Narnia NO.John carter of mars YES

[yorrick brown]

An article posted today suggests that unless Disney's Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian does big business upon release in May, the studio may choose to end the Narnia series earlier than the planned seven books.


The same article says Narnia would be replaced by a trio of Pixar-produced "John Carter of Mars" movies.

Jim Hill, on his blog, posted information about the upcoming Disney and Pixar films and says he's got inside information stating the end of Narnia may be near.

Hill says, "Mark Andrews has allegedly already completed a first pass on a screenplay for the first film in the proposed "Mars" series."

He adds that execs at both Pixar and Disney are anxious to get the franchise started immediately, most likely this will end up being this fall following the WALL-E dvd push giving the first film a 2012 release date, or possibly sooner if what he also says about the Narnia franchise comes to fruition.

On Narnia, Hill says, "From what I've heard, studio suits seem to be cooling to the idea of producing movie versions of all seven of C.S. Lewis's 'Narnia' books. And unless 'The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian' does truly huge box office once it's released to theaters in May of this year ... Disney & Walden Media will probably still go forward with production of the already-in-development 'The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.' But after that ...the Mouse would then mostly likely pull the plug on the rest of the proposed 'Narnia' film series."

[Badbird]

Wow. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Disney.

I'm sure they're just spooked by the movie's price tags, but in that case, they only have themselves to blame.

[AndrewDB]

Do they have any doubt that Narnia will do well?..

The opening weekend of the first movie did $65,556,312 (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=narnia.htm), and was pretty much critically acclaimed for as a good movie.

That's pretty damn incredible.

[Crazy Dud]

Prince Caspian WILL do huge business at the box office, so what are they talking about?

Besides, why can't Disney just do both series? It's not like they don't have the money.

[Tagia_Romero]

Damn, I was hoping for an adaptation of 'The Magician's Nephew'.

[X-Nightcrawler]

Motherfuckers.

[AndrewDB]

Besides, why can't Disney just do both series? It's not like they don't have the money.

That's honestly a really good question.

[corran horn]

Personally, I hope they do pull the plug. I never liked the Narnia series to begin with, and I really wondered if Disney (not to mention the cast) would have the stamina for adapting all seven.

Thing with Prince Caspian is that it faces WAY more competition than its predecessor did. TL,W, & TW only had to go up against King Kong, where as PC has to go up against a slew of competitors. It also isn't helping that PC isn't receiving as much attention as those competitors. It will do fine its opening weekend, but I don't see it having its predecessor's staying power (the first Narnia stayed strong well into January or maybe even February).

[Lost in Space]

Personally, I hope they do pull the plug. I never liked the Narnia series to begin with, and I really wondered if Disney (not to mention the cast) would have the stamina for adapting all seven.

Thing with Prince Caspian is that it faces WAY more competition than its predecessor did.

Yea, but the first was released only a year after the Lord of the Rings. I understand that had no box office effect on it but at least for me i was sitting there comparing it to LOTR. that said people generally liked it. Even if this sucks the success of the first will bring in fat cash.

[Grand_Marquis]

P(...) and I really wondered if Disney (not to mention the cast) would have the stamina for adapting all seven.

The only cast member who would appear in all seven would be the voice of Aslan.

[Mr. Fred Krueger]

Why would they all of the sudden be concerned about whether or not PC would do big business? The first film did wonderfully, and the hype for the next entry has been great.

[AspectRatio1986]

The biggest mistake Disney is making is not releasing this movie in December(or was it November?) like the first one where it will have virtually no competition. In May it's gonna have Speed Racer, Iron Man, and Indy to deal with.

[jolanar]

Narnia had the huge bonus of being released shortly after Lord of the Rings. People were on a fantasy high from LotR that for most people, me included, got burst after watching the first Narnia which was very mediocre.

The past 3 or 4 fantasy movies have bombed at the box office. Including the very similar Goldan Compass.

I don't think Prince Caspian will do well at all, especially if it has as high a pricetag as I am hearing.

[Mr. Fred Krueger]

Narnia had the huge bonus of being released shortly after Lord of the Rings. People were on a fantasy high from LotR that for most people, me included, got burst after watching the first Narnia which was very mediocre.

The past 3 or 4 fantasy movies have bombed at the box office. Including the very similar Goldan Compass.

I don't think Prince Caspian will do well at all, especially if it has as high a pricetag as I am hearing.

However the difference between Narnia and movies like The Golden Compass is that it already has a built-in movie audience because of the success of the first film--not only from theatrical success but home video as well. There may be more competition, but hell, we had three $300 million grossing films released in the same month last summer (Spider-man 3, Pirates 3, Shrek 3), there's no reason why Prince Caspian shouldn't fair well.

[Killersmith]

It's going to be tough to make a Mars series movie. They've tried to get one rolling for like decades, including everyone from Verhoeven to Schwarzenegger to the Sky Captain director to Jon Favreau. I liked the Sky Captain guy for it myself. I'd still rather see it live action than animated- those books were a huge part of my life growing up.

[Crazy Dud]

Prince Caspian will do just fine.

The movie was NOT released one year after Lord of the Rings, like some are saying. ROTK was released December 2003, and the first Narnia was released December 2005. That's a TWO year gap.

And, unlike films such as The Golden Compass and The Spiderwick Chronicles, Caspian is a sequel to a movie that most people have seen and liked, so why wouldn't they line up to see the next one?

[Shockwave]

I just hope its better then the first one, which was average in every way.

[joeyatog]

The problem with the Narnia books are that they revolve around completely different characters in the middle books (4, 5, & 6). The target audience are children and Disney probably thinks that will confuse most kids. Which is stupid because the books were for kids and we all didn't have problems with that.

As cool as it would be to see The Magician's Nephew or The Last Battle onscreen, I don't see it happening. Disney should skip Silver Chair and Horse & His Boy and go straight to Magician's Nephew after Dawn Treader (which should be the most fun of them all!)

[Grand_Marquis]

Which would be a shame, because "Silver Chair" is probably the most well-written and constructed (and morally rich) story in the whole series.

[Cronos]

Damn, I was hoping for an adaptation of 'The Magician's Nephew'.
Same, only reason I'm hoping they'll continue the series since Wardrobe was rather disappointing.

[corran horn]

Well...seeing as how Prince Caspian underperformed, I wouldn't be surprised if Narnia is dropped after Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Personally, I'm somewhat glad, as I never liked Narnia, and I am really intrigued to see what Andrew Stanton does with John Carter.

[dannywalker17]

I still don't see why it has to be an either/or situation for Disney.

[Crazy Dud]

I still don't see why it has to be an either/or situation for Disney.

Seriously! Just make both! It's not like Disney can't afford it!