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Haunted Mansion’s Darker Original Ending Revealed, Director Explains Why He Changed It-TGN

Summary

  • Haunted Mansion director Justin Simien explains why the film’s darker original ending was changed to reflect the story and respects Disney’s preferences.

  • The ending was made more hopeful to give the main character, played by LaKeith Stanfield, a sense of hope and avoid a tragic ending for a Black character.

  • The more comedic and adventure-driven tone of Haunted Mansion wouldn’t have worked well with a darker, less hopeful ending, and the new ending leaves room for a potential sequel.

Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Haunted Mansion!Haunted Mansion director Justin Simien has opened up about the film’s darker original ending, explaining why it was changed to better reflect the story being told. In Haunted Mansion, the film’s main character, Ben Matthias (LaKeith Stanfield), is grieving over the death of his wife as he tries to help Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) combat the malevolent Hatbox Ghost (Jared Leto). The end of the film sees the Hatbox Ghost try to trick Ben into becoming the final soul he needs to get to his full power, taking advantage of Ben’s grief by saying he can see his wife again.

While Ben ultimately rejects the Hatbox Ghost’s offer, Simien spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about how the Haunted Mansion ending was almost much darker. However, after Stanfield was cast in the lead role, it was ultimately decided the ending should be more hopeful, including an epilogue where Ben and Gabbie’s future is hinted at. Check out what Simien had to say below:

The epilogue was certainly a late addition. The first version of the movie that I encountered had a bit more of a darker ending, one that I actually really respected and enjoyed, but I correctly guessed that it maybe wouldn’t get past the sort of Disney machine. But once we cast LaKeith, there was something that changed about what I personally needed from the ending of the movie. Frankly, I didn’t want to see a Black man have a tragic end in a movie like this. I wanted him to have hope at the end of the movie, and a tragic end for a Black character would’ve been really hard to swallow, at least for me right now. So we went with something a bit more hopeful, but there was probably something to the other version as well.

Why Haunted Mansion Needed A Hopeful Ending

When Ben rejects the Hatbox Ghost’s offer at the end of Haunted Mansion, it allows Harriet (Tiffiny Haddish) to use an incantation from Madame Leota (Jamie Lee Curtis) to banish him. This frees the spirits of the Mansion, who choose to stay, with Gabbie and her son Travis (Chase W. Dillon) deciding to look after them. The film ends with everyone in the group still alive and still friends, with Ben slowly healing from his grief.

While Haunted Mansion has plenty of moments of horror, the PG-13 film leans heavily into its more comedic and adventure-driven aspects. This makes the movie’s scares more fun than horrifying, giving Haunted Mansion the feel of a family film that can push the boundaries a bit more than usual. If Haunted Mansion had a darker, less hopeful ending, it wouldn’t mesh with the horror-comedy tone of the rest of the movie.

The more hopeful ending of Haunted Mansion also leaves the door open for a Haunted Mansion 2 led by Stanfield in the future. While it’s unclear if a sequel could happen in the future, having Stanfield’s Ben meet a tragic end wouldn’t make another Haunted Mansion movie feel worthwhile. As Simien indicates, the more hopeful ending for Haunted Mansion fits the movie’s story much better than a darker one would have.

Source: THR