Disney Leaves the Magical Land of Narnia

Disney and Walden Media have parted company on the Chronicles of Narnia series, and will not be making the third film, Voyage of the Dawn reader, even though the project had been in pre-production. The Hollywood Reporter makes the all-too-compelling point that even though Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings have been extremely successful franchises, it has been harder for other big budget series in the fantasy arena to find and maintain audiences. The first Narnia movie was an extraordinary hit worldwide, but this summer's Prince Caspian, while profitable, was nowhere near the success of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. There is still the possibility that Walden will pursue a new studio to continue the series and The Reporter indicates that Fox might be a likely suitor, because of its Fox Walden label. The only drawback there is that Fox is licking its wounds from one of its worst years in recent memory, especially from the standpoint of blockbuster production. The news of Disney's departure isn't entirely surprising; with the recent economic downturn and the possibility to make ridiculous returns on lower-budget fare like High School Musical and Beverly Hills Chihuahua, which combined to outgross Prince Caspian in the U.S., parting with a couple hundred million in production costs seems a harder move to justify.

Comments

[Lisa]

This is sad! It is also bittersweet in a way. Having Disney on board would be great considering how much money Disney could put into the film, but also if a different studio would make the film, I would hope it would have less cheesy parts in it, because really, in PC there were a few ones, even though I still love it to pieces. I really really hope Walden can find a new partner to make the film because VOTD would be beautiful on screen, much like LWW and PC. Thanks for ruining Christmas, Disney! ha ha ha. Thanks for posting this Colin!

[Oh No!]

That is just horrible! Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the best one! Of course they didn't make a killing off of Prince Caspian, the story isn't nearly as fun the the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe or Voyage of the Dawn Treader. What a huge dissapointment. I hope someone else picks it up, because it's always been my favorite of the books as well as all the previous film versions.