Narnia Fans » Walt Disney Pictures

During the 2008 Summer Olympics, television network NBC produced a short video clip about Brazilian marathon runner Vanderlei de Lima.  That clip, which can be viewed on YouTube by clicking here, featured a portion of “Only the Beginning of the Adventure” from the LWW soundtrack (audible around the 3:20 mark).

Sunday evening, during closing ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympics, Canadian singer Alanis Morisette performed none other than “Wunderkind,” her contribution the LWW soundtrack.  You can watch her performance on Videolog.

If you’ve heard Narnia music elsewhere, sound off in the comments section – pun intended.

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Brandon Gray at Box Office Mojo has posted a short preview of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  You can read his piece by clicking here.

Gray reports little, if anything, about VDT that the fanbase didn’t already know, but he does analyze the film’s box office potential.  After calling Prince Caspian a “disappointment” Gray states VDT will “sink further than Prince Caspian…it would take an extraordinary final product and marketing effort for Voyage to tread water.”  In his view, working against VDT are the 2.5 year gap between it and Caspian, as well as the December release.  And of course, he does make a comparison to Eragon and The Golden Compass, which did not perform strongly with December openings.

Its a unique take.  He’s probably right about the film delays, but most seem to agree that moving VDT to December was a good idea.  We shall see…

The Narnia fan community knows all too-well the sometimes controversial link between Christian elements of the books and what has appeared on screen.  This is probably most evident in discussions of Prince Caspian the book versus Prince Caspian the film.

The Wall Street Journal’s Houses of Worship column this week touched on the tension between faith and film, specifically those released by Disney.  Strangely, the Narnia franchise is not mentioned at all, but the piece is still an insightful read.  Click here to read “What Walt Wrought” on the WSJ’s website.

What say you?

Mark Johnson, producer on “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,”  “Prince Caspian,” and “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” is featured in a brief entertainment news piece in the Calgary Sun.

Regarding the first two Narnia films, Johnson said, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe worked phenomenally well and Prince Caspian worked very well. It’s funny it’s seen in a different light (but it still made) just under half a billion dollars.”

Johnson also comments that he looks forward to working on “Dawn Treader,” due in theaters in December 2010.  The full article is available at the Calgary Sun’s website.  Scroll down to the heading that reads “Third Time Lucky?”

It looks like Disney has taken down the official Narnia website, formerly available at Narnia.com.  Perhaps they’re getting ready to transfer the domain to 20th Century Fox.  Get ready, then, for an all-new Narnia.com, sometime this year.

I’ve always thought that it should be in the hands of Walden Media for this very reason.  Walden Media holds the license on the series.  However, Disney’s hosting capacity was probably much larger, being as big a company as they are.

John Burkitt points out who the owner of the Narnia.com domain is. It’s as I figured, the Lewis Estate owns it.

The domain belongs to:

C.S. Lewis Pte Ltd
1st Floor, Unit 4, Old Generator House
Bourne Valley Road
Poole, Dorset BH12 1DZ
GB

“The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,” while not appearing in the top 30 weekly DVD sales since January, is nearing 5 million units sold.

According to The Numbers, PC has sold 4,798,916 copies through April 12, 2009.  This figure does not include Blu-ray disc sales, and Amazon.com’s Blu-ray bundle (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian) is probably not included, either.  While specific data is hard to come by, it is reasonable to assume PC has moved a total of five million discs between the two formats in the United States alone.  International sales would move that figure even higher.

For those keeping tally, PC has generated over half a billion dollars in revenue from ticket sales ($419.6 million), DVD sales ($76.2 million in the United States), and television broadcasting rights (reportedly $15 million).  Adding in revenue from iTunes downloads, international DVD sales, soundtrack sales, and other merchandise would move that figure higher also.

Someone has posted on Wikipedia about a potential deal between Walden Media and Walt Disney Pictures.  It’s an uncited addition to the page, and my research into whomever it is that posted the data has turned up with nothing to verify the source.

On January 14, Disney renegotiated with Walden Media to produce the movie after coming to an agreement on the budget of the film.

I haven’t read that anywhere else, and when there’s no citation of the source, that’s where wikipedia falls short.

Take this news with a grain of salt until it is verified by a Press Release from either Disney or Walden Media.  We’ll try to do some investigations of our own to see what we can dig up, in the meantime.  It could be that this is a hoax.

UPDATE: A registered editor of Wikipedia has removed the statement.  No citation came about, and the person that posted it was probably confusing this with Watchmen, where 20th Century Fox and Warner Brothers came to terms regarding the release of Watchmen.

Walden Media is one of the few film companies out there today which consistently puts out quality family films (“Narnia,” City of Ember, Bridge to Terabithia, Charlotte’s Web), but unfortunately, few of their films have made enough money to warrant being called true successes. The first (and perhaps second) “Narnia” movie was box office gold, but Terabithia, Charlotte’s Web, and a few others make only moderate amounts of money and some Walden films are downright flops (City of Ember, The Seeker). Now, Disney in effect wants to cancel  “The Chronicles of Narnia.”

