All we can hope for now is good holdovers. I really wish this weren't true. It can still pull in $30m or just above. Gotta hope for that Saturday matinee bump. Family movies do tend to have them. Please let Narnia have this bump.

It can still pull in $30m or just above.

Even that would be considered far below expectations. Nearly all estimates were at about $45 million. And with Tron, Yogi Bear and Gulliver's Travels, many 3D screens and family audiences will be swallowed up in the commencing weeks, crippling VDT's chances for strong box office legs.

This movie desperately needed to be front loaded. Looking back, it feels almost like that was a pipe dream.

Even that would be considered far below expectations. Nearly all estimates were at about $45 million.

There were few, two I can think of, that said $30s opening, but you are right. Far below. I am hurt by this. A lot.

THE END IS NIGH! AFTER 5 YEARS, THE NARNIA FRANCHISE HAS GONE FROM ONE OF GREAT SUCCESS, HOPE AND PROMISE TO A CRUMBLING, UGLY BOX OFFICE BOMB!

Sorry for being overly dramatic, but this is ticking me off. I spent several months earlier this year tracking the box office so I would know how it works and be all prepared to have fun analyzing VDT at the box office. Now it looks like I'll just be able to analyze the epic failure of a commercially unviable product.

I know, I know. I am so upset right not myself. This opening would be $3m above Eragon's, which closed with $75m domestically. But that wasn't as family friendly as this. We'll just have to wait and see.

Of course that one fell nearly 70% on second weekend. gotta hope for better legs for Narnia.

In any case, if Walden Media is so dedicated. why don't they fund themselves the whole of it? In case Fox goes out as well.

Yes I am so sad right now. I learned to box office track originally so that I can watch Prince Caspians journey at the box office. I don't want to watch Dawn Treader bomb I will still tweet aggressively to promote this movie, but it's starting to feel like a losing battle. All we can hope for now is that it doesn't drop at all in it's 2nd weekend...like Avatar

Oh man. How can this be happening?????? I coming from watching the movie and then getting on here is so depressing.

My family attended the second ever showing of VDT at our single local theater. The room was about 1/2 full, maybe less. But the audience seemed to like it; there was a lot of laughing (at the appropriate parts) and during Aslan's famous Line at the end I heard a happy remark from across the way "Oh, they kept it in!"

Everyone needs to pray really hard that things will pick up!

Wow this really really hurts. I mean it is killing me. I guess the general public are not really Narnia fans, just Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe fans. In retrospect I think I know what happened. Disney figured they would do the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, and maybe if it grossed well do the rest of the books. The problem was that they took so long between movies that people forgot about Narnia. A summer release date and bad marketing added to this problem. Prince Caspian underwhelmed and Disney bowed out. If Disney had moved quicker, maybe by filming the first two back to back, they would have lost less audience. Prince Caspian might have done better. Then, Dawn Treader could have been filmed back to back with the silver chair. Or overlapping. I've lost allot of faith in peoples taste in movies. Wow. To think the kinda movies that make money now. If Tron breaks out I'll be even more disillusioned. Let's hope we get some decent legs, and that this one is grossly underestimated.

In any case, if Walden Media is so dedicated. why don't they fund themselves the whole of it? In case Fox goes out as well.

At this point, they would have to be insane to take the financial risk of funding Silver Chair all by themselves. The movies are showing a disturbing downward trend. At this rate, in order for SC to be comfortably profitable, it would need something like a $20-$30 million budget. (Which would be impossible, due to the amount of effects SC would require.)

I learned to box office track originally so that I can watch Prince Caspians journey at the box office.

I'm sorry, man. Prince Caspian was probably painful to analyze as well, due to such high expectations and such mediocre performance.

All we can hope for now is that it doesn't drop at all in it's 2nd weekend...like Avatar

Avatar was a freak of box office nature. That isn't going to happen...

Golly...a $26 million opening weekend?

They are estimating $28m now. And yeah, the risk is high, but i just want it so bad. I know, if it fails they won't do it though.

I saw that. I feel like crawling into bed and crying.
And I was so psyched for SC after seeing Eustace's performance.

How can this happen? /repeats self
After all, 3D is supposed to help!

How can this happen? After all, 3D is supposed to help!

That's what's most puzzling to me at the moment. Why the heck is the movie performing this badly even with 3D?

They are estimating $28m now. And yeah, the risk is high, but i just want it so bad. I know, if it fails they won't do it though.

Yeah, they just changed their estimates. Opening day is now down to $8 million, but opening weekend is up another $2 million to $28 million. Strange.

I know the risk is high, but Walden Media isn't a Narnia fan charity. They ultimately aren't going to make quality Narnia films as a massive gift to Narnia fans. They will make Narnia films if, and only if, the films are commercially viable. End of story.

Rules of show business...#1. Butts in seats. #2. There are no other rules.

The movie industry is all about who can make the movie that the most people will fork over money to watch.

Yeah, I stayed up super late just to follow this. I was just hoping for 450 worldwide. I don't think it's going to get even close to that. However, I'll say maybe it's best for this franchise to die now. If they do another one they may chop the budget down to far. Soon the CGI would become TV quality. I rather them stop making the movies, then the quality get like the BBC. One possible reason they might give the next movie a green light, and it's a long shot, but Potter ends in the summer. We won't see any huge kids fantasy franchises around for a while. The Hobbit is the only one that might compete. So there would be plenty of room to pick up new audiences. Anyway, just a thought. I'm trying not to be to depressed but this really hurt.

Yeah, I stayed up super late just to follow this. I was just hoping for 450 worldwide. I don't think it's going to get even close to that.

Same here. I should go to bed soon.

We won't see any huge kids fantasy franchises around for a while. The Hobbit is the only one that might compete. So there would be plenty of room to pick up new audiences.

Unfortunately, this is what everybody thought would happen with VDT. "It'll be released in December, just like the ultra-successful LWW! There are no other major movies coming out anywhere near that time!" Bam, VDT gets sandwiched between Harry Potter, Tangled, Tron Legacy, Yogi Bear, and Gulliver's Travels.

The only hope for this film is good word-of-mouth and seeing that people are divided about the film (can't blame them), it's a false hope. Well, here's to hoping that a director will one day come along and revitalize the franchise.