Narnia Gross at Box Office

[jewel]

So far Walden's three Narnia films have boxoffice 1.5 billion, including the Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe which has grossed 745,000,000. The next Narnia is not coming until 2018 or later. Do you think it has a shot in topping PC and VDT in box office hits? I'm not looking for what's your favorite but which will do best. Do you think it has a chance in even topping The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe?

[CorazonBandido55]

I don't think that any film will top LWW, but I do think that a future film can top the box office gross of DT. If it hadn't been for North America significantly souring on DT, then DT would have grossed higher than PC. I see any future films grossing between $400-$600 worldwide.

I made a spreadsheet that has the opening weekend and total gross of every Narnia film in every country that it opened in, but when I try to paste it onto a post it comes out all messy. I'll try to figure out a way to post it soon.

[Rilian The Disenchanted]

Sure. Another Narnia film can make more than The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. If only because of inflation and increasing markets in Latin America, Russia and Asia.

Take for example The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, it sold way less tickets than the first 2 Lord Of The Rings movies, but thanks to 10-11 years inflation and 3D and increasing Overseas (not USA and Canada) share it managed to creep over the 1 billion mark.

[Josh]

I feel for the next Narnia film to be successful (it will probably be a reboot when they do make another) they need to find the right tone. The Walden Media movies tried to mix dark themes with childish humor. I think Narnia should be appropriate for family viewing, but it shouldn't reduce itself to the childish humor we often saw in Walden Media's movies. Narnia can be mature without necessarily being "dark".

If Narnia is mature, but still appropriate for the family, I think it will be successful as it would appeal to all generations.

[Movie Aristotle]

Is there a chance? Yes. Is it likely? Hard to tell at this point. There are simply too many unknowns. Right now a fourth movie hasn't even been greenlit.

Box office projections are always a shot in the dark. Studios spend millions on movies that flop. Studios spend little on films that do well. Studios spend little on films that flop and millions on movies that do well. -It all comes down to whether or not a film (or a film's marketing campaign) capture the attention of enough people to make it a hit.

Projections are hard enough when the studio, budget, director, and writers are known. In the case of Narnia 4, we don't know any of these things. We're not even sure which story will be Narnia 4.

But we do know that the Narnia stories are classics that are popular worldwide.
We know that C. S. Lewis is a big name in literature and derivatives of his works usually do well.
We know that the Narnia films have an existing (and evidently enduring) fan-base.
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe was a resounding success at the box office.
Prince Caspian and Voyage of the Dawn Treader did respectably, yet middling at the box office.
We know that Douglas Gresham will continue to produce the films.
We expect that someone, somewhere in Hollywood still believes that there is some money to be made from Narnia.

[Louloudi the Centaur]

Unless any future Narnia films have a massive marketing strategy like Disney did with LWW and PC, I do not think they would ever come close to topping LWW's box office. Fox made a terrible mistake in the way they marketed for VDT. Yes, the fans may be relied on to see the movie, but its really the general audience that comes to the movies to see them.

[starkat]

They also need to bring the budget back under control. LWW had some fabulous cg work with the beavers and even with Aslan. I understand that with more Narnian characters, that upped the computer budget, however if they brought the budget down a bit, it'll be easier to make their money back.

I do think they can top LWW in the box office department. Especially with the drama and action potential of SC, HaHB and the LB.

[waggawerewolf27]

I've a feeling that at some point the major film producers are going to have to produce some Narnia films, even if that involves reproducing the ones that have been made already. At some point these major film producers may find themselves running out of ideas for movies that aren't so full of blood and misery and are more hopeful in content. Films you wouldn't be ashamed to show to everyone in the family, for instance.

The trouble is that new film producers will insist on starting all over again, rather than do the 4 that haven't been filmed. And no, I don't think that expecting a huge gross on anything done is realistic. A decent return for money expended is the best possible result, I fear.