Haunted Mansion’s striking cast replaced by Disneyland actors for film premiere

Owen Wilson, Jamie Lee Curtis and the rest of the cast of Haunted Mansion were unable to attend the new Disney film’s premiere due to the actors’ strike kicking off this week.

Disney’s solution may have left some in the crowd baffled as real-life characters from the studio’s classic cartoons walked the red carpet instead.

Villains like Maleficent and Cruella de Vil were in attendance for the spooky family horror based on one of Disneyland’s most popular rides.

Famous couple Mickey and Minnie Mouse also waved at the crowds and posed for photos at the event, which took place in Disneyland, California.

Tightrope walker Sally Slater, who appears in one of the ride’s stretching portraits, was also filmed greeting guests at the premiere.

The cast also includes Tiffany Haddish, Rosario Dawson, Jared Leto, Danny DeVito and Lakeith Stanfield, none of whom walked the carpet.

Haunted Mansion is one of the first major studio releases during the strike, which began the same evening that Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer premiered in London.

Cast members including Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt and Matt Damon walked out just before the screening started once the SAG-AFTRA strike was announced.

While actors are now unable to take part in red carpet events, models, celebrities and the film’s director Justin Simien showed up for Haunted Mansion on Saturday.

“Obviously, we’re here at a weird time in the industry. There are some folks that aren’t here,” Simien said.

The director was still able to promote the film on behalf of the cast, and also called out screenwriter Katie Dippold who was also absent due to the WGA strike.

“Trust me, if you’re a nerd and if you love this ride, that is the nerd you want in the room,” he said.

Simien went on to call Dippold’s script a “brilliant and fresh, and funny, and heartfelt, and important and meaningful take on this ride.

“It was really important to me to protect her vision and to realize it the best I could.”

Haunted Mansion is out in cinemas on Friday, August 11.