Narnia Fans » Disney

Official Narnia Website Vanishes

Paul Martin — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:43:26 +0000

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

Disney to bring Prince Caspian to South Africa’s M-Net

Paul Martin — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:05:45 +0000

Disney-ABC-ESPN Television said Tuesday that it has signed a multiyear deal with South African pay TV broadcaster M-Net for feature films from Walt Disney Pictures, Disney/Pixar and Miramax Films. This will include films such as “There Will Be Blood” and “Enchanted.”

Also under the deal are “High School Musical 3: Senior Year,” “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” and Disney/Pixar’s Oscar winner “WALL-E.”

The deal was brokered by Tatjana Vucanovic, Disney-ABC-ESPN vp sales Central and Eastern Europe and Africa, and M-Net sales executive Louise Worth. It is not yet known when the films will be available on South Africa’s M-Net.

Why The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will Work

areyouscreening — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 06:54:21 +0000

After moving to 20th Century Fox, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader film will be released (as though nothing might change between now and then) on December 10th, 2010. Michael Apted will direct, and we’ve got our same actors serving in the roles of Edmund, Lucy, and Caspian.

As we all know, Disney dumped the franchise mid-film once Prince Caspian lost money domestically. It ended up down something like $60 million on that score, but doubled its budget and then some worldwide.

Now, the general story here has been tossed around from every perspective a thousand times already. Since we have a solid release date, I think it’s worth mentioning not only how stupid Disney’s decision was, but how depressingly un-Disney it was… Walt Disney that is.

Dropping the franchise was a decision based (and I’ll just say it, because you’ve seen Disney lately, and you know it’s true) on nothing beyond a graph with two points on it. Point B is lower than Point A, and my little visual aid iPhone algorithm app suggests that Point C will be way down here somewhere. To be fair, it’s a theory that serves its purpose insofar as not losing money no matter what. After all, second prize is a set of steak knives. But, it’s also a theory that keeps you from making money, and it misunderstands franchises (which is as anti-Disney as you could get), and it just misses Walt’s point altogether.

The first story is filled with magic, and is built on a pace that eases us into our characters. We get strange creatures, a magical world, spells, and adventure, but mixed with a generous helping of character development and sound emotional arc. And, without even going further into how well it was actually put on film, most everyone has at least read the first book.

Here’s where Disney misunderstood what they were doing in the first place by putting so much weight on dollars, and this is something I’m certain Walt would have known instantly — Prince Caspian is a throwaway. Now, it’s a very good book. Not the best in the series by a mile, but good. It is, however, a book without a lot of hope when you start sketching the details of the plot out into something that is going to be filmed. It’s filled with so much thought and debate, and inner turmoil, and yada yada, that the movie we got is about as good as that’s going to get.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a pretty decent movie, and it certainly had its moments, but it didn’t live up to the first one, and it just doesn’t have the same charm and power. There isn’t time to really tear apart the characters, because there are too many turns and not enough delays. When you put Prince Caspian down in the way necessary for managing a film, you’re pretty much left with –

Here is a quandry of a moral or ethical nature… well, we’re late for the next battle already.

And, that’s what we got.

It’s not a bad movie, but it isn’t going to blow the doors off anything. You don’t leave the theater filled with wonder.

But, for those making the film… well, if you’re lucky you get your money back on the deal, but at the end of the day you get something indescribably more valuable than a mere bag of cash. You get to makeDawn Treader!

Dawn Treader is, compared to a great many things, slow as molasses. It’s filled with chats with dragons, The Island Where Dreams Come True, mermen, and a trip to the end of the world. It is so filled to bursting with the essence of magic that magic itself gives it rather a rude look, and it sails on oceans of just the sort of character nuance and interplay that makes The Chronicles of Narnia among the most beloved collections of books ever. And, then you get to make The Silver Chair!

Walt understood that sort of game. If you build that my friend, a world of magic and wonder, they will come.

