Disney, Walden part ways on Dawn Treader
The Hollywood Reporter announced tonight that Disney has decided not to be involved with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third installment in The Chronicles of Narnia. Walden Media is now looking for another studio to co-finance and distribute the film -- possibly Fox, which formed a sort of partnership with Walden a couple years ago but shut it down in all but name two months ago. Whatever happens, it looks like we will never get to see a boxed set with all seven Narnia movies, even if the rest of C.S. Lewis's fantasy series does get filmed in the end. In cases like this, when a franchise is spread out among multiple studios, the studios tend not to collaborate on the home-video release.
DEC 27 UPDATE: The Los Angeles Times says Walden and Disney could not agree on a release date, and there were "creative differences" between them as well, in addition to the budgetary and logistical concerns that have already been reported.
DEC 28 UPDATE: Jim Hill notes that another factor which prompted Disney to let go of the Narnia franchise was the DVD sales for Prince Caspian, which were a lot, lot slower than they were for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005).
posted by Peter T Chattaway at 10:33 PM
2 Comments:
You'd think that the churches of North America could finance this project between them, in exchange for discounted tickets. They might even be able to make the filmmakers stick to the story line. Dawn Treader is my favourite of all the Narnia stories and I can't imagine major changes (other than careful abridgement) that would not mess it up. My favourite exchange of dialog is "Have you no idea of progress and development?" "Yes, I have seen them both in an egg. We call it 'going bad' in Narnia."
I think the same thing happened with Narnia that seems to have happened with Big Idea: corporate bean counters and marketers decide "what" is best for generating the greatest income, and end up modifying the original idea. Funny how the existing Lewis fan base gets left in the dust and no one wants to buy something that doesn't stand up to his original stories. His "Abolition of Man" and "That Hideous Strength" (to mention two) clearly demonstrate his philosophy along that line!
Walden needs to partner with someone who can stick with the original, at least in material, if not in philosophy. I'm hoping that the "creative differences" stemmed from their refusal to let the marketers take control. If so, then kudos for Walden. If not, then it is better that the film is not made, than to have it be thrown to the moneymaking machine.
We see this in the Church, as well. Those who stick with the Gospel tend to retain a vibrant congregation, and financial resources respond in kind. Those that water it down to be "culturally relevant" wonder why they lose members.
Funny thing, though: in both cases, when the original is kept with integrity, the money seems to flow in. In an alternate world, a "C.S. Lewis's Prince Caspian" would probably make a killing.
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