January
6Will Fox Be Narnia's New Home?
Now that Disney has cut ties with Walden Media's "The Chronicles of Narnia" franchise, some are speculating that 20th Century Fox is the natural next home.
Lest you forget, Fox and Walden have danced together before, via Fox-Walden.
So why did Disney give up the franchise? One possible point of contention between the Mouse House and Walden was release dates. The first "Narnia" film was released at Christmas, to great success. Disney, however, decided to open the second pic in May. Film made plenty of money, just not as much as the first one did.
By going to a new studio, Walden might be able to extract some sort of promise to release upcoming films--the next being "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader"--during the year-end holidays.
Stay tuned.
Variety film reporter and blogger 
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You're way off on this one.
Disney didn't move the date. Walden did. Disney invested most of its money in the $200 million dollar flop, and when a movie with a $200 million dollar budget grosses only $400 million, that means Disney lost money.
So they ran.
As for Fox, I don't think they're going to fall for it again. Look at the movies Fox has made with Walden.
City of Ember: Budget, $38million, Gross (remember, studios get half ,on average) $11 million
The Seeker: Dark is Rising.
Gross: $38 million
Budget was rumored to e around $20 million
Because of Winn-Dixie:
Gross: $33 million
Budget: $15 million
And you think Fox is going to give them $140 million to make VoDT?
It's not happening. Not in a recession. Not with a company that cannot make good movies.
Posted by: RC | 1/11/2009 8:05:10 PM
I'm curious to know what cleaning house at Walden has to do with "Prince Caspian?" Can you say more?
Posted by: PAMELA MCCLINTOCK | 1/7/2009 3:47:04 PM
Regardless of whether it was Disney or Walden who fumbled on the original December 2007 release date, I think both entities learned a lesson when it comes to fantasy movie release dates. Losing Disney will not be such a bad thing only if someone manages to pick up on the rest of the Narnia franchise. Otherwise, this will have been the worst of news. Its possible that no Narnia movie will bring in as much as "The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe" simple because no other book is as well known as that one. Still, I think there is a large enough fan base for all books to eventually be released to films and each make at least $500 million in the worldwide box office.
Posted by: Eliseo | 1/7/2009 3:46:32 PM
There's a reason they cleaned house at Walden. No one involved in the debacle is still there (besides one lecherous former lackey turned exec).
Posted by: Dan | 1/7/2009 2:33:02 PM
Actually, as acknowledged in a press statement, Disney originally wanted to release "Prince Caspian" in December, but basically had to move the release date in deference to Walden's decision to release their film, "The Water Horse" in December, thus eliminating competition between the two films. A terrible idea, obviously, because "The Water Horse" didn't do great B.O., and "Caspian" suffered from a super crowded May release date. Plus, Narnia is really more appropriate for Christmas than summer. So methinks that Disney was really smarting from that whole thing, and that's why they pulled the plug.
Posted by: Laura | 1/7/2009 11:41:04 AM
I actually like Fox taking over the franchise more than I did Disney starting it. Over the past few years Disney has watered down some things that could have been great projects, I think this will turn out for the best.
Posted by: Pete | 1/7/2009 11:36:13 AM
Prince Caspian made less money - not necessarily because of the release date - but because it just wasn't as good. Ben Barnes was not the "it" boy that the studio anticipated. And, James McAvoy was sorely missed as Mr. Tumnus. Dawn Treader probably won't rack up a lot of interest without William Moseley (Peter). I can see why Disney let go.
Posted by: Sam | 1/7/2009 11:31:47 AM