I don’t know for sure that Michael Apted is actually the guy to pull things off to the extent that will realize the film’s potential, but heaping mounds of potential it definitely has. It could easily be an instant and untouchable classic of pure cinematic joy. Will it be one of the best films ever? I don’t even really include that in the scope of what I mean right here. It probably won’t be. But, it is very likely to reignite movies for many, and become a film that is watched countless times and for decades to come. That all may just come down to the jibbering drivel of a sickening fanboy, but when I read Dawn Treader as a young boy, I could fly.

The release of Dawn Treader is now a long way off, but Disney dropped the ball on something that could well turn into a behemoth of the movie franchise realm.

-This is a guest entry by Marc Eastman of areyouscreening.com

LA Times Reports on Disney Decision

Mike — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:16:19 +0000

The Los Angeles Times has published a story related to Disney’s decision to part ways with the Narnia franchise. Titled “The secret history of why Disney dumped Narnia,” the piece is an interesting read.

The full article can be accessed here.

Mother of Three Calls Disney “crazy”

Emily — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:08:45 +0000

Mary McNamara of the LA Times is not just a television critic—she’s also the mother of a ten, eight, and two year old. With children of that age, it is easy to believe that her household is very familiar with Walt Disney Pictures.

Yet Ms. McNamara is displeased with Disney’s recent decision to back out of production of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. In fact, in a letter to Disney published in the LA Times, she admonishes the company.

“I’m here to tell you, though it is probably too late, that you are crazy.”

Why is Disney crazy? Ms. McNamara acknowledges that expectations of Prince Caspian box office success were not meant. However, she also reiterates what many other Narnia fans have expressed:

“So, part two, “Prince Caspian,” didn’t make a gazillion dollars. What a surprise. “Prince Caspian” was always the dud, relatively speaking, of the series. For fans who read and reread “The Chronicles of Narnia,” it was the one you could skip. The fact that “Prince Caspian” the movie did as well as it did was a miracle, and a testament to the filmmakers. It certainly did not have the built-in, can’t-wait draw of the first Narnia film, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”

Or, more important, of “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” which is, hands down, the best book of the series.”

Ms. McNamara recognizes that The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is considered the gem of the Narnia series. A fan favorite, it also contains material that would perfectly lend itself to the big screen.

But as this mother states, it is probably too late to change Disney’s mind. Fans will have to wait to see what lies in the future for the Narnia series. However, Mary McNamara’s letter to Disney can leave one feeling hopeful—with many (including mothers!) rallying behind the series, a large audience awaits The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It is not doubtful that another studio will partner with Walden Media to bring this classic to the screen.

Click here to read Ms. McNamara’s full letter to Disney.

“There’s a right bit more than hope”

brett — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 02:51:41 +0000

As you all know by now, Disney decided recently not to continue co-producing and co-financing the Narnia film franchise. This does seem unfortunate, but there is hope. “There’s a right bit more than hope. Aslan is on the move.” Quite literally. Walden Media isn’t giving up hope on the series yet. Apparently, they will be shopping it around to other studios to see if anyone is interested. But what studio might be interested? Why would a studio pick up this franchise? Even supposing it gets picked up, is it possible for the franchise to survive the studio-hop?

Many think it quite likely that Fox might be interested. Fox and Walden have worked together many times in the past. (They eventually formed Fox Walden.) Also, Fox is rather sans franchises right now. They have the X-Men characters and… that’s pretty much it. Not only are they without franchises, they are also without many strong tentpoles. An established franchise that shows potential could really be what Fox needs right now.

Furthermore, even Disney admitted that the unsuccessful box office of Prince Caspian was due, in large part, to the crowded release month. If it had been released in December (particularly in 2007), the box office very well could have been near double what it came to. It would certainly have been a few hundred million more worldwide.

If treated properly, the Narnia franchise has huge potential. The question is if Fox (or another studio) agrees about this potential and if they are willing to dish out $150 million to see if the property proves valuable. To restate what has been said many times before, this is a delicate franchise. In 2005, Disney showed how to market Narnia. In 2008, Disney tried something new and bold, but ended up showing how NOT to market Narnia. It’s really that simple now because we know the rules of the game. To oversimplify: Make the right movie and market it to the right audience.

