Animated ‘Haunted Mansion’ heading for Disney TV

The story of the Haunted Mansion has been a tough nut to crack for Disney.

In 2003, Disney tried to follow up on the success of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie with a live-action Haunted Mansion film starring Eddie Murphy. The reviews were scalding; the consensus was that the “horror comedy” was neither scary nor funny.

Gus Grimly illustration

In 2010, Disney announced it would take another crack at the story, this time with Guillermo del Toro writing and producing. In a recent Reddit AMA, del Toro said he’s on the “third or fourth draft” of the script.

While the del Toro script continues to percolate, Disney is taking another tack, developing an animated Haunted Mansion special for television, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The TV special loosely coincides with the 45th anniversary of the iconic Disney ride, which opened in 1969 in Disneyland. It will be animated by children’s book author Gris Grimly (Gus Grimly’s Wicked Nursery Rhymes). Scott Peterson and Joshua Bruett (Phineas and Ferb) are on board to write and produce.

Grimly’s whimsical horror style would fit right in at the House of the Mouse, right next door to Tim Burton’s work. Grimly has written and illustrated a slew of classic takes, including Frankenstein, Pinocchio, nursery rhymes, Edgar Allen Poe stories and the tale of Sleepy Hollow.

As for the del Toro movie, it’s happening slowly, but it is happening. In the same Reddit AMA, del Toro said he “always feels like we are very close” to having a script, but it’s not there yet. Still, he and his team had developed 50-60 pieces or art, including maquettes of the Hat Box Ghost. But the film won’t move forward until the script is finished.

“I have to believe that Disney will make this movie as soon as we crack the screenplay,” he said, “but until they we cannot tackle it.”

Another “6 degrees of Disney” factoid: del Toro and Grimly have a history together; they have been reported to be working on a stop-motion version of Grimly’s 2002 “Pinocchio” story with the Jim Henson Company.