After the disappointing box office of both Speed Racer and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian last month, it's apparent that May was too busy a month for all its blockbusters to succeed. Last week, Eric D. Snider initiated a discussion about Caspian's release date and many of our readers agreed that it should have been released in December, or any other month, for that matter. Couldn't it have been a success in February or October, too? As part of an initially popular franchise, you'd think it could stand to be released anytime of the year.

Earlier today, I responded to an interview in which two cinema industry honchos argued that big movies should be released 12 months in the year. Or, at least, the summer movie season should begin earlier, in April. Imagine, the first blockbuster of the year being released on Easter weekend. Or, when Easter is in March, April Fool's Day weekend. Unfortunately, the month doesn't have any Monday holidays with which to capitalize on a three-day-weekend release, but a two-day weekend didn't seem to hurt Iron Man's enormous opening.

One commenter on my earlier post noted that moving the summer season up to April will only make that month the busiest release month, just as May is currently. But there's a good chance Hollywood will recognize, after May 2008, the benefits of staying spread out. Plus, Memorial Day weekend will continue to be prime real estate, so tentpoles might be better spread out, as they should be according to their name (imagine going camping and placing all your literal tentpoles in one corner).

What do you think? Should the summer movie season begin earlier? Or is it just fine as is? Or did you think it actually began on April 18 with the release of the fantasy martial arts flick The Forbidden Kingdom?

Welcome back to another edition of Insert Caption -- the game Carrie Bradshaw plays whenever she's all dressed up with nowhere to go (see photo below). Last week, we asked you folks to bring us back some funny captions from your trip to Narnia for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, and that you did! Congrats to Anthony G. for his inspired caption below ...

1. "According to Mapquest this is where the renaissance fair should be." -- Anthony G.

2. "The interns on Dr. Moreau's island weren't quite sure what they got themselves into after putting on their new uniforms" -- Josh B.

3. "Introducing the cast of High School Musical: Braveheart Edition." -- Kirby H.

See full image and all captions


This week, we all have sex on the mind -- and I wonder why? Could it be because the gals from Sex and the City are about to make their big-screen debut? I think mayyybe ... Since Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda are four very special ladies in our lives, we decided to give away some very special gifts to those who provide us with the best captions for the photo below. That being said, one grand prize winner will receive one Sex and the City Collector's Edition DVD set with all six seasons of the hit show, two different Sex and the City movie posters and one Sex and the City soundtrack. Meanwhile, two runners up will receive the two different posters and the Sex and the City soundtrack (info on the soundtrack after the jump). Not bad, huh? The perfect foreplay before Sex and the City arrives in theaters on May 30. Sound off below ...



See the official rules for this contest

It's been two-and-a-half years since we watched the Pevensie children come to life on the big screen in Disney's splashy adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but for the characters, only a year has passed between those adventures and the ones in the new movie, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Well, time is funny like that when you're dealing with the magical land of Narnia, as the storyline of this movie amply illustrates.

The structure of events in the movie is actually an improvement on the C.S. Lewis book, opening with a captivating chase scene as young Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes) attempts to escape from his Uncle Miraz (Sergio Castellito). Miraz has been scheming to steal Caspian's throne and now wants him dead. But Caspian's tutor gives him a magical horn, the horn of Queen Susan, to summon help in time of need. When Caspian blows the horn, suddenly Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter are pulled out of a London Tube station (which was the first scene in the book) and into a world of wild, wooded ruins that turns out to be Narnia, thousands of years after they've left. However, Caspian thought he was summoning kings and queens, not British children, and how can these kids help him regain the throne and help Old Narnia? And where is Aslan the Lion in the middle of all this?

Why We Can't Wait to See It: After waiting for years for a quality theatrical adaptation of C.S. Lewis's beloved Narnia series, the first film, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, didn't disappoint. Will the darker, more action-packed tale of Prince Caspian continue to impress fans of the books?

Why It Might Do Well: The best-selling series has a built-in fan base with families, Christians, and fantasy fans. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe grossed over $740,000,000 worldwide off an estimated $180,000,000 budget. This installment also boasts the addition of Ben Barnes as the handsome Prince Caspian, which could draw in the tween and teen market.

Why It Might Not Do Well: Producer Mark Johnson confirmed at the Narnia panel at New York Comic Con that the Mouse House plans to stop the franchise after filming Voyage of the Dawn Treader -- news that might not sit well with hardcore Narnia fans who were hoping to see all of the series brought to life. Also, the kid market has been rather flooded with fantasy films of late; The Spiderwick Chronicles brought in a dismal $70 million domestically off a $90 million budget, and Abigail Breslin starrer Nim's Island just over $32 million off a $34 million budget. Could interest in fantasy films be waning?

Fun Fact: Work on the script for Prince Caspian was started during the shooting of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, so filming on the sequel could begin as soon as possible, before the four children playing the leads visibly aged. Prince Caspian starts just one year in "Earth time" after the end of the first book.

Trivia:

Answer Key

Remember that rumor that we reported on several weeks ago -- the one from Jim Hill that said Disney was considering abandoning The Chronicles of Narnia franchise for John Carter of Mars? The response was, well, harsh. No one felt it could possibly be true.

Well, it might be. FirstShowing.net was at the Prince Caspian panel at New York ComicCon, where producer Mark Johnson confirmed that Disney was planning to end the series as a trilogy with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. There are "no plans" at present to film the remaining books -- although there is the possibility that if Caspian and Dawn Treader do well, Disney will revive it. As of now, there's no confirmation that Disney plans to replace Narnia with John Carter -- but you have to imagine they'll certainly explore all options.

