You echo concerns, FON, that many on NW have expressed. You have the freedom to state your opinion; however, not all opinions carry equal weight. As a public high school librarian, I deal with a similar issue relative to books in our school library. If a student, parent, teacher, patron expresses a concern about a particular book in our library, before the concern is addressed by the school systerm, the patron must do several things...read the book in its entirity, identify specifically, the offensive material AND provide suggestions for replacement materials he/she would find acceptable. Many complaints get no further than step one because once the patron actually reads the material, he/she discovers that it wasn't as offensive as previously thought. Certainly you are free to write of your concerns regarding VDT or future Chronicle movies. However, if you want your letter to carry the most weight, you should prepare yourself to provide Walden/Fox with as informed an opinion as possible. I would think that preparation would include viewing all three movies, providing both positive and negative criticism and describing how, when, where and why they could make the next movie better. Otherwise, Walden/Fox's response will be (to borrow from movie Pride and Prejudice), "How clever of you to know something of which you are ignorant."

Speaking of Fox's deceptive campaign...

I was talking to a girl on campus today and she had told me a few weeks ago that she was REALLY looking forward to watching VDT. Well, today she said she saw the new trailer in front of Tangled. And in her own words she said, "I don't think I'm want to watch it now with the seven swords thing and the White Witch". I had to explain to her that the WW is hardly in the film at all, but I'm not sure I was able to convince her to watch the movie before judging.

Anyway, just an example how Fox's marketing campaign could backfire on them.

I think the seven swords and the white witch may interest the casual viewer but the book fans, the core fanbase, will be put off by it.

The question is what is the ratio of non fans who become interested vs. the book fans who are put off by the advertising.

Yeah, you'd think book fans would come first. (Personally, though, I had no problem with it.)

I didn't mind the Seven Swords plot since I had been aware of it for months ahead of time I had time to get over it. I think it fits and flows well enough in the movie and by no means does it overpower the spirit of the book. But if you are a absolute purist you will hate it.

I incorrectly thought that responses would trigger an email notification.

I came to check on the movie's progress. I was going to post a link to this thread in another topic and then I saw these responses.

I am compelled to respond. I'll try not to repeat myself much.

Tarquin:
I didn't say that I won't ever watch it. I have no plans to buy tickets/DVDs.

Josh:
I didn't complain about the movie. I said that I had no interest in seeing the movie. I don't usually go see a movie when it looks boring and hackneyed in order to find out if I am wrong. I wanted Fox/Walden to know that my (and perhaps many others') lack of interest could not be blamed on a lack of interest in Narnia/Lewis in general.

I disagree that "this film must be watched or all hopes of seeing the other films are dead." If they decide not to continue with the series, I am pretty sure that someone else will. (Though, now I suppose that VDT won't be remade again any time soon.)

I would prefer the series to continue sooner rather than later, which is why I took the unusual (and probably fruitless) step of emailing them.

FriendofNarnia2: Hi. I was kind of surprised that FriendOfNarnia was an available user name.

Your story about your campus acquaintance is a case in point. She began to lose interest after seeing the promotions, and it was partly due to the additions to the plot, if only in the trailers, and not at all due to a lack of interest in TCoNarnia.

spartan5, Raticus:
I didn't tell them that they're doing something wrong. I said to them that the online trailers/clips made it seem to me (a Narnia fan) like a boring and unoriginal story, and that the parts that made it seem that way to me all just happen to not exist in the original story.

Lirenel:
Your Twilight example is relevant. It would be fair enough to write them and say, hey, I don't know much of anything about the books or their quality, but the movie clips and trailers have not interested me. But why would you bother?

ceppault: I hope you did enjoy it! I may end up liking the movie, of course, but I doubt it. I think that, like Lirenel and the PC movie, the changes will keep me from enjoying it.

Varnafinde:

Then it doesn't make sense that he won't contribute to it's doing well - some dollars for a VDT-ticket might be more encouragement than an email for SC ...

Good point. If I would be willing to pay money for those future movies, wouldn't $10 or $20 now be a worthwhile down payment?

Well, maybe so, but I did say that I am interested in and would pay money for good (imo) adaptions. I don't want more movies that I'm uninterested in. If they do make bad (imo) adaptions, it's less likely that anyone will remake them again in my lifetime.
... but there's a thin line there, and you make a good point, but it doesn't change my mind yet.

MinotaurforAslan
Marketing. I mostly just read and saw a few online trailers/clips/reviews. I heard some radio spots. I didn't like them because they seemed to be marketing it as a Christian movie that Christians ought to watch. (I don't disapprove of Christian themed movies.) They didn't tell or promote the story at all, from what I recall.

The producers will decide whether or not Silver Chair will be made based on VDT's opening box office proves it to be a profitable film.

Honestly, I don't entirely believe them.

mm1991

Sometimes I think that the films have overstayed their welcome if they are going to go down an unfaithful path. Should I really spend my money on a bad film just so the can make more bad films? Maybe they just should have stopped after LWW?

I tend to feel the same way sometimes.

PeterCharn:
Perhaps, but I think that I'm only going to be interested in relatively faithful adaptions, anyway (but I'm not a purist!). I too would enjoy a good SC movie. Last 4 books are my faves.

Gilby's Angel
I see your point. I hope that you/they understand that I was not meaning to say, "Your movie stinks!" I know that it is foolish to judge something that I haven't seen. It is not, I think, necessarily foolish to be uninterested in something that I haven't seen (that I have to pay for).

I did not say anything negative about the movie itself.

Interesting library rules. I visit my local library a lot.

Josh, FriendofNarnia2, Lucy of Narnia, aragorn2
I like fantasy stories in general. The 7 swords plot, however minor, doesn't interest me. I'm more put off by the idea that they have to save the world (from whatever).

But as you say, if changing the story will make more money and entertain more people, then good for them.

---

I'm not a purist. Changes and omissions are almost always necessary. I don't like additions. They detract and degrade.

Despite the tl;dr length of this post, I am not a "hard core" Narnia fan. I wanted to offer the perspective of someone who has not paid any attention to this movie until a month or so before the release, and only a bit.

I wish I could fix my typo in the thread title.

It was pretty obvious that the movie would be completely different just by watching the trailers. But I saw it today and I really wanted to cry. Especially when Reepicheep was fighting the sea serpent. I almost yelled in the theater, "Don't fight it! Push!" to quote Reepicheep from the book.

I wish I could fix my typo in the thread title.

Your wish is granted.