Disney Dumps Narnia
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, Remakes and Sequels
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe ... Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia. The End! Finit! Voila! All done! Merry Christmas, Narnia!Can you imagine a world where The Chronicles of Narnia only made it through two installments? Can you imagine no Dawn Treader, or Silver Chairs, or Horses, or Nephews, or The Last Battle? It's come to be, at least where Disney and Walden Media are concerned. The Hollywood Reporter posts that the companies have chosen to not co-produce and finance the next Narnia installment (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader), citing "budgetary and logistical reasons." (And also declining to elaborate on these reasons.)
The plan was to get the film in production soon, to be released in May of 2010. But without a company and deep pockets to finance the fantasy, there's a decent chance that this will all go up in smoke. The key cast were attached to the third installment, but there's no telling if they'll wait around for a new bank. However, Walden does plan to shop the film around in hopes of finding someone willing to fork over the money. I imagine that it will be a pretty hard sell -- the second only pulled in close to half what The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe pulled in, so it's far from a sure bet, box office-wise.
Are you happy with the news? Is this the chance for someone else to bring the franchise more critical acclaim? The chance for the adaptations to die and fade away? Will the MPAA just mislabel it anyway? Weigh in below!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
12-24-2008 @ 8:39AM
joits said...
i'm kind of not surprised. the first movie of course was a huge hit especially since its the most well known and it followed right after the LoTR series and people really thought that's what they were getting. the second movie proved that the first movie was a fluke. i think every successive movie would have grossed less and less so i'm not surprised that the studios are cutting their losses now.
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12-24-2008 @ 8:59AM
MarkH said...
The news is disappointing in a way, but Prince Caspian was AWFUL, so in another way it's not such a bummer. If the producers could make such a bad movie with the second book in the series -- and enjoyable though it was, even the first movie wasn't super spectacular or anything -- then I shudder to see what they could have done next.
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12-24-2008 @ 9:00AM
MarkH said...
Let me elaborate: this news isn't half as disappointing as knowing they probably aren't going to make the rest of the Golden Compass series, and the first movie there wasn't that great either.
12-24-2008 @ 9:15AM
madafak said...
Voila!
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12-24-2008 @ 9:16AM
Kevin said...
I'm not really surprised either. I absolutely adored these books growing up, but when the first movie came out I decided to go back and reread them and realized they are extremely childish and downright silly. That works fine for childrens stories, but unfortunately this generation of kids have been raised on different books (HP for example). The mistake I think they made was keeping the movies aimed solely at kids; theres really not much in the movies to appeal to adults. The themes haven't been upgraded, theres no real dramatic tension, etc. I mean, how drawn into the story can parents get when you just know that Jesus himself is there to come and save the day no matter what. So when today's kids weren't going to see this movie in huge numbers, and the adults that loved the books growing up can't relate to the story because they're no longer kids, theres just no market for it. Its a shame, but I think thats what doomed this franchise.
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12-24-2008 @ 3:51PM
Jophiel said...
Ha you saved me a post kev!
12-24-2008 @ 9:17AM
BlackRabbit said...
While I wasn't a huge fan of what they did with Prince Caspian,
I feel like The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe was a pretty faithful and well done telling of the "first" story. I would have liked to see where they would take the series, but if this means less butchery of the world of Narnia, all the better.
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12-24-2008 @ 11:16AM
hpres said...
You should read the press release more carefully. Disney and Walden have agreed to not co-produce, basically Disney is opting out. Walden is still in the game and hold the rights to make the film. Walden will try other studios to help share the cost, Fox anyone? So it is not a done deal that the film will never be made, it just won't have Disney money attached to it.
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12-25-2008 @ 10:19AM
C.A. said...
@ hpres
Um... did you read Monica's post? She pretty much said all that already. She's just saying it's a risky ip and unlikely to get picked up and she's right on both counts I think.
12-24-2008 @ 11:41AM
RTMS said...
While they were not the greatest movies, I think Prince Caspian suffered more from bad marketing and positioning than anything else. This was not a summer blockbuster movie yet Disney insited it had to show during the summer with the Dark Knight and the rest. If it had stayed put in it's Christmas holiday slot I think it would have done even better. Most people agree Disney was looking to dump the series anyways so they torpedoed it by moving the film to summer.
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12-24-2008 @ 11:56AM
MCW said...
