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I'm not impressed. I don't believe it. It sounds too terrific. Nothing we have seen up to this point indicates that Walden wants to drop the franchise. In fact, it indicates the opposite. Only 2 months ago Walden announced that they would be doing MN. Narnia is their most successful (one might argue only successful) franchise. I doubt the studio would change their minds and drop the franchise in 2 months.

As to why the negotiations are taking this long: Gresham is obviously working for a more faithful adaptation this time around. Right now he has all the power and he's evidently using it. Smart move on his part, because after he allows Fox/Walden to make the film, he'll lose most of his power and just become one of many producers. The longer the negotiations the better, I say. I think it is silly to doubt that other Narnia films will be made because negotiations are taking 6 months (only 2 months since DVD release). The Hobbit was in negotiations for 6 years! Did anyone doubt that film would be made?

It isn't like there are 10 men sitting around a table from 9 to 5, five days a week debating. I'm sure meetings are weekly, biweekly or even less frequent. In the mean time, let us not assume that no work is being done on the next movie. It is quite possible that they are writing and rewriting drafts of the script to bring to the discussions. And we already know that Perry Moore was securing funding before he died. All of this is part of the negotiation process. Everything that is happening with this movie sounds completely normal. I'm not going to get upset because an unspecified source claims that Walden is dropping out, especially since the President of the company has been so enthusiastically publicizing the continuation of the series and the official word from the studio is that they are continuing to pursue the franchise.

Paul Martin sheds a little more light on the subject here:
http://www.narniafans.com/archives/12113

As Walden has publicly stated that they have NOT dropped Narnia, I went ahead and changed the title of this thread to better reflect the current situation.

Let's all just wait until Walden makes an official press announcement.

@Movie Aristotle. You are so right. Most of the participants in such discussions have other things to do and in the case of Walden and Fox, other movies to make as well. I'm also sure that when discussions do take place, they can get heated at times.

Only 2 months ago Walden announced that they would be doing MN. Narnia is their most successful (one might argue only successful) franchise. I doubt the studio would change their minds and drop the franchise in 2 months.

I thought the rumour was a bit strange, to tell the truth. It wouldn't be Walden who would drop the franchise, since it is they who have bought the film rights to the movies. I was more afraid that Fox would pull out, the way Disney did, after PC.

In any case I would be surprised to see any announcement until after the end of the financial year (June 30th), to allow the participants to get the yearly reports etc out the way. As impatient as we are to see an announcement, I wouldn't expect one until mid July at soonest. Possibly not until after the release of the final Harry Potter movie, after which an announcement might make a little more impact. Especially if Fox/Walden do proceed with a fourth Narnia film.

fantasia_kitty wrote:As Walden has publicly stated that they have NOT dropped Narnia, I went ahead and changed the title of this thread to better reflect the current situation.

Good! Thank you!

Walden have not bought the rights, they just hold them at present.
What Walden considers is the situation could be different from how it is seen by the C.S.Lewis Co (who DO own the rights).
I think it is likely we will hear an official word from the C.S.Lewis Co AND Walden in the not-too-far future. But nobody hold your breath!

Good to see you, coracle. Yes, you are right about the rights.

What does "holding the rights" mean? How much control does the Lewis Estate actually have?

I'm guessing "holding the rights" means not being the actual "owner" of them. So that Walden holds rights to make movies out of the books but not the copyrights to the actual books themselves?

Information on intellectual property rights and copyright:
http://www.wipo.int/freepublicationsen/ ... ranslation

Maybe Coracle can report how much control the Estate has over greenlighting more movies?

Well, it's hard to say it, but I'm almost relieved. Almost.

I love Narnia, and I want more moives, but I don't want them all to be a flop. At least they made the ones with all the Pevensies in them.

It's weird to think that someday, when I'm an adult, they might make them over again. Skandar is Edmund. Georgie is Lucy. Anna is Susan. William is Peter. In my eyes anyway.

I don't want Narnia to end. But people love it so much, so I guess there is hope. Maybe someone else will pick it up?

Okay, now I'm having second thoughts about my first line. Narnia can't end like this! Just one more really good movie!

My response: Who knows? I wish I could just get a peek into how negotiations go on between Walden/Fox. If I could, I would watch the talks and see how each meeting, I'll call it, begins and ends. My question: How far will these negotiations go on? Months, years, decades(okay, decades is pushing it ). It can take awhile for movies to get sequels, or even just films up. Disney's The Little Mermaid, for example, was being developed while Walt Disney was still alive, and the final product came out in 1989 I believe.

A final closing question: How easily would Walden Media give up their most successful/ only successful franchise?

I really just don't know what else to say really.

Louloudi the Centaur wrote:My question: How far will these negotiations go on? Months, years, decades(okay, decades is pushing it ).

You never know how long a movie can be stalled before it's greenlit. Just look at The Hobbit. People were starting to think it would never be made.

