Video: ‘Cars’ and ‘Haunted Mansion’ Films Come Together in Adorable Crossover

In 2006, an all-new series of films raced into the hearts of Pixar fans. Starring Lightning McQueen and a band of lovable cars teaching him the meaning of true friendship, the movie Cars snagged a permanent parking spot in the Pixar Hall of Fame.

Created by John Lasseter, Joe Ranft, and Jorgen Klubien, it wasn’t long before the Cars movie expanded to a franchise, with Cars 2 (2011) and Cars 3 (2013) tailgating the initial film. Cars sped into Walt Disney World Resorts and theme parks with a massive fan following, inspiring a presence at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort. It wasn’t long before the movies inspired a permanent ride fixture in Hollywood Studios.

Driving a story taking place after Cars 3, Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy landed in Hollywood studios in 2019. While Walt Disney Animation Studios and its creative team are to thank for the rise of the iconic animated Disney character, Owen Wilson is the voice actor who brought him to life.

Throwing around his famous “ka-chow” lines, Wilson helped cement Lightning McQueen as a household Disney name. While Disney continues to bring more move-inspired Cars to the Parks, Wilson is hard at work promoting the opposite: a Disney ride-inspired film.

Two Iconic Attractions Collide

While happy haunts look forward to Disney’s film adaptation of its arguably most iconic ride called Haunted Mansion, Wilson is leaving adorable Easter eggs for fans to hold onto.

Starring as the Priest in the upcoming freaky flick directed by Justin Simien and written by Katie Dippold, Wilson sat down with Disney Studios for an interview to promote Haunted Mansion. In a clip that’ll put Cars fans into overdrive, Wilson portrayed Lightning McQueen entering the spooky house in this clip from @disneystudios on TikTok:

@disneystudios

Ka-Chow…but make it haunted 👻 Catch Owen Wilson (not as Lightning McQueen) in Disney’s Haunted Mansion, in theaters July 28.

♬ original sound – Disney Studios

It might be hard for Cars fans to picture their favorite automobile entering a creepy home, but the series “Cars on the Road” (2022) depicted a Haunted Mansion-esque scene in its second episode. The episode “Lights Out” features a haunted hotel where Lightning McQueen and Mater had to spend the night.

With classic Disney Easter eggs dispersed throughout the episode, like Magic Kindom’s Haunted Mansion’s stretching room portraits featuring cars instead of people, Disney fans caught a preview of Owen Wilson’s dual presence in the unlikely film duo.

Haunted Mansion won’t be Disney’s first live adaptation of its iconic ride. In 2003, Eddie Murphy starred in The Haunted Mansion, which got a lukewarm reception at the box office. This time, Haunted Mansion stars Gabbie (Rosario Dawson), A tour guide (LaKeith Stanfield), a psychic (Tiffany Haddish), a historian (Danny DeVito), and a priest (Owen Wilson) as they attempt to rid Gabbie’s home of classic haunts like Madame Leota (Jamie Lee Curtis) and the Hat-Box Ghost (Jared Leto).

Set to spook theaters on July 28, Haunted Mansion will feature the ever-popular Owen Wilson and its star-powered cast.