I loved the first Chronicles of Narnia movie a few years ago. I thought it was childlike magical storytelling at its best. Timeless story, beautiful themes, great visual effects and child actors who didn’t make me want to gag. The second Narnica film, Prince Caspian, was a step backwards in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the movie alright, but it was hardly memorable and lacked a lot that the first film had.
Another big difference between the first two films is that the second one made a LOT less money, and wasn’t as popular with viewers.
So it’s really not all that big of a surprise that Disney has announced that they will not follow through on plans to make the third film of the series, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The good folks over at IGN give us this:
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio has decided not to exercise its option to co-produce and co-finance the third Narnia film with Walden Media. The budget and logistics were cited as Disney’s primary concerns.
The other production company involved with the Narnia films, Walden Media, is still committed to getting the third film made and is looking for another production partner (early word is that Fox may step up.
Here’s the thing… I like the Narnia franchise… but it’s in a downward spiral and I don’t think that audiences will, in general, be interested enough to come back to Narnia in mass numbers, especially after they lost some credibility with Prince Caspian.
If I had to bet, I’d guess that we probably won’t see a third Narnia film.
19 Comments, Comment or Ping
Slushie Man
“especially after they lost some credibility with Prince Caspian”
Everyone I know, and most people I chat with online, think the second was just as good, if not better, then the first.
Dec 29th, 2008
John
Hey Slushie Man
I’m glad you liked Caspin that much. I wish I did,
But Rotten Tomatoes, Meta Critic and even IMDB’s user reviews all show that Caspian is significantly less popular and liked than the first film.
I’m not saying you’re wrong to like it at all… not in the least. Just that the general consensus was that it wasn’t as good as the first film.
Dec 29th, 2008
UberBarrett
My fiance and her Mom are major Narnia fans. But when I told them this news they both came back with a “maybe its for the best”. that should say something.
Dec 29th, 2008
Darek-T
If they don’t make another Narnia movie that would suck. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is my favorite Narnia story and I was looking foward to seeing it. I hope that they take a chance to make because now they know that they have a lot less room for slip ups.
Dec 29th, 2008
Darek-T
oh and i also hope that the next one makes a crap load of money just as a slap in the face of Disney.
Dec 29th, 2008
jim-CO
I’m not at all surprised that Prince Caspian didn’t do as well as Chronicles.
The biggest difference between the two movies was that while Chronicles was impressively true to the book, Prince Caspian was frought with “artistic lisence.”
Basically, if movie makers don’t respect the original work, they’ll lose the respect of their audiences. I think that’s what happened here.
But I do home they make the third movie - Dawn Tredder is also my favorite book of the series. But IF they make it, they need to show the same integrity they showed with the first.
Dec 29th, 2008
HAZMAT_IS_A_VAGITARIAN
dude the 2nd one was way better…they better fucking make all 7 of them…and release them in the right order this time!
Dec 29th, 2008
MandarinOrange
NOTE: I am a big Narnia fan and love the books.
I saw the first Narnia film and I must say I was disappointed. There where 2 things missing. One was that it was missing the edge that I wanted, it was “dark” enough. Yes, I know that it is not supposed to be a dark story but it was to light. I was looking for something a little bit more like Lord of the Rings. Many of the fans for Narnia are adults and to make it geared for the kids I think was a mistake. I can’t quite lay my finger on what the second thing that was missing. I think the story lost some of it’s true and power that it had for me in the books and even the original movies.
When I saw Prince Caspian I was ready to puke. The story was beaten to a sinceless pulp, put inside a blender and mixed with old rotten smelly hollywood cheese, baked in an oven at 1000 degrees and then smashed upon the rocks of perminanit-childhood-memory-scarring. They did everything I hated with the first move in spades and did not get any edgier. I am glad that Disney is gone. If another movie is made it has a chance of coming up to my expectations and if another movie is not made then I don’t have to worry about the next generation of kids growing up mutilated CS Lewis in their heads.
If by any unlikely chance one of the people who are involved with this franchise is reading this, take this advice. Fallow the example of Lord of the RIngs. Trust me, this will serve you well.
