Filmonic » The Chronicles of Narnia

Disney drops Narnia like it’s hot

Liam — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 16:20:18 +0000

Disney must have been rather pleased after The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe earned nearly $750 million worldwide when it was released back in December 2005. Looking at the numbers now, it earned more than Transformers, the first Pirates movie and was around $30 million short of Spider-Man 2.

However, when The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian was released earlier this year it made $300 million less than The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. That’s not how things are supposed to work! Sequels usually make more than the first film. Disney must have been doing a lot of thinking because the third film, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, was not given the swift greenlight, and now it has been announced that Disney will no longer co-produce or co-finance the next Narnia film.

From THR:

Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media have confirmed that for budgetary and logistical reasons the Burbank-based studio is not exercising its option to co-produce and co-finance The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader with Walden.
The Hollywood Reporter says the third installment 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, adds the trade. 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.
Walden has a strong relationship with the C.S. 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, however. “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.

New “Prince Caspian” Behind-the-Scenes Featurette

Liam — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 04:50:58 +0000

A new behind-the-scenes featurette for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian has popped up on the internet. In it you get a few new scenes that haven’t been shown in the trailers/tv spots, as well as interviews with director extraordinaire Andrew Adamson and new star Ben Barnes (Prince Caspian himself!)…

Click Here to watch the video.

I’ve always been excited about this movie, and this only adds to it!

Small Updates: Conan, Jumper, WALL-E and Narnia!

Liam — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 19:44:50 +0000

Bloody Disgusting says they have “confirmed 100% that Rob Zombie has been taking meetings with Lionsgate and Nu Image to get behind the director’s chair for their upcoming Conan film.” If this turns out to be true, expect lots of blood, gore and a much darker Conan than we may have seen before.

An extended Jumper scene has appeared online and can be seen over at Yahoo!

An international trailer for WALL-E has popped up over at Empire. We get to see more of WALL-E, along with a whole new character and we finally get to see more of the plot line. Check it out here.

NarniaWeb received word that filming for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will start filming this summer, to be released in May 2009. Producer Mark Johnson said “As long as the Narnia movies keep succeeding and I don’t make a big mistake, I will continue doing them.”