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Wow, when I woke up today, on Christmas Eve, I did not expect to read this headline all over my inbox. I did notice an awful lot of stories with Narnia in the title, and as I started to look at them, the first one I noticed was this headline: Disney jumps ship on next “Narnia.” My heart sank. Disney has been so good to us, here at NarniaFans.com, that I was looking forward to working with them again on the next Narnia.

Here’s hoping that another studio takes the opportunity to pick up where Disney left off. Come on, Fox! Get on board, and do this series to the end! We’re rooting for you!

From Reuters/The Hollywood Reporter:

“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” will have to sail without Disney.

The studio said Tuesday that for budgetary and logistical reasons it will not exercise its option to co-produce and co-finance the next “Narnia” movie with producer Walden Media.

The third entry in the series, based on the classic books by C.S. Lewis, was in preproduction and set for a spring shoot for a planned May 2010 release. The development puts the participation of the talent attached in doubt. Michael Apted was on board to direct a script by Steven Knight. The key players of the second installment, “Prince Caspian” — Ben Barnes, Georgie Henley, William Moseley and Anna Popplewell — were to return for the third film.

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Return to the magical world of Narnia in the second installment of C.S. Lewis’ timeless epic, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, coming to market on December 2, 2008 from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. Packed with exclusive featurettes, interviews and deleted scenes, the entertainment title of the year is available on DVD and Blu-ray Hi-Def, as well as a special two-disc Collectors Edition perfect for holiday giving. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian packaging also includes a special DisneyFile, a digital copy of the movie that can be viewed on a variety of portable devices for the whole family to enjoy anytime, anywhere.

From the creators of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian features even more groundbreaking special effects and breathtaking action than its predecessor. William Moseley, Georgie Henley, Anna Popplewell and Skandar Keynes return as Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, the Pevensie siblings, along with Academy Award® nominee Liam Neeson (1993 nominee for Best Actor, Schindler’s List) as Aslan the Lion and Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton (2008 winner for Best Supporting Actress, Michael Clayton) as the White Witch. They are joined by Ben Barnes (Stardust) as Caspian, heir to the Narnian throne, with Sergio Castellitto (Arthur and the Invisibles), Eddie Izzard (FX: The Riches), Warwick Davis (the Harry Potter films) and Peter Dinklage (The Station Agent) appearing as new residents of Narnia. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is fantasy adventure that will delight the entire family.

Lewis’ seven-book Chronicles of Narnia series is regarded as one of literature’s most enduring classics, selling over 100,000,000 copies in more than 35 languages, making it the second biggest book series the world over.

In The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, the Pevensie children face a perilous mission and a greater test of their faith and courage. They find a world in which 1,300 years have passed. The White Witch is gone, the realm is ruled by a cruel tyrant and Aslan has been missing for over a thousand years.

The four children embark on a remarkable journey to restore magic and glory to the land. Accompanied by Trumpkin, a valiant dwarf, Reepicheep the talking mouse and a suspicious Black Dwarf named Nikabrik, they raise an army of Narnians to rise up against the evil king Miraz.

BONUS FEATURES:

DVD

• Special audio commentary by director and actors

Collector’s Edition DVD

All of the above, plus:

• Special audio commentary by director and actors, a behind-the-scenes interview with the cast and crew, a tour of the film’s locations and sets, inside view of the technology and production behind the movie, bloopers, deleted scenes and much, much more!

Blu-ray Hi-Def Exclusives

All of the above, plus:

• Enhanced Disney’s BD-Live Network exclusives, interactive Narnia game, downloadable features and much, much more!

• Circle-Vision Interactive: Creating the Castle Raid – Walt Disney’s famous Imagineers introduced the world to Circle-Vision in the 50’s and 60’s, which immersed Disneyland visitors in 360-degree film tours of America, and later, China and Canada. Now, through HDRI camera technology and the rapidly-evolving interactive capabilities of Blu-ray, the Disney team has taken the first step towards advancing this unique and memorable experience. Only on THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN on Blu-ray Disc can fans take a 360-degree look behind the scenes of the castle raid sequence and get unique access to the secrets of how this latest adventure to Narnia was pulled off. It’s all a part of CIRCLE-VISION INTERACTIVE: CREATING THE CASTLE RAID. First, start off in the CIRCLE-VISION preview lobby, and choose to get a private tour of the castle raid from Director Andrew Adamson, Producer Mark Johnson, or a number of other key filmmakers and artists who brought the latest adventure to NARNIA to life. Then, select one of the exclusive CIRCLE-VISION experiences to be virtually transported to the set in the Czech Republic. The moment you enter these panoramic worlds, you will be able to turn in any direction, and fully-explore how this compelling sequence was painstakingly created. Discover a myriad of progression reels, developmental animatics, 13 audio commentaries, pop-up facts, slide shows, and a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes footage with cast and crew that is revealing, interesting, compelling, funny and exclusively accessed through this new-reimagining of a classic idea. It’s all a part of CIRCLE-VISION INTERACTIVE: CREATING THE CASTLE RAID, only on THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN on Blu-ray Disc.

The DVD of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian has a suggested retail price of $29.99 (U.S.) and $35.99 (Canada). The Two Disc Collector’s Edition is $39.99 (U.S.) and $46.99 (Canada). The Blu-ray disc is priced at $35.99 (U.S.) and $45.99 (Canada).