Disney holds ‘Haunted Mansion’ premiere without its stars for first major event impacted by actors’ strike

By Disney Haunted house The premiere, held at Disneyland on Saturday night, looked a little different than what the studio originally planned, as it became Hollywood’s first major event after SAG-AFTRA took part in the pickets.

With Tiffany Haddish, LaKeith Stanfield, Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson, Chase W. Dillon, Dan Levy, Jamie Lee Curtis, Hasan Minhaj, Marilu Henner, Lindsay Lamb, director Justin Simien, producers Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich, executive producers Nick Reynolds and Tom Peitzman and composer Kris Bowers were initially scheduled to walk the red carpet, held in front of the theme park’s Haunted Mansion ride. But when the actors’ strike was called on Thursday, the stars were no longer able to attend the event. The walkout guidelines ban not only on-camera work, but also promotional activities, including previews, interviews, festivals, FYC events, award shows, and podcasts.

While several studios and streamers have decided to cancel their upcoming events, especially the Oppenheimer red carpet in New York set for Monday – Disney went ahead with the premiere, leaning on its theme park characters in the absence of the actors.

Mickey and Minnie, Maleficent, Snow WhiteThe Evil Queen and Cruella posed for photos with fans during the two-hour red carpet, as influencers and other guests also had private access to ride the Haunted Mansion attraction. The producers, as well as Simien, arrived about halfway through the event, stopping for group photos before the director spoke briefly to the press.

“I feel very ambivalent about it, but at the same time I’m so proud of this cast and I’m so, so proud of Katie Dippold who wrote the script, and a big part of the reason I did it was to honor her words and to honor their work,” Simien said The Hollywood Reporter on the carpet. “If they can’t be here to talk about it, I felt like I should be here to talk about it. It’s sad they’re not here, at the same time, I totally support why they’re not here. And I’m happy to be the one to ring the bell for them.” He also noted that he believes the AI ​​issues emerging in the SAG-AFTRA negotiations are “a very important thing to hammer home and understand.”

The red carpet was followed by a Hyperion Theater screening of California Adventure, where Simien took the stage, reflected on how he worked at Disneyland, and thanked his Disney associates and executives.

“Obviously we are here at a strange time in the industry, there are some people who are not here – of course I am referring to the multiple strikes on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars. Frankly I’m roasted by the drama this season. No, other things are going on too,” Simien added in reference to the strike, also calling the star-studded cast by name.

SAG-AFTRA announced the halt after negotiations with the Alliance of Film and Television Producers faltered on Wednesday evening.

The group representing studios and streamers said they “presented a deal that offered salary increases and historical residuals, substantially higher caps on pension and health care contributions, auditioning protections, reduced series option periods, and a game-changing intelligence proposition artificial that protects the digital likeness of the actors”. SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher called the offer “insulting and disrespectful of our massive contributions to this industry,” criticizing “the way they plead poverty when they give their CEOs hundreds of millions of dollars. It’s disgusting. Shame on them, they’re on the wrong side of history right now.”