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[peep]

Soz if there is already a topic on this.

Four concept art images have been released, time to get excited peeps!

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[Pete's Dragon]

Have I finally got the scoop? I hope so.


Cold tidings for Caspian this morning, as Walt Disney Studios announced that they will not be co-producing and co-financing the adaptation of CS Lewis' The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third of the Narnia films. This leaves Walden Media, the other big force behind the films, to find another partner if the film is indeed to hit screens in 2010.

Disney cited "budgetary and logistical" reasons for the move, which probably translates as "it's very expensive, and the last one didn't do so brilliantly at the box office". Prince Caspian made a hair under $420 million at the worldwide box office, compared to $745 million for its predecessor The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

Prince Caspian also cost in the region of $200 million, and given that The Voyage of the Dawn Treader would present more logistical difficulties given its sea-borne nature, the studio presumably thought it was a bit of a gamble - and the recent failure of other non-Potter kids fantasy films like The Golden Compass may further have put the wind up them. Disney's withdrawal also casts doubt on the involvement of talent like planned director Michael Apted and screenwriter Steven Knight.

[-breeno-]

Hmm interesting news, thanks for posting it PD.

I wonder what this will mean to the rumoured Narnia walkthrough, if Disney are pulling out of the 3rd film does this mean their owning rights of the first two are gone as well?  It would be strange to have attractions and merchendise about just the first two in the parks and not any other, also you would get a lot of people asking "Why is there nothing about any of the other Narnia films?"

[Anthony]

Shame, I really quite enjoyed Prince Caspian when I finally saw it on blu-ray. It was a major improvement on the first film in almost every way, although the moments where the Christian values were a bit heavy could have been left out "Aslan, they won't believe I saw you...", pah, kids don't need it stuffed down their throat that much! I've always thought of the films as very "Disney" though, I can't imagine Walden releasing further ones with someone else...

I wonder what this will mean to the rumoured Narnia walkthrough, if Disney are pulling out of the 3rd film does this mean their owning rights of the first two are gone as well?

Disney will definitely keep rights to the first two. The walkthrough seems to have vanished off the radar though. Completely. We've heard nothing since the first rumour. We were guessing Armageddon might begin to close down sometime in 2009? I can't actually see that happening now, but we'll see.

[Javey74]

My own opinion is that the 'walk through' will still happen, after all 'Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe' was the highest grossing film as mentioned by Pete's Dragon, between the two films.  They will naturally keep the rights to the first two films, but like many others, the first is the best, people always seem to remember the initial plot, so it should work.  Once you start adding more and more, the films either run out of material so it makes it harder to keep the attractiveness going, so in order to do this it costs more and more, only to find audiences getting less and less, so it's more of a risk to all.

Take 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' then start looking at the audience figures for 2,3,4,5,6,7, it just gets too much to keep the focus going.. :roll: So I can understand Disney's concerns by the third one.  The second film is always the tester, and in this situation, the cost to make the third one as interesting if not more, far outweighs the benefits to be returned to the Disney Company.. :wink:  

[The Butlin Boy]

I think it's a shame that Disney have pulled out of the film, it's quite disappointing. But I can see the logic in what they are doing, and I'm sure that they'll hold on to the rights for the first 2 as well

Lets hope that the new company that'll join it won't ruin the series completely :wink:

[Javey74]

Lets hope that the new company that'll join it won't ruin the series completely :wink:

I agree BB, I hope for at least that.. :roll:

[experiment627]

Shame, I really quite enjoyed Prince Caspian when I finally saw it on blu-ray. It was a major improvement on the first film in almost every way

I completely agree. I enjoyed "Prince Caspian" A LOT more than "Wardrobe" - though I have to say: it didn't look like 200 million... and one has to wonder how much money was just thrown out the window.

That said, it is such a pity that Disney is pulling the plug on the franchise. "Dawn Treader" is a wonderful story (but it might be a bit hard to turn it into an engaging script).

But besides "Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter", none of the other fantasy movies like "Golden Compass", "Prince Caspian" etc. were able to do any serious business. (One will see how "The Hobbit" is going to do once it gets released.)

Talking about attractions based on "Narnia" - I would be surprised to see Disney doing anything in that direction...  Why should they go forward with an an attraction based on a franchise, that has died after just two movies?

(Don't worry though. Disney has some great stuff coming that could be turned into amazing attractions: "Prince of Persia", "The Lone Ranger"... and, even if highly unlikely, just think of the possibilites of an attraction based on Tim Burton's take on "Alice in Wonderland".)

