Guillermo del Toro surprised everyone in the audience during the closing minutes of the Tron: Legacy panel Thursday morning at San Diego Comic-con by appearing on stage to announce he is directing a complete reboot of Disney’s Haunted Mansion franchise, based on the amusement park ride of the same name.

A previous film, directed by Rob Minkoff and starring Eddie Murphy, was released in 2003 to largely universal condemnation (a score of 13% on Rotten Tomatoes). Del Toro promised a complete re-imagining of the property and vowed to deliver “a true haunted house story.” In a cheeky aside and an obvious swipe at the previous effort, he also stated that Haunted Mansion “will not be a comedy.”

An avowed fan of the Haunted Mansion ride at the Disney theme parks, del Toro discussed his love of the ride with moderator Patton Oswalt. He spoke of visiting the ride on an annual basis and, during the post production of Mimic in Los Angeles, he visited the ride weekly, often riding it several times in a day

“It’s how I relax,” he said. “[The ride] helps me think.”

No release date was announced but del Toro did say that the team was in the building stage. Del Toro was previously attached to the troubled Lord of the Rings prequel The Hobbit, but financial difficulties with producing partner MGM have caused delays, forcing del Toro to step away from the project to pursue other commitments.

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