The idea of franchises studio-hopping isn’t unheard of either. For example, back in 2004, Revolution Studios released Hellboy to moderate success. The studio was not displeased with the box office (it ended up slightly in the green, much like Prince Caspian will after a brief period on DVD), but decided against going forward with a sequel and they let go of their right to release the sequel. Universal nabbed that right up pretty quickly and released Hellboy II: The Golden Army in 2008. The Golden Army grossed a bit more than the first installment. Universal was pleased and wants to go forward with a third installment when series director Guillermo Del Toro gets some free time (a busy, in-demand filmmaker, that man is). There is no reason why this sort of thing shouldn’t or couldn’t happen with the Narnia franchise.

KingOfLostFaces.com

Disney jumps ship on next Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Paul Martin — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 13:40:55 +0000

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.

It is rare for a studio to pull out of a planned trilogy in midstream, but the number-crunching showed a franchise on a downward trend. “Lion” roared to $745 million worldwide. This year, “Prince Caspian” grossed just $419 million.

Walden has a strong relationship with the Lewis estate and will shop “Treader” in hopes of finding a new partner. The most likely candidate at this stage is Fox, which markets and distributes Walden fare under the Fox Walden banner.

Any partnership on a “Narnia” movie will require a substantial investment. “Caspian,” which filmed in the Czech Republic, Mexico and New Zealand, cost $200 million. The first film, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” was shot mostly in New Zealand for $180 million.

Further challenging “Treader” may be a waning of the pricey children’s fantasy genre. When the “Harry Potter” series topped the book charts and then filled movie theaters, studios began snapping up fantasy manuscripts as quickly as they could. When “The Lord of the Rings” showed it was possible for adults to enjoy the fare as well — and produced the box-office results to prove it — Hollywood’s fascination with the genre intensified.

But no other fantasy adventure films have shown that kind of box office punch. Earlier this year, Warners and New Line hoped they were launching a franchise with “The Golden Compass,” but the adaptation of the Philip Pullman trilogy tanked domestically. The film grossed just $70 million domestically and the co-production partners declined to go forward with a second installment despite the fact the film did take in more than $300 million overseas.

Granted, Pullman’s series isn’t a household name, at least in the states… nor should it be. It’s no Lord of the Rings caliber writing, nor even Harry Potter. It’s certainly not Narnia. Studios have been trying to emulate Lord of the Rings, and for the most part, failing to do so. Why? Because The Lord of the Rings spent SEVEN YEARS in production before the first film was released. Five years of pre-production means the creative team is still as behind the film as the day they started, a year and a half of filming on all three parts of the movie, and a storyline that was compelling, leading to an ending as wonderful as the film that preceeded it.

With Narnia: there is a gold-mine as well… it’s a series where every book is different from the last, making for a series where people tend to find their favorite one. According to our latest poll, Dawn Treader is actually the second most popular book, followed by my favorite, The Last Battle. Exactly as I thought it would line up.

I feel that Dawn Treader can and will do better than Caspian. Especially under the trained eye of Michael Apted.

Tour of Disney-Pixar and KNB EFX sheds light on Wall-E and Caspian

Paul Martin — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:33:44 +0000

A recent press junket went to both Disney’s Pixar studio, and KNB EFX. Both are places that I dream of one day visiting. Who knows, perhaps I could supply some voices to some characters in a Pixar film. And I generally look like a faun, so KNB EFX would just have to apply some horns, a curly wig and ears, and I’d be just about set before Special Effects.

KNB EFX is the company that provided all of the furry prosthetics and creatures for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

With both films arriving on Blu-ray and DVD, Disney decided to have a press junket that covered Wall-E and Prince Caspian at the same time. The first stop was a visit to Pixar, who has made no bad film! I love them all! Get Wall-E!

Pixar was just day one. Day two lead to KNB EFX. Everyone took a short flight to Hollywood, and went for a rendezvous with Disney’s head of disc production at Burbank.