The news doesn't surprise me at all. I think Disney's enthusiasm for the beloved fantasy franchise was admirable, but not entirely well thought out. I stand by my original opinion that the books become darker, stranger and nigh unfilmable from this point on. I think A Horse and His Boy would make a spectacular standalone film, though, and an ideal place to revisit the series if Disney ever revived it. Well, at least I'm getting Dawn Treader. I can live just fine without ever revisiting The Last Battle, but give me Narnian adventure on the high seas!

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian comes to theatres May 16th, 2008.

Is Paramount poised to have the best May imaginable at the box office between Mr. Stark and Dr. Jones? Can you take any movie with a monkey in it seriously? Will Pixar succeed again with WALL-E, or are robots the new Cars? Is a long-awaited sequel 'too little, too late' for X-Files fans? And will Hellboy 2 be the surprise smash of the season? Joining us this week on The Rocchi Review to talk summer's biggest movies is Scott Weinberg of Cinematical and FEARnet, and we try to answer all those questions and more. ... Cinematical's podcast content now has even better sound quality, and is now in iTunes; you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below:



As ever, you can download the entire podcast right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.

(Note: Above image was chosen totally at random. Yup. We'll go with that.)

It's beginning to look a lot like summer blockbuster season everywhere you go.

I've heard the words "calm before the storm" mentioned more times in the past week than I have all year. That's because it's almost April, which means the official start to the summer movie season is only one month away. One month! That's it! Are all of you as excited as we are? (Don't all stand up and cheer at the same time.) Anyway, pretty much all of the big summer flicks have released trailers by now (with the exception of The Mummy 3 ... and maybe something else that I'm forgetting -- it is Monday after all).

We've seen trailers for The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Speed Racer, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Incredible Hulk, WALL-E, Prince Caspian, Hellboy II, The X-Files, Wanted, The Happening, Hancock ... and so on. Of course, some films have been a little more aggressive than others -- like Iron Man (which comes out first), WALL-E (a few trailers, teasers and a very early viral campaign) and The Dark Knight (one teaser, one trailer and 50 billion viral sites). Indy's shoveled out a bunch of videos, as well as a trailer, and The Incredible Hulk has given us one trailer and a few images. One imagines all of these films will ramp up their marketing as their release dates draw closer.

But here's our question today: Which summer blockbuster trailer pumped you up most to see the film? Feel free to answer the poll below or write in your favorite in the comments section. (Me? I'm going with The Dark Knight.)

You know, for the Happiest Place on Earth, Disney can be full of drama.

Jim Hill reports that Disney is growing very concerned about their Narnia franchise, and much hinges on Prince Caspian. If it doesn't do well, the studio may be pulling the plug on the rest of the series. It is likely they will still continue with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, as it is already in pre-production. (That news cancels out my howl of disappointment. That's my favorite!) There's no solid reason as to why, although Disney is undoubtedly picking up on the lack of buzz Caspian is producing. I don't really know anyone who loved The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; the response seemed to be an underwhelming "It was all right."

It's possible Disney also didn't know quite what it was getting in for -- the books following Dawn Treader are a long way from talking mice. The Silver Chair is downright terrifying, The Horse and His Boy skips back to when the Pevensie children were adult Narnia rulers -- which could probably be explained via a title card, but it would stick out terribly. The Magician's Nephew is a Narnia creation myth, and The Last Battle. . .well, let's not even go there. That will have the children sobbing in the aisles. Not exactly ideal for merchandising.

Instead, Disney seems to be turning their attention to another live action franchise -- John Carter of Mars. From the sound of it, this may even be beating Brad Bird's 1906 to the title of First Pixar Live Action. It is all speculation, but Hill has put together an impressive what-could-be timeline that John Carter fans should check out. There are certainly telling rumors (and domain names) afoot. There is definitely a sense of urgency over at Disney, and it is going to be very interesting to see how it all pans out.

UPDATE: According to a Disney rep, this report is "entirely false." No other information was revealed, though one would assume the Narnia franchise is just fine and continuing along as scheduled.

[via IESB.net]

Here's a treat for anyone who blinked and missed the YouTube behind-the-scenes featurette that was floating around the Internet. SpoilerTV has some exclusive The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian stills -- though why Disney gave them to a television site is anyone's guess. No one else is posting them on their sites, just linking, so I'm following suit.

It has been so long since I read Prince Caspian that I'm rusty on the finer points -- but I really don't remember Caspian being so. . .mature. Wasn't there a The Sword in the Stone element to the book, with Caspian being very young, and having to lead an army to regain his throne before he was ready to do it?

I think Disney read the book, looked back at The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and said "What we're really missing is an Orlando Bloom to rally behind." And so we have a Caspian practically old enough to drink, one who is resembling Aragorn more and more with each image I see.

The stills are beautiful though (but no Reepicheep yet!) -- and maybe, despite my grumbling about accuracy, I will like it better than Wardrobe. It has to be good, otherwise all my hopes for my favorite book, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, will be dashed.

USA Today has a piece up today about 16 "hot" movies to watch for in 2008. Here's the list:

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Sex and the City: The Movie
The Dark Knight
Mamma Mia!
The X-Files
Quantum of Solace (aka the New James Bond Flick)
Star Trek
Iron Man
Speed Racer
The Incredible Hulk
Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Madagascar: The Crate Escape
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Day the Earth Stood Still