Disney abandons Narnia franchise

[Madwelshboy]

Disney has announced that it has pulled out of financing the next Chronicles Of Narnia film adaptation.

The studio had been committed to co-produce and co-finance The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader alongside Walden Media.

However, the studio has now revealed that for budgetary and logistical reasons, it will not be involved in production of the next movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The first film in the franchise, The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, cost $180 million (£122 million) to make and made around $745 million (£505 million) at the worldwide box office. Second instalment Prince Caspian had a budget of $200 million (£135 million) but grossed just $419 million (£284 million) worldwide, a significant drop from the previous movie.

Dawn Treader is already in pre-production, with an anticipated release date of May 2010. All and key characters from the previous instalments are thought to have signed on.

Walden Media is expected to go ahead with the production, with Fox studios a likely contender to replace Disney.

Earlier this year, it was rumoured that the Narnia franchise would end with Dawn Treader after producer Mark Johnson said that there were no plans to adapt any of the remaining four books.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/a...franchise.html

[DigiFluid]

Good, most things Disney touches turn to crap anyway.

[the fifth man]

I can't say I am really surprised.

[Kor]

Are the movies bad?

[Ugly Pig]

No. But Disney screwed up the Prince Caspian release in a number of ways, and didn't earn as much money back as they would have wanted. So what to do? Dump the one of their franchises that has the most potential. Great.

[smurfettedoesnotshare]

Well, that's very typical Disney/ Eisner! Hopefully, the next studio to back those movies won't be complete morons!!

[Hetshepsu]

Thats fantastic. Don't even make the movies in the right order (books 1 and 3 skipped?!) and then pull out all together. nice one Disney.

[Flyboy]

Thats fantastic. Don't even make the movies in the right order (books 1 and 3 skipped?!) and then pull out all together. nice one Disney.

Realistically though, as Book 3 is set when the kids are much older during their reign in Narnia during Book 2... it would make more sense to do book 4 before hand due to the risk of them ageing significantly. Ala Harry Potter.

And as for skipping book one... well... in terms of popularity... EVERYONE knows Lion, Witch, Wardrobe, most people don't know the Magician's Nephew.

[Ugly Pig]

Thats fantastic. Don't even make the movies in the right order (books 1 and 3 skipped?!) and then pull out all together. nice one Disney.

Actually, they did make them in the right order. LWW was the first book published, then PC, then Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair. The Horse and His Boy is basically a standalone story and The Magician's Nephew is a prequel. It wasn't until long after C.S. Lewis' death that the publisher had the brilliant (note: sarcasm) idea to re-number the series in "chronological" order.

[Flyboy]

Actually, they did make them in the right order. LWW was the first book published, then PC, then Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair. The Horse and His Boy is basically a standalone story and The Magician's Nephew is a prequel. It wasn't until long after C.S. Lewis' death that the publisher had the brilliant (note: sarcasm) idea to re-number the series in "chronological" order.

I'm assuming Last Battle came out in the correct order as well?

[DigiFluid]

The publication order was:

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Horse and His Boy
The Magician's Nephew
The Last Battle

vs. the later publisher decision to reorder them chronologically:

The Magician's Nephew
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Horse and His Boy
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Last Battle

[Skydiver]

what sucks the worst is not making the last 4 books.

NO ONE has ever made the last books. even the bbc stopped with Dawn Treader

I wanna see the others

[Blencathra]

The BBC did make The Silver Chair, Sky. It had Tom Baker (Dr Who) as Puddleglum.

[Skydiver]

i'll have to look for that.

i wish disney wasn't so greedy. they still made their money back and, personally, caspian is the weakest of the stories since it's nothing more than a sequel. all it does is set up dawn treader. the others are pretty much stand alones that just take place in the known universe (well 5 and 6 that is, 7 is just a 'put this series to bed' story)

[Ugly Pig]

Seriously. I've always wanted to see "real" movies based on the Narnia books, especially those that BBC never got around to.

By picking up this project early on - which would have gone ahead with or without them at the time - and then dropping it, Disney has now made sure that it will never happen (unless Walden can find a new partner in a hurry).

Thanks again, Disney.