ComingSoon.net recently interviewed Mark Johnson, the producer of Disney’s The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (official site), and he told them that that director Michael Apted is currently scouting locations in New Zealand for the upcoming third film in the franchise, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, with plans to start shooting in October.
They already know that two-thirds of the movie will be filmed in Rosarito, Mexico at a huge water tank where James Cameron shot Titanic and where they shot Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with Russel Crowe. Johnson said that the rest of the production could take place in any number of different places. They’ll know more, of course, when they finish scouting locations.
It should be noted that it is now being widely reported (thanks largely to a report on RopeofSilicon) that Disney has no definite plans for the Narnia films past The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. In fact, Mark Johnson himself said as much at the New York Comic Con this weekend.
Originally, Disney has said that all of the books in the Chronicles of Narnia would be filmed, however, Disney has found less excitement for the upcoming Prince Caspian than they did for the first film in the series. Dawn Treader isn’t scheduled to start shooting until this fall and won’t be released until 2010, so it’s impossible to know what kind of market there will be for the other films at that time. Many of the other books in the series are not very well known and do not include the characters from the original film.
I think production on the other films will depend largely on what kind of success Disney finds with Prince Caspian. I find it unlikely they will wait until the release of Dawn Treader in 2010 to make a decision as to whether to go forward with more of the adaptations. I think it more likely that more of the films will be greenlighted if Prince Caspian proves to be as successful or nearly as successful as The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. However, should Prince Caspian falter or stall early at the box office I would expect Disney to seriously reconsider their earlier commitment to adapting all of the Narnia books to film. To do so would be a huge risk that the studio wouldn’t be likely to take.
Yeah, I can see how “The Silver Chair” may not garner much excitement
Kind of sad though, I’d like to see them all on the big screen.
Yeah, I would like to see them make all of them as well. The problem will be that if Disney is already thinking about not making them there’s a chance they won’t put the kind of muscle behind the marketing that they should which could hurt the grosses for the next two which would end up being a self fulfilling prophecy. “We didn’t make the kind of money we should have so we aren’t going to make any more…”
I think Chronicles of Narnia was successful as I recall (but I could be wrong) because of its timing when it was released, it wasnt against anything else so everyone and their kids went and saw it…not sure with the other blockbusters poised for this summer that it will do as well…
Well, actually The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe which ended up grossing almost $292M was released on December 9, 2005 and went up against November holdovers Chicken Little ($135M), Jarhead ($62M), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ($290M), Walk The Line ($119M), Yours, Mine & Ours ($53M), Syriana ($50M), as well as other December releases King Kong ($218M), Hoodwinked ($51M), Cheaper By the Dozen 2 ($82.5M), Fun With Dick and Jane ($110M), Memoirs of a Geisha ($57M), and January releases Big Momma’s House 2 ($70M) and Nanny McPhee ($47M). I’d say it had a little competition.
The hype on that movie was huge and it held up well against stiff competition and for many weeks. This summer will be harder on the sequel, but there is potentially more money to be made in a shorter period of time if they can get people into the theater.
oh… well, I am corrected =) not sure how Fun with Dick and Jane made ovfer $100 million though…lol
I would love it if all the Narnia books were made into a movie. I’ve always been a fan of C.S. Lewis. Lets hope Prince Caspian does well.
Go Caspian!
I hope they don’t stop-short on making these films. Great stuff and I think Lewis would be happy with what they did the The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.
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