Disney bails on Narnia 3

[Roy Mustang]

Disney bails on Narnia 3

Disney said last week that for budgetary and logistical reasons it will not exercise its option to co-produce and co-finance The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the envisioned third installment in the fantasy franchise, with producer Walden Media, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Dawn Treader, based on the classic book 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 in 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. The first installment, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, 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.

[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

[Etoh*the*Greato]

Dude! Augh. I loved the first movie a lot.

[Danderson]

So, Walden Medias still on board, right?....ANd their just looking for a distributor? If that's it then, ok...

[Roy Mustang]

So, Walden Medias still on board, right?....

ANd their just looking for a distributor? If that's it then, ok...

Yes, Walden Medias is still on board, but no they are not just looking for a distributor.

Disney just wasn't just the distributor, but the co-produce and co-finance as well.

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[font="Book Antiqua"]Col. Roy Mustang[/font][/color]

[ich1990]

Don't you hate it when your movie only makes 419 million dollars? By the time you consider your budget of 200 million it hardly seems worth while. Honestly, what company wants to earn a measly 219 million?

[Stephen]

I still need to see the second movie. I really enjoyed the first one. Hopefully another company grabs this ball and runs with it.

[Tommy]

The film adaption of Prince Caspian was garbage.
The dialogue was horrendous and the little tweaks they added actually made the movie much worse.
It really sucks too because that was my favorite of the books when I was little.

I hope the Dawn Treader isn't anywhere near as awful and the acting isn't anywhere near as putrid.

[ilikegir33]

DARN! Disney would have been the best candidate. Also, Walden has ties with Summit Entertainment, who is Walden's international distributor. But Summit would be a bad choice. Why, you ask? They produced the travesty that is the Twilight film.

[Gabriel 9.0]

I haven't even seen the first two yet, I hope it works out

[Scarecrow]

I'm really not surprised after how much of a disappointment the second was for disney. I personally think they should have waited and saw how well the third did before dropping it though. Why? Dawn Treader is my favorite book in the series and now its never gonna get made :'(

I honestly wasn't a fan of the first Narnia movie though and while the second was better (even if it did butcher the book), it still wasn't very good IMO. So maybe this is for the best. I would never forgive them if Dawn Treader sucked...

[Souba]

[color="RoyalBlue"]Well I'm going to be positive and believe that they will find someone after all how many fantasy stories honor Jesus the way Narnia does(yes LOTR included)?
Beloved in Grace,
Souba [/color]

[rocklobster]

I miss the old Disney.

[ChristianKitsune]

Wow, I'm kind of surprised, actually. Oh well, its just a movie...times are rough these days, they probably just want to invest in something that will pay them back...

[animewarrior]

Summit would be a bad choice. Why, you ask? They produced the travesty that is the Twilight film.

FTW!~ lol sorry Twilight fans but the movie sucked. (no irony here.. ^^)

anyways... I'm sad to see Disney go but I recieved the Prince Caspian movie for Christmas and I had mixed feelings about it... Prince Caspian should've been younger but the battle scenes were epic... and the whole Caspian x Susan angle I didn't know how to take... but The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was my favourite book in the series so whoever picks it up better do a good job producing it... hopefully Walden will make an instant classic.. >,<

[Roy Mustang]

The most likely candidate at this stage is Fox, which markets and distributes Walden fare under the Fox Walden banner.

That looks more like who will get it.


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[Stephen]

And we know how great Fox is at making perfect films.


It's doomed.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

But it's Walden Media that would be making it, Fox would only be funding and marketing it. I hope it all works out for the best.

[Scarecrow]

Yes but fox is known for stepping in and demanding cuts or reshoots and basically bullying production around till they get the product the way they want (usually something that appeals to the largest common denominator so as to, in theory, maximize profits). Fox sucks. The only way it would work is if Fox somehow let them have complete creative control. I don't think Fox is going to agree to that. Especially since the last one wasn't a major hit.