The looked at the new Circle-Vision Interactive feature, on the Prince Caspian Blu-ray Disc, that allows for 360-degree scene navigation.

Following the preview, the group of reporters was driven to KNB’s studios, where Greg Nicotero and his team created the costumes for Prince Caspian.

All in all, the efforts of the teams at both studios showed the variety of work that went into making two very different films. But it also displayed the passion that both teams had for the work they are doing. And that is what drives each them toward perfection in their work.

You can read the whole story at News Shopper Online.

Waiting for the “Dawn”

Jonathon Svendsen — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:33:00 +0000

Jim Hill Media provides some key insights into what’s going on with Dawn Treader, including reasons behind it’s release date delay and other matters.

Below are some excerpts:

“Do you recall that shindig that Walt Disney Studios held at the Kodak Theatre back in September. Where the 26 movies that the Mouse House now has in the works — among them highly anticipated sequels like “Pirates of the Caribbean 4,” “Toy Story 3,” “National Treasure 3″ and “Tron 2″ — were all heavily hyped.”

” Did you notice something significant missing from that list? Like — say — the third installment of the “Chronicles of Narnia” series, “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.” … That project kind of went into stealth mode.”

“Don’t get me wrong. Walt Disney Pictures — along with its production partner, Walden Media — is still reportedly moving forward with the third installment of “The Chronicles of Narnia.” … Which is all well & good. Except that Disney hasn’t actually greenlit production of “Voyage of the Dawn Treader.” Not yet, anyway.”

“What’s the hold-up? Well … Part of the problem here is that “Prince Caspian” didn’t do nearly as well as Disney & Walden had hoped it would this past Summer. …Given that
many of the suits at the Studio thought that “Prince Caspian” was a far stronger film than “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” Disney CEO Bob Iger blame this movie’s under-performance on there being “too many movies… in the marketplace.” That
– due to the surprising strength of “Iron Man,” “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and the other summer blockbusters that crowded in around “Prince Caspian” — this “Narnia” sequel wound up coming up short at the box office.

“Mind you, given that foreign ticket sales for the second installment of the “Chronicles of Narnia” series also showed the same sort of drop-off … there are other theories
now being floated at the Studio to explain away “PC” ’s perceived under-performance. Chief among these being that many moviegoers worldwide — having seen the first “Narnia” movie and found it wanting — weren’t all that eager to see a “Narnia” sequel. Which is why only half of the “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” ’s audience turned out to see “Prince Caspian.”

That said, Disney & Walden Media still expect to make a tidy profit off of “Narnia II,” particularly when the DVD & Blu-ray versions of “Prince Caspian” go on sale next month. Given that over 11 million units of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” have been purchased since this disc first went on sale back in April of 2006 … Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment is hoping that “Prince Caspian” sells just as well.

And here is why the release date was pushed back. It turns out there was an opening in December, and not just to prevent it from going against Iron Man 2:

“And as for “Dawn Treader” ’s release date … Having learned ” … a good lesson,” Iger is now allegedly pushing for the third installment of the “Chronicles of Narnia” film series to be released during the same time that was “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” was. Which now translates to December 2010 (Which was when “Rapunzel” was originally supposed to be released. But given that that animated feature’s directors were recently replaced, it’s now looking far more likely that this Walt Disney Animation Studios production will be released sometime in calendar 2011).”

You can read more by clicking the source link.

Disney Launches New Narnia-related Educational Tools

Paul Martin — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 05:33:00 +0000

A new series of accredited educational programming is now available on DVD from Disney Educational Productions, a division of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.

The series, “The Science of Disney Imagineering,” has four titles to help students learn about Trajectory, Gravity, Levers and Pulleys. The lessons demonstrate how these scientific principles apply to thrill rides, roller coasters and other amusement park attractions.

Additional educational products include two new literacy programs based on the C.S. Lewis books The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

All titles are $49.95 and are available at disneyeducation.com as well as Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.

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