact the reboot with an estimated $157 million price tag is tracking for a lukewarm opening weekend in the $30 million range and currently holds a tepid Rotten Tomatoes score of just 43 percent.
Simien has no choice but to put on a brave face and soldier on, though, revealing to The Hollywood Reporter that he’s fully aware the odds have been stacked against his first foray into blockbuster territory.
“Pretty dramatic. This is a big ensemble. It’s not a sequel to that first movie or a remake. It’s not building on an existing audience. We need publicity. We need word-of-mouth. This is going to hurt it. Because I’m in the DGA, which made a deal with the AMPTP, I am obligated by my Disney contract to promote the movie. That sucks because I know how that might look to some people. But I also know how it feels to fight for something that I believe in within the very system that I’m fighting. I’m a Black gay man in America, so it’s not the first time by any stretch. But, look at me. I’m making this hundred-plus-million-dollar movie. That’s ancestors’ wildest-dream stuff.”
The chances of Haunted Mansion not becoming Disney’s latest bomb are admittedly slim, but on Simien’s part it certainly won’t be from a lack of effort in trying to raise awareness and drum up buzz.