I'm guessing Waldens pushing for MN, the CS Lewis Estate wants SC and I don't know about Fox, could be either, but it sounds too me like they can't agree.

(But I still say they should make both...)

There's enough concern from the fans either way... I do know that much

But at the rate they're moving they could get HHB done before they decide.

I read this article last night and it gave me some small great hope for SC to be made next! Though it's bad if they can't come to a general consensus of what to do next, at least they're pondering it seriously. LOL to go from the view that Christmas is the best time to release a Narnia movie to Christmas as a busy time that people can't go see a Narnia movie... They're afraid of admitting their errors with VDT.

I essentially agree with him on PC's darkness. I think it's essential that PC be dark relative to LWW. It's important that the Pevensies return to Narnia and find that it's not the Narnia they remember. The magic of LWW has been driven away. Innocence lost. Old days forgotten.

I disagree that it's the darkest book, however. That title goes to LB.

LOL to go from the view that Christmas is the best time to release a Narnia movie to Christmas as a busy time that people can't go see a Narnia movie...

Yeah, I was pretty baffled by that. Perhaps he was being sarcastic?

It's no secret that VDT had a coveted release slot. LWW was released the same weekend and grossed $107m worldwide on opening weekend.

But even if this was true....... If people won't go see a Narnia movie at Christmas because they're too busy, and they won't go see a Narnia movie in the Summer because there's too much competition..... then when IS a good time to release a Narnia movie? Sometime with absolutely zero competition and zero life distractions?

It seems the core filmmakers always blame their problems on something other than themselves.

Anyways, if they are still worried about the films being "too dark" then they are still only worried about their 4-year-old fans.

It irks me that Flaherty quickly points out the reasons for PC disappointing box office but gives the exuse "People are just so busy at Christmas time." for VDT's even lower numbers. To me, it looks almost as if they don't want to admit their mistakes! IMO PC could have done just as well as LWW with a December release and better marketing. I think they really overreacted and they had no need to hire a different director for VDT (drastically reducing the quality), lose Disney, and crank out this snowy "Return to magic! Return to Narnia!" advertising campaign.

I kind of hope that the MN delay is a sign that someone is putting their foot down about what happened with VDT and the direction Walden seems to be taking the series.

"[...] Caspian is the darkest, and Silver Chair is pretty dark too. [...]That’s why, for the next one, we’re really hoping to go in the direction of The Magician’s Nephew.”

Just a thought: since Flaherty didn't cite LB as the darkest in the series(which it undoubtedly is), do you think this a sign that they aren't planning on getting to a LB movie at all?

I think they really overreacted and they had no need to hire a different director for VDT (drastically reducing the quality), lose Disney and crank out this snowy "Return to magic! Return to Narnia!" advertising campaign.

Place blame where blame is due. Adamson had no intention of returning for even PC. He was talked into that one but they had hired Apted for VDT because Adamson refused to do it. Disney dropped out because of creative differences and the inability to compromise with Walden on a budget.
And Walden is not in charge of the marketing campaign for ANY of the movies. That was Disney and Fox's jobs.

But having said that, I too am very frustrated with the lack of admission that the reason PC and VDT didn't do as well at the box office was because the overall population just didn't like them as much as LWW. Simple as that.

Just a thought: since Flaherty didn't cite LB as the darkest in the series(which it undoubtedly is), do you think this a sign that they aren't planning on getting to a LB movie at all?

His comment was from a movie perspective. PC was the darkest of the three movies (I agree), and if they make SC, they'll have another dark movie on their hands. Which is why he wants to do MN next which is much less dark than PC.

Imho, it doesn't matter which one they do next, and it doesn't matter which release date they go with. If they don't make these movies with the technical quality of PC and adaptation quality of LWW (and dare I say the respect of the material like LotR?), they'll simply have another flop on their hands.

And Walden is not in charge of the marketing campaign for ANY of the movies. That was Disney and Fox's jobs.

You're right, my bad. Nevertheless I felt Disney's advertising was move affective and wasn't so annoying and cliche-ish like Fox's. It would be interesting to see how Disney would have advertised VDT.

But having said that, I too am very frustrated with the lack of admission that the reason PC and VDT didn't do as well at the box office was because the overall population just didn't like them as much as LWW. Simple as that.

It's funny that before VDT came out they were saying that VDT was the 2nd most popular book, so the movie should do better than PC. Now we're hearing that MN is the 2nd most popular book, and they're using this as an excuse to go out of chronilogical order and make MN.

Imho, it doesn't matter which one they do next, and it doesn't matter which release date they go with. If they don't make these movies with the technical quality of PC and adaptation quality of LWW (and dare I say the respect of the material like LotR?), they'll simply have another flop on their hands.

Amen! A thousand times!

To be honest I wouldn't care which movie they did next. I'm still hoping that they go for Magician's Nephew because I want to see it and it's my second favorite Narnia book.

I still don't get why they made the excuse of VDT not estimating enough on opening weekend because people are busy during Christmas. LWW was released around the same time and estimated more. That made no sense whatsoever. They need to market these films the same way that they did with LWW.

I was just re-reading "The Prince Caspian Official Illustrated Movie Companion" by Ernie Malik

and I read something that I'd like to share with ya'll.