They also release the crappiest DVD sets and quadruple dipping (the crappy single disc, nothing on it, Special Edition... so so features... Deluxe edition all the other special features that should have been on the special edition and does not include the special features from the special edition either. Directors cut... usually how the movie was meant to be before Fox made them cut it all up or whatever)

[Nate]

But Summit would be a bad choice. Why, you ask? They produced the travesty that is the Twilight film.

You say that as if the book was a literary masterpiece and the evil company made a crappy movie based on it.

Crappy source material will yield crappy movie. The fact that the Twilight book was godawful in no way reflects Summit's competence in making movies.

If anything it's a positive. Twilight the movie sucked thus making it faithful to the book. So if they did Dawn Treader, which was awesome, perhaps it would be just as faithful.

[Tommy]

You say that as if the book was a literary masterpiece and the evil company made a crappy movie based on it.

Crappy source material will yield crappy movie. The fact that the Twilight book was godawful in no way reflects Summit's competence in making movies.

If anything it's a positive. Twilight the movie sucked thus making it faithful to the book. So if they did Dawn Treader, which was awesome, perhaps it would be just as faithful.

Quoted for truth.

[RidleyofZebes]

You say that as if the book was a literary masterpiece and the evil company made a crappy movie based on it.

Crappy source material will yield crappy movie. The fact that the Twilight book was godawful in no way reflects Summit's competence in making movies.

If anything it's a positive. Twilight the movie sucked thus making it faithful to the book. So if they did Dawn Treader, which was awesome, perhaps it would be just as faithful.

Nate... You just said something intelligent! o.o

[bakura_fan]

For not reading any of the narnia books...the only way to have the story known to me was to watch these movies...too bad. When I was a kid I watched the original movies...by BBC or something like that. Don't remember much..except in one of the movies a kid got turned into a dragon or something. ?? *shrug*

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

BBC did a tv series that were shown movie-style in the US, yes.
Why can't you read the novels? They're very short and would be available to borrow at most libraries.

[Roy Mustang]

It time to play the Good, the bad and the worst news.

The good:

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will be release on Dec. 10, 2010.

The Bad:

The screenplay writer is Michael Petroni.

The worst:

Fox recently partnered with Walden on the Narnia film series after Disney and Walden parted ways.

But we will have to wait and see what happens.


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[ShiroiHikari]

I just looked up this Michael Petroni guy and I have to say...things don't look good for Voyage of the Dawn Treader. o_o

[Fantasy Dreamer]

That makes me nervous. The first two movies (not comparing them to the books, cause I've heard that Prince Caspian wasn't entirely accurate, which is to be expected with movie adaptions anyway) were really good. I hope they don't mess up the third. o.o

[Scarecrow]

I just looked up this Michael Petroni guy and I have to say...things don't look good for Voyage of the Dawn Treader. o_o

Oh good grief... the only big movie he wrote was Queen of the Damned which was a complete bastardization of the book. The movie was pure garbage. It's doomed...

I would have liked them to partner up with any studio EXCEPT Fox...

[bakura_fan]

BBC did a tv series that were shown movie-style in the US, yes.
Why can't you read the novels? They're very short and would be available to borrow at most libraries.

Well, I do own the books...like in one giant novel, or whatever the combined version is called. I dunno, the stories just were a little boring when I last read them. That or the weight of the book was taking my attention away from the story. *shrug*

[Benn]

That makes me nervous. The first two movies (not comparing them to the books, cause I've heard that Prince Caspian wasn't entirely accurate, which is to be expected with movie adaptions anyway) were really good. I hope they don't mess up the third. o.o

Yeah it wasn't acurate and the places where it wasn't acurate irked me. Like in the movie they threw in a horrid love element between Susan and Prince Caspian.

I wish they'd get Peter Jackson to direct and help write. I think he did a pretty good job making LOTR pretty epic.

[Psycho Molos]

Well, I do own the books...like in one giant novel, or whatever the combined version is called. I dunno, the stories just were a little boring when I last read them. That or the weight of the book was taking my attention away from the story. *shrug*

you thinking of "anthology"?