Dec 29th, 2008
Orren Jensen
The magic of Narnia lives with C.S. Lewis. I think Disney was the only company that could bring his magic to life with there own magic… Disney Magic. I think that The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe did so well because both C.S. Lewis’ Narnia magic and Disney’s magic mix together creating a wonderful piece of cinematic art. Disney set them selves up for failure by putting their faith into that same magic by increasing the budget hopping that second film, Prince Caspian, would do better than the first. It’s not that it did horrible it’s the fact that Disney gave too much money to make Prince Caspian in the first place …no profit gain no sequel. So yes from a business stand point this is a great idea but from an artist stand point it sucks. I think only Disney magic can bring the remaining five Narnia stories to life. This disappoints me that my favorite book out of the series won’t get a proper film adaption because some Disney filmmakers lost some magic via their pocket books. I guess when the magic dies it doesn’t come back until another magic man is born, a man like C.S. Lewis or Walt Disney.
Dec 29th, 2008
Orren Jensen
@MandarinOrange
“Many of the fans for Narnia are adults and to make it geared for the kids I think was a mistake.”
Yes you are right adults do have a big fan base but the point of this film is to achieve a family setting…a movie the hole family will enjoy. FYI: C.S. Lewis wrote the novel to his niece who was a child…so in fact this film should be point slightly toward the child demographic
Dec 29th, 2008
Sound Designer Dan
Couldn’t the reason why Caspian made so much less is because of the release date? The first Narnia was released in December and was the only huge film (with its only competitor being Syriana) in its weekend. Caspian, on the other hand, had Iron Man (which still made $31 million) in its 3rd weekend.
Disney should have went the same route with the first one and released this on the first weekend of December where its competition would be Four Christmases (in its 2nd weekend) and Twilight (in its 3rd weekend).
Dec 30th, 2008
Phil Gee
Yes Dan, a rep from Disney admitted that they messed up on the release date of Caspian and should have held it back till Christmas (especially since Harry Potter moved away from it).
Personally, I think it would have made a little more money due to not being in such a crowded marketplace but not that much. I feel exactly the same way as John about the films. I loved the first one but Prince Caspian, except for the action set pieces, was just boring to me.
Dec 30th, 2008
obi-wan kubrick
The problem is that the first film wasn’t that good in my opinion. The second problem is that they should of made the films in chronological order starting with the Magician’s nephew.
Dec 30th, 2008
aaron
that’s a shame to drop the franchise-it was good, atleast the first one
Dec 30th, 2008
Mark
This is disappointing; Dawn Treader is my favorite book in the series, too. And it has some more epic, suspenseful potential to help pull interest back into the franchise (if done correctly). Unfortunately, when someone like Disney pulls out it will probably scare other large studios away, too, and a smaller studio would have a very rough time pulling this off.
I waited until video to see Caspian. I wanted to see it in theaters but I couldn’t get anyone who had seen the first movie to go with me. I guess that does say something.
Dec 30th, 2008
JoshMiller
Meh, I hated the first film. Too much randomness that had nothing to do with anything. It’s like Here’s event A, then resolution A, then event B, then resolution B, there wasn’t enough flow.
Kind of stinks since there are what, 7 books?
This series has always reminded me of the Golden Compass Debacle. They completely butchered the movie tot he point where they couldn’t follow the second book if they wanted to.
Dec 30th, 2008
Uber Barrett
I really wish C.S. Lewis could have lived to see this happen to his franchise.
Dec 30th, 2008
Anti-Septic
The problem with The Caspian Film was…… the book it was based off was the least popular of the C.S. Lewis books. at least those are my thoughts, my daughter did not like the Prince Caspian storyline and neither did I, I was very surprised by the movie though and it was much better than I had thought and I think if they do another film that it has a real chance of bringing fans back.
The only problem with a third movie is that Peter and Susan will not be returning and they are the most popular characters by far. Edmund kind of grew on me in the Caspian film and who doesnt love the adorable Lucie?
I would pay to see another one, bring it on.
Dec 30th, 2008
Chef D
I have just seen the movie for the first time, and regret not seeing it in theatres. I felt it was a much more solid movie than the first, considering I hardly remember that book of all of them. In fact, I quite enjoyed it, and I hope the third movie gets picked up. Dawn Treader is also my favorite book, and could be a magnificent film if done right. If movie execs are listening, go with Narnia 3!
Dec 31st, 2008
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