The problem is... I don't think anyone -- viewers, filmmakers, production companies -- really believe in the Narnia movies anymore. And who can blame them? Ticket sales go down farther with each movie. Book fans don't like them because they're not accurate enough. And non-book fans don't like them because they think they're boring or childish. Teens and older think it's for little kids. And the parents of younger children a lot of times don't take their kids for the dumbest reasons, like "it's too scary".

The filmmakers aren't finding the right balance and they know it. :/


~Riella

Try to please everybody and you end up pleasing nobody...

Although I am sick to death of the endless "reboots" coming out, I'd say the best thing for the series is to just let it die so they can reboot it. Of course they need to wait like 20 years so that the original film dies out of people's memories.

And I think it would be a good idea to start with the Magician's Nephew to keep the series from following the same path as Walden's films.

Louloudi the Centaur wrote: Disney's The Little Mermaid, for example, was being developed while Walt Disney was still alive, and the final product came out in 1989 I believe.

Totally off topic, but just a correction: Walt Disney died in December of 1966, but yes, The Little Mermaid came out in 1989 and was the rebirth of the good Disney animation. Then they started downhill again. Then they teamed up with Pixar and the movies were good again.

I think it wouldn't be a bad thing to leave the Narnia movies as is. It is sad to say, but I think making another one right now would be a bad idea. But, maybe in years to come, they will find their way and make the adaptations well. And maybe start with the MN so it's like a totally different series.

But, for now, we must wait.

Well, I'm not satisfied with how VDT turned out as a movie, but I didn't hate it, and I don't think it's a good idea to let the series die here either.

I don't think Walden is upset by VDT's $100 million take. Come on, that is One Hundred MILLION dollars! I want to make it clear that Dawn Treader was not a flop financially. Those of us who followed the box office thread had a long conversation about what VDT needed to make and it surpassed even our expectations. The truth is, a production company doesn't need to make back all of its money from box office sales, because it makes most of its money through video sales and TV licensing. So to say that VDT was a flop because it cost $155 million to make and only made $104 million at the box office is silly. Besides, that's only the American box office. Most of us know that VDT made $414 million worldwide. In several countries VDT did better than either previous film, and in most it did better than Caspian. As a business decision it makes no sense for Walden to drop the franchise here.

I think it more likely that they rush the remaining four movies through and then wait 20 years to remake them than to re-boot the franchise in the near future (although neither scenario is very likely). Besides, they love Tilda, as does the general movie-going audience. Do you really think they'd reboot the franchise with MN and pass up the opportunity to have Tilda play Jadis?

Remember, most franchises have a returning cast for each film. Narnia does not. They will not be looking to reboot the franchise (and cast new actors). They'll be looking for ways to include the old cast in the rest of the films (which could be done accurately and in accordance with books with little imagination). The general movie-going audience wants to see more of Will, Anna, Skandar, and Georgie, not less.

If you, like most of us on NarniaWeb, are dissatisfied with the adaptations then the obvious answer is to hire new writers and directors, not new actors (which is basically what rebooting the franchise would amount to). The blessed thing about Narnia is that each story is different, so the filmmakers have a fresh start with each and every movie. There is no need for a reboot with this series. I know some of you are sorely disappointed with VDT, and I sympathize with you, but I have three things to say on this topic:

1. The C. S. Lewis Estate's current talks with Walden are probably about the accuracy of the storytelling, which means that we are almost sure to have a more faithful adaptation with the next movie than we had with the last.

2. Most of us on NW (like me) think that VDT was the worst movie in the franchise so far, but not everybody agrees. Several NW's think VDT was the best. My sister, who hated the first two films (and who didn't agree with the changes in the third) still thought that Dawn Treader was a better film than the first two. Focus on the Family's Plugged In is on record as saying Dawn Treader is the best so far. Movie Guide thought it was the best film of the year. So remember that not everyone thought VDT was a total failure as a film.

3. We will always have the books, the radio dramas, the BBC serials, and the hope of remakes twenty years in the future. For the sake of those who like the movies, let's not wish doom upon the franchise.

Remember that the world is watching, and the failure of the Narnia movies will be interpreted as the failure of C. S. Lewis and/or Christianity. We should continue to encourage Walden to make more films, and to make them well.

Movie Aristotle wrote:Remember that the world is watching, and the failure of the Narnia movies will be interpreted as the failure of C. S. Lewis and/or Christianity. We should continue to encourage Walden to make more films, and to make them well.

I don't think anyone will blame the author, or an entire religion, for the failure of a movie. Especially when movie adaptations are notorious for being usually untrue to their books anyway. There are many terrible adaptations of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, but that doesn't stop the books from being classics that are well-loved by most of the world. A movie is a movie, and a book is a book.

Anyway, I would love to see more Narnia films if they are made well. If they're not made well, then I would rather not see them. There isn't really much more we fans can do to encourage them. We voice our opinions, tell them what we want in the movies, support the movies by word-of-mouth, ticket sales, DVD sales, even literally pray to God the movies will do well and be well-made. If that isn't helping the filmmakers succeed or put in the right quality, then I'm afraid nothing will. At least, nothing we can do.


~Riella