Walden Still Committed to Narnia Despite Disney Bail
Walden Media, reports VARIETY columnist Tatiana Siegel, is still committed to the Narnia franchise, despite Disney bailing on a third film.
Disney decided to quit the franchise after crunching the numbers: PRINCE CASPIAN took in slightly more than half of THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE's gross. But sources say that Disney and Walden disagreed on the release date for PRINCE CASPIAN from the start. Disney released the film in May, when Walden wanted a holiday-season berth and was looking to avoid a similar scenario for the next film, THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER.
"Disney didn't like having a pushy partner like Walden and the C.S. Lewis estate," according to one Narnia insider. "Disney doesn't really work with partners, and they don't like ones who dictate release dates and marketing campaigns."
Narnia producer Mark Johnson said that PRINCE CASPIAN was quite simply the least commercially viable story in the seven-book series by Lewis.
"We may have made a mistake in doing PRINCE CASPIAN as the second one," Johnson said. "Unfortunately, PRINCE CASPIAN is one of the lesser-liked books. We also made a slightly more adult, darker story, and we shouldn't have."
However, VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER is probably the most popular in the series, and Walden says financier Phil Anschutz is very much committed to Narnia.
Walden must find a new partner for the franchise.
Disney decided to quit the franchise after crunching the numbers: PRINCE CASPIAN took in slightly more than half of THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE's gross. But sources say that Disney and Walden disagreed on the release date for PRINCE CASPIAN from the start. Disney released the film in May, when Walden wanted a holiday-season berth and was looking to avoid a similar scenario for the next film, THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER.
"Disney didn't like having a pushy partner like Walden and the C.S. Lewis estate," according to one Narnia insider. "Disney doesn't really work with partners, and they don't like ones who dictate release dates and marketing campaigns."
Narnia producer Mark Johnson said that PRINCE CASPIAN was quite simply the least commercially viable story in the seven-book series by Lewis.
"We may have made a mistake in doing PRINCE CASPIAN as the second one," Johnson said. "Unfortunately, PRINCE CASPIAN is one of the lesser-liked books. We also made a slightly more adult, darker story, and we shouldn't have."
However, VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER is probably the most popular in the series, and Walden says financier Phil Anschutz is very much committed to Narnia.
Walden must find a new partner for the franchise.
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