Summary

• The 2023 Haunted Mansion remake has received unfavorable reviews, contributing to Disney's struggling track record with movies based on rides.
• The mixed reaction to Haunted Mansion can be attributed to the difficulty in finding the right balance between comedy and scares, resulting in a lack of cohesion.
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Jungle Cruise are the only Disney ride-based movies to receive positive ratings so far, highlighting the challenge in adapting theme park attractions into successful films.

The reception to 2023's Haunted Mansion remake has not been favorable, and it means that there are only two Disney movies based on rides to get Fresh ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie studio has been in the business of turning their most recognizable theme park rides from Disneyland into movies for nearly 30 years now. The 2023 Haunted Mansion movie is the 12th such Disney movie based on rides that have been made during that time, with it being a remake of the 2003 adaptation starring Eddie Murphy.

Although the movie looked to be a promising step up from one of Disney's biggest critical failures, Haunted Mansion's Rotten Tomatoes score indicates otherwise. It currently has a 44 percent Rotten rating on the review aggregator site based on 96 reviews. While there are some more positive reviews, the overall mixed reaction is certainly not what Disney hoped for when greenlighting the movie. However, it perhaps should have been expected at this point. Disney movies based on rides have rarely done well on Rotten Tomatoes, as only two movies have received Fresh ratings.

Why Haunted Mansion's Rotten Tomatoes Score Is Rotten

The Haunted Mansion Rotten Tomatoes score is a direct reflection of the mixed results that critics had with the movie. There has been praise heaped upon the talented cast headlined by Rosario Dawson, Lakeith Stanfield, Owen Wilson, Tiffany Haddish, and more. The Haunted Mansion reviews indicate they are the main reason why the movie is enjoyable to a point. However, it appears that the Disney movie based on the theme park ride experiences difficulty in determining exactly what type of movie it wants to be. A cast like this points to how Haunted Mansion could be a hilarious comedy, but that is only a portion of the focus.

It is expected for a movie bringing the Haunted Mansion ride to life will have plenty of scares included. This has to be done in a family-friendly nature thanks to the association with Disney, but the movie does not have any of the visceral thrill that comes with riding the ride at Disney's parks. By making Haunted Mansion suitable for kids, the movie has to pull back from becoming too scary to go beyond its PG-13 rating. The disconnect between not having the movie be as funny as possible or as scary as needed is why Haunted Mansion's Rotten Tomatoes score is not Fresh.

Pirates of the Caribbean & Jungle Cruise Are Disney's Only Fresh Ride-Based Movies On RT

With Haunted Mansion's reviews giving it a Rotten score, there are still only two Disney movies based on rides that have Fresh Rotten Tomatoes ratings: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Jungle Cruise. The 2003 movie starring Johnny Depp proved to be a huge hit with people around the world. The first Pirates of the Caribbean earned an 80% Fresh rating from critics and an even higher 86% from audiences. This helped propel the movie be a huge box office success and earn Johnny Depp an Oscar nomination for his role as Jack Sparrow.

It was not until 2021's Jungle Cruise that another Disney movie based on rides got a Rotten Tomatoes rating from critics that went Fresh. Released during the pandemic, Dwayne Johnson's movie barely managed to hit this mark. Jungle Cruise's Rotten Tomatoes score landed at 62% with critics noting how fun the cast and adventure proves to be, even if it does not quite live up to expectations. Audiences had a much better response to the movie as made clear by the 92% rating it received. While the critic score is far below Pirates of the Caribbean's, the achievement still stands out among the rest of Disney's movies based on rides.

Why The Majority Of Disney Movies Based On Rides Have Rotten Ratings

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Jungle Cruise's Fresh ratings on Rotten Tomatoes means they are in rare company. It also means 2023's Haunted Mansion s the ranks of these movies to have rotten scores, even though it is tied for the fifth-highest score of any Disney ride movie. Here is a quick breakdown of each Disney movie based on a ride's Rotten Tomatoes rating:

The fact that the majority of Disney movies based on rides have negative Rotten Tomatoes scores is an indication of the studio's consistent struggle to figure out the best way to turn theme park attractions into blockbuster movies. One of the biggest challenges has been finding the right story to tell over the course of a feature-length movie. While the rides that these movies are based on have some world-building, story, and characters built into them, they are more so about the experience of the ride. That makes all those other factors secondary for the ride, whereas they are primary points to get right for a movie to succeed.

The story issues are a common criticism of Disney movies based on rides and why their Rotten Tomatoes ratings rarely go Fresh. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Jungle Cruise being the only two Fresh movies does not seem like a coincidence considering they have a grand-scale adventure, big-name stars, and figured out a creative story to tell. While some of the other examples tried to replicate this success, even the many Pirates of the Caribbean sequels failed to recapture the magic of the first installment.

Will Any Disney Movie Based On Rides Get A Fresh Rating On Rotten Tomatoes?

The harsh reality of Disney's track record with Rotten Tomatoes ratings for movies based on rides after Haunted Mansion's score raises more concerns about this trend. Disney has multiple other movies based on theme park rides in development, ranging from a new Tower of Terror movie, Big Thunder Mountain, and Jungle Cruise 2. There are even multiple Pirates of the Caribbean movies in consideration, such as another with Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow and a spinoff/reboot starring Margot Robbie. But, the prospects of these respective movies look more grim based on Disney's history of success with ride-inspired movies.

There is still room for optimism on a few different projects with the hope of becoming the third Disney movie based on a ride to have a Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Tower of Terror has Scarlett Johansson attached as the star, so the pairing of her and Waititi is promising - as even the more mixed response Thor: Love and Thunder received would be a huge win for this genre of Disney movie. Margot Robbie's Pirates of the Caribbean movie remains a highly anticipated project for many, and Disney might be more inclined to figure out how to make it happen after she helped make Barbie a huge critical and box office hit.