Oh, please, they better not go that far!

I think they need to find a good balance of what age group they need. Narnia isn't like Harry Potter, so they can't make it more mature for growing up fans as they go. But if they keep going lower for younger fans, the whole more mature fanbase might as well be forgotten. They need to figure out how to do what they did in LWW. This isn't a child's movie or a teen film, this should be a family film that works for everyone.

I was one of those 8-9 fans when LWW came out ( ), and I do want to have a Narnia film that isn't like "Barney the Dinosaur" and stuff like that, but I don't want a film that's darker and more violent than it needs to be. C. S. Lewis did write these books for kids, that's true, but he also wrote them to get interest of everyone, including those who are older. MN (most likely choice now, I think) can't do well if it can't bring in more that will even it out so that kids, teens, and even parents can enjoy the film.

Yeah, if they just stuck to C. S. Lewises books, we wouldn't even have this problem... If something was too 'dark' in the books, then I'm sorry, maybe Narnia is not for those people or THAT young of a child... I mean, he was writing for 8-12 year olds, right? Why not go with that? A lot of LWW is 8-12 year old stuff, but I love it, and I'm almost 18.

They shouldnt get as dark as the later books of Harry Potter, but I do think the series should "mature" in the sense of becoming more serious and deeper as it continues. Instead the series is becoming more kiddie and less deep as their original audience becomes older. And they wonder why they arent making much money...

Prince Caspian was flawed, but it could have doen just as well as LWW if Walden released it in December of 2007 instead of the Water Horse and had promoted it to the Christian audience like LWW.
Think about it:
1. There would be less of a time gap between the movies so the audience would be more interested in it.
2. There was less competition (Disney could move National Treasure as it would do fine in November or January).
3. The Golden Compass. Christians were in such a rage over that movie to the point where they were emailing all friends not to see it and to the point where the Catholic League called for a boycott. If Prince Caspian had been released on December 14 (a week after teh Golden Compass) as planned, Christians would have flocked to the theater to A. Provide their kids an alternative, B. support Christianity, and C. make Phillup Pullman angry. Besides the Lion vs. Polar Bear aspect would get a lot of attention from Boxofficemojo and the entertainment magazines.

*AFTER PC's RELEASE...*

Parent #1: Man, that was too dark for Jimmy. I thought I could bring my six year old to see this, but it was WAY too dark...
Parent #2: Yeah, the first one wasn't this dark...
Narnia Producers: Too dark, huh? We'll make sure that never happens again...

Ugh. I mean, imagine what SC will be like...

*Old Caspian, clearly a made-up thirty-year-old, dances onstage, looking healthy and vigorous.*

Caspian: Hiya, kids! Have you seen my son?
*Rillian pops up behind Caspian in a Dora-esque sequence*
Onscreen kid voices: He's right behind you!
Caspian: Where??
Kids: BEHIND YOU!!

Wahahahahahaha!!!! That gave me a much-needed laugh. VDT was already like that in many ways. They had Eustace (Dora) climbing into the boat, Gumpus (Swiper) sneaking up behind him, and then Dor...-er, Eustace accidentally knocks him out with the paddle and he falls into the water. Bad Swiper!

I think the problem has more to do with maturity than darkness. There is a huge gap between the first two films and the third film that I'm not totally sure how to explain.

In VDT especially it seemed to me that they lost the vision of telling a good story. Tried to please everyone and ended up pleasing only very few. Secular critics accuse it of being too christian and christian youth group leaders won't take their groups to see it.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chronic ... n_treader/
http://www.worldmag.com/articles/17406

I'm holding out hope that they'll bring someone onto the team with the vision to tell a good story. For SC, they have made it very difficult for themselves because they are going to have to include a lot of back story So in SC part of the mission is to reestablish that line of royalty that was promised in VDT. The film VDT didn't make such a promise to the viewers. All that emotional legwork is going to have to be included in SC somehow- jerking the audience around in a kind of emotional whip lash. So the story is already weakened and the film isn't even in development stages yet.

In VDT especially it seemed to me that they lost the vision of telling a good story. Tried to please everyone and ended up pleasing only very few. Secular critics accuse it of being too christian and christian youth group leaders won't take their groups to see it.

I agree! They are put under so much pressure by the fans and critics and they tried to please all, but they can't. (I put a ton of pressure on them, just saying so it doesn't look like I'm being accusatory.)

They're also trying to make it do well like the harry potter and LotR. However, I don't think they have the passion for the original story like Peter Jackson does for LotR and that is the main problem.

Sadly, they may get all 7 done, but they most likely, unless they drastically change, won't be very good.

Well I think that a lot of fans don't like VDT. However a lot of people liked it better then PC. At least kids did. I don't believe that the movies have been to dark. The dark aspects of VDT were part of the book. When you think about it, there are a lot of pretty dark sections of the book. Even the first movie had some pretty scary scenes. When Aslan was killed, most little kids were scared. That was a really scary scene. Overall I think that when you space movies so far apart you ruin any capital you have as far as word of mouth. I honestly believe that the reason that this movies have dropped so far is bad marketing, combined with poor release dates and distance between releases.

Lucy of Narnia, Your vision of SC is REALLY funny, It made me laught A LOT!!! But back on subject I agree with whats being said about the target audience. Perhapse just making a family friendly film wouldn't be that hard if they just stuck to the books. I mean, children read them and there was no problem there so why can't they watch it? The films just need a few of the serioussly dark/ potentially 12 rated bits taken out (Or not taken out but just changed so they arn't SO dark) and they'll be fine.
I think that PC had the right feel it was just too dark. LWW and PC had a similar hair about it and they LOOKED the same, but VDT was a lot brighter, suggesting younger ages? Maybe if they went back to the LWW mood then they would get a wider audience again. Plus something needs to be done to attract new fans and draw attention to Narnia now that Harry Potter is nearly finished.