[Captain Pan]

Shame, I really quite enjoyed Prince Caspian when I finally saw it on blu-ray. It was a major improvement on the first film in almost every way

I completely agree. I enjoyed "Prince Caspian" A LOT more than "Wardrobe" - though I have to say: it didn't look like 200 million... and one has to wonder how much money was just thrown out the window.

That said, it is such a pity that Disney is pulling the plug on the franchise. "Dawn Treader" is a wonderful story (but it might be a bit hard to turn it into an engaging script).

But besides "Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter", none of the other fantasy movies like "Golden Compass", "Prince Caspian" etc. were able to do any serious business. (One will see how "The Hobbit" is going to do once it gets released.)

Talking about attractions based on "Narnia" - I would be surprised to see Disney doing anything in that direction...  Why should they go forward with an an attraction based on a franchise, that has died after just two movies?

(Don't worry though. Disney has some great stuff coming that could be turned into amazing attractions: "Prince of Persia", "The Lone Ranger"... and, even if highly unlikely, just think of the possibilites of an attraction based on Tim Burton's take on "Alice in Wonderland".)

Good Point there experiment627... Forgot about the Lone Ranger and the rumored Depp to play his assistant/side kick Tanto!

My Opinion though... Good Riddenace to Bad Rubbish... To put it perfectly blunt,

There were very little highlights in Wardrobe, and that (and very poor POS) made me shun Prince Caspian and With the Dawn Trader looking all but sunk I'm glad to see the flooding and Disney finding the Lifeboat!

[experiment627]

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader seems to be ending up on the big screen, after all. However, it's not going to be released by a Mouse, but by a Fox:

Fox to develop 'Narnia'
Walden Media finds post-Mouse partner
By MICHAEL FLEMING, TATIANA SIEGEL

One month after Disney decided to pull the plug on co-financing the third movie in Walden Media's "Chronicles of Narnia" series, Walden has found a new partner in 20th Century Fox.
Fox, which was entitled to first crack at "The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader" after Disney dropped out because of the shared Fox Walden marketing and distribution label, has made a commitment to develop the project. The two sides are still working out budget and script issues, but the hope is to shoot the film at the end of summer for a holiday 2010 release through the Fox Walden label.

Fox 2000 will spearhead development and production matters from the Fox front. Topper Elizabeth Gabler had pursued the "Narnia" franchise but was beaten out by Walden. The Century City studio seems to be an ideal fit for the "Narnia" books given that it's been looking for a family-friendly, lit-based franchise for years -- Fox 2000's "Eragon" failed to catch on with audiences and died after one installment.

Fox and Walden will split production and P&A costs for "Dawn Treader," which is projected to go into production at a $140 million budget. That's considerably less than the $215 million or so spent on last year's "Prince Caspian," which was considered something of a box office disappointment as compared with the first "Narnia" pic, 2005's "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" ($419 million vs. $745 million worldwide, respectively).

Still, "Caspian," which is considered the least commercially appealing of the seven C.S. Lewis "Narnia" novels, ranked No. 10 in global box office performance last year. "Dawn Treader" is considered to be a more family film-friendly book, and the goal is to get back to the magical aspects present in the first "Narnia" pic but mostly absent from "Prince Caspian."

Ultimately, Fox's commitment to the summer start date is contingent upon Walden's selection of a writer. Richard LaGravanese penned the most recent draft that both Walden and Fox were happy with, but there's a question about his availability because he has been adapting Sara Gruen's bestseller "Water for Elephants" for Fox 2000.

After budget and script concerns are settled, Fox and Walden are expected to greenlight the film. The intention is to move the production away from Mexico, where, ironically, it was going to be shot at the Fox-owned Baja facility called Rosarito used for "Titanic" and "Master and Commander." "Dawn Treader" will instead likely shoot in Australia because of concerns for the drug violence and kidnappings that are taking place near Baja.

Ben Barnes, Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley are reprising their roles as Caspian, Edmund and Lucy, respectively. New to the production is Will Poulter ("Son of Rambo"), who will portray Eustace Clarence Scrubb. Pic is being directed by Michael Apted, with Mark Johnson and Andrew Adamson producing.

Read the full article at:
//http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117999226.html

[peep]

I was reading this earlier today. I'm not too keen on another company taking over. I think the best news I've heard is that one of the kids from Son of Rambow is joining the cast as the cousin, yay