Despite what's in print, however, Douglas [Gresham] affirms, "We are making the films in the most logically consistent order. Prince Caspian follows The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, thus dictating the continuity of casting the same four children. If we follow Prince Caspian with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, as is the plan, two of the Pevensies return - Lucy and Edmund. That gives us a trilogy of movies with a constant character thread, because Caspian also appears in Dawn Treader," Gresham explains. "Then, Eustace, who is introduced in Dawn Treader, and a new character named Jill will appear in The Silver Chair, the fourth book in order of publication. After that, we'll see how we proceed. Although I must say I am in favor of altering the order by making The Magician's Nephew as fifth movie.

in the above paragraph, there is no mention of SC being 'dark'. apparently, they didn't have that problem back then, or so I gather from the above text. what puzzles me is that they were already planning VotDT after PC, which happened - and they were planning SC after that. but now they seem to have a problem. so maybe Fox is the one who doesn't want the films to be 'dark'? I don't know. but if there wasn't a problem before, why now?
I'm so confused.....

Liberty, the problem with SC's storyline now is that it appears to Fox as a bigger financial risk because it has no recurring characters from LWW except for Aslan. MN is more marketable simply because it has the White Witch in it.

The PC Movie Companion was written before PC came out, when it was expected that PC would make about as much as LWW and VDT would do the same. Since then, PC and VDT have made far less than originally anticipated; just barely enough to make profits.

After LWW, Disney could afford to take risks by making PC a much different film because they had a large profit safeguard. PC could have made a lot less than LWW and still turned out a profit. Unfortunately, that's what PC did. The problem is now, Fox isn't willing to take risks. If SC makes significantly less than VDT, SC is a financial failure.

Liberty, the problem with SC's storyline now is that it appears to Fox as a bigger financial risk because it has no recurring characters from LWW except for Aslan. MN is more marketable simply because it has the White Witch in it.

if that's their worry, then why should they bother claiming to want to make all of the Narnia books into movies? when will they ever branch out if not now?
and how do they know that SC isn't marketable? Will Poulter as Eustace alone would get people to see it because that's most people's reason for wanting SC next.....

I still don't get why they made the excuse of VDT not estimating enough on opening weekend because people are busy during Christmas. LWW was released around the same time and estimated more. That made no sense whatsoever. They need to market these films the same way that they did with LWW.

I'm not sure it's the marketing so much as audiences having lost any excitement for this series. After VDT and PC (which, although a much better film than VDT, lost a lot of the book's originality), people have grown accustomed to Narnia being no more than run-of-the-mill fantasy films.

Caspian is the darkest, and Silver Chair is pretty dark too...That’s why, for the next one, we’re really hoping to go in the direction of The Magician’s Nephew.”

Gah, I am so tired of hearing this. Narnia is dark. This is not a series for very small children; it's deeper and richer and better than that. The bleaker parts are what gives such gravitas to the truth Lewis wrote into the books. If "dark" is taboo, then the Narnia series needs to be in the hands of people who will respect both its magical and its gritty moments.

I'm still hoping that they'll choose to take a risk on these books that deserve it so much and make SC.

Before yesterday, I was about 60% sure we would see another Narnia film. Now I'm about 60% sure we will not.

I knew there was no green-light, but I thought they had agreed on MN and were trying to move forward. Now it appears they have made no progress at all in the last five and a half months. VDT is on DVD now, and it's still a bunch of executives sitting around a table saying "what should we do now?"

Imho, it doesn't matter which one they do next, and it doesn't matter which release date they go with. If they don't make these movies with the technical quality of PC and adaptation quality of LWW (and dare I say the respect of the material like LotR?), they'll simply have another flop on their hands.

Bulls-eye. Well said.

I'm not sure it's the marketing so much as audiences having lost any excitement for this series. After VDT and PC (which, although a much better film than VDT, lost a lot of the book's originality), people have grown accustomed to Narnia being no more than run-of-the-mill fantasy films.

Another bulls-eye (wow, great thread so far).

I think all the movies have lost the originality of the books, but at least LWW and PC were pretty good films and got some key things right. That is all well and good...but it's not enough to support a franchise. It's not enough to make people ask "when's the next Narnia coming out?"

but if there wasn't a problem before, why now?

During the filming of PC (which is when the book was written), they planned to make PC, VDT, and SC back to back.

First thing that went wrong: They predicted PC would bring in $800million. It brought in $419.6million. Everyone went scrambling back to the drawing board to figure out what was going wrong. It was realized this wasn't a guaranteed money maker like LotR or HP, so each movie would have to be made individually and wait for the numbers to come in before greenlighting the next.

Second thing that went wrong: Disney dropped out, Fox picked it up, and the VDT script kept going through innumerable rewrites. AKA a whole ton of time lost.

So then VDT came finally came out and it did even worse than PC when they were hoping for it to do much better.

Now Walden and the rest of the production team are trying to figure out which adaptation is more likely to bring in the highest box office revenue so they can keep making movies.

Poor SC has everything going against it from their perspective I think. It's one of the least popular books (both in sales and opinions), it's the second darkest in the series, has a lot of "walking and talking in it", and their main man Will Poulter is ... well.. a man. And therefore I'm guessing they think it will bring in even less profit than the others, and would spell the end of the Narnia movie series.

Meanwhile, MN is the second best selling Narnia book, not very dark at all but rather it's light and happy, and there are loads of very exciting and artistic scenes in it. So if that movie does well, they can go on to movie 5.