I pretty much agree with your sentiments. I've watched the first two, and felt they are awfully similar, and not just because of the cast similarities. When watching Prince Caspian, I was truly amazed they could afford such outlandish special effects (Particularly the big war in the middle of the field, and the collapse of that underground tunnel deal), for what seems like just a sleeper movie.
Caspian, and probably the 1st Chronicles were overlong, that's one of the few complaints I have about them. Other than that, what we've seen onscreen is way too safe (Thanks Disney)... it's time to go crazy with the franchise. I'm sure someone could pick it up... I hear Summit Entertainment has some money lying around that they aren't using for New Moon.
I also agree a little with the other guy who wants to see the Golden Compass series continue, not to mention the Spiderwick Chronicles and A Series of Unfortunate Events. This is becoming all too often, this whole starting a franchise, dumping it in theaters and then not caring to continue.
12-24-2008 @ 4:21PM
Ed said...
I agree with you. It should have been released at Christmas and it would have found a bigger audience.
12-24-2008 @ 4:25PM
Fullman said...
I agree, sometimes a family film needs to stay to the holidays to avoid the harsh competition with less-family friendly films. Dark Knight put up some harsh demand, even with the preceding weeks leading up to the film, so it was no wonder why Caspian didn't do as well.
Had Caspian been released this holiday season, it would have done much better. I assumed this was an out Disney was looking for, pushing for the film to be launched this Summer. It had all the ingredients for a lackluster recipe.
Then the last-minute marketing change that focused more on the battles and Ben Barnes and less about the story, the continuation of the concept, the siblings... all was astir at Disney.
If this franchise does move over to another studio, which Fox is looking to be a major contender, I have a feeling things will happen a little differently.
One thing is clear: I'm really hoping for the Final Battle to be made. Yes, the movie will leave children crying in the aisles, but it'll be damned good film making.
12-24-2008 @ 12:41PM
Cam said...
Leave it to Disney to mess up a perfectly good franchise. Had a good studio gotten the rights, the films would have made it though all 7. Thank goodness Disney didn't get the rights to Harry Potter, cause they could have royally screwed that one up. WB definitely did justice with HP, going so far as allowing PG-13 ratings to give the films a little more edge. Disney would never have done this.
I hope a studio like WB/Newline can acquire Narnia and finish it up right
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12-24-2008 @ 1:05PM
Scott K said...
Good riddance.
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12-24-2008 @ 1:46PM
Flash said...
I think in order for the Narnia franchise to stick out and actually make some money, is to attach a new director. Get people who wouldn't be interested in watching any Narnia film to get excited about the people involved in the film, instead of trying to get people to root for a "From the director of Shrek" title card.
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12-24-2008 @ 5:34PM
AJ said...
This is what they get for releasing a "christmas" movie during the summer. Sucks for them. Look at how this winter has been EMPTY. The Day the Earth Stood Still? FAIL. Yes Man? FAIL. Seven Pounds? FAIL. The Tale of Despereaux? FAIL. Punisher: War Zone? FAIL. Transporter 3? FAIL. Australia? FAIL. Delgo? EPIC FAIL. If it was released the same weekend as the first film, Caspian would've done double the business it did inbetween Iron Man, WALL-E, and The Dark Knight. Of course they still had Star Trek and Harry Potter when they made the decision but it doesn't matter. The first film out grossed the Potter it went up against and destroyed another big remake (King Kong).
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12-24-2008 @ 3:27PM
Bryony said...
I adore the Chronicles of Narnia books: they were my introduction to "epic fantasy" (vs straight SciFi). Yet I found the movies pretty to look at but not deeply mesmerizing, like LoTR and Potter are. (Granted, LoTR and CofN are different books aimed at different (age level) audiences, and that may be an unfair comparison.) Perhaps the competition set an unreal standard?
Narnia is well rid of Disney, imo. What Narnia needs is a combination of Peter Jackson, Industrial Light and Magic, and what Brian and Wendy Froud did for Dark Crystal and Labyrinth!
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12-24-2008 @ 3:40PM
Fred said...
The Chronicles of Narnia books are all boring,stilted,barely disguised religious screeds,and both movies were no better.
Disney realized that the next one would hemorrhage money like a slit throat.
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12-24-2008 @ 4:00PM
EricW said...
Prince Caspian fares better with each viewing. I've watched it 3 times now, once in the theater and twice on DVD, and definitely like it. It's a good sequel to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Peter Dinklage is excellent. I hope someone carries on with film #3.
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