So May next year is packed full of big releases. Iron Man, Speed Racer and a certain Indiana Jones movie but one movie that is easy to forget about is Prince Caspian, the second installment of the Chronicles of Narnia series. Financially, the first movie was a big success for Walt Disney and Walten Media as it’s gross revenue at this point in time is over $700 million.
Critically however is another story and although it was praised by most, there does seem to be a huge backlash against the film in some critics circles and especially with Bloggers online. Personally I hated it and I thought it failed on so many area’s but the main thing is… it made money. Lots of it.
And Walt Disney likes money. They are desperately trying to push forward a new Pirates of the Caribbean movie or at least start a new franchise (Prince of Persia) which will make them money for years to come. An official announcement from the Con, indicates that every May, they may be getting a big paycheck…
Starting next year until 2014 a new Narnia movie will be released every May. It’s going to be once a year for six years as they are hell bent on filming every story in the series. Don’t be fooled though guys, if say the fourth or fifth movie in the franchise fails, then that will be the end of that.
At the Con, they showed some footage of Caspian which went down well with IESB and they mentioned that we should expect the next film to be much darker and grittier than the previous flick. They also mentioned that after this film director Andrew Adamson is done and he won’t be helming any more future movies in the series.
Well, just like Saw in October… I shall be avoiding Narnia annually every year in May. By 2014 (if all goes to plan which I doubt it actually will) 8 movies in the franchise will have been released. That’s pretty unprecedented in the history of film and is a milestone that eclipses the rate of release on James Bond and Harry Potter and is probably a number Saw won’t reach, at least not annually.
5 Comments
Alright, I’m going to clear a few things up for you.
#1) There are only seven Narnia books, so there will only be seven total Narnia films.
#2) Each of the books is a self contained story that is an adventure completely different from the last. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is an adventure on the high seas, for instance. The Silver Chair takes us underground. The Horse and His Boy, into the desert. Etc.
#3) The stories and characters change in practically every one. I’d say give it a shot, at least once per film. They’ll all keep the same overall style, but have to be shot differently because of the different storyline.
Paul Martin
NarniaFans.com
Hi Paul, my bad on the number of books front, although I did mention the correct amount in the post’s title.
Hey I’m just speaking from the average guy. If I didn’t enjoy the first movie, I ain’t going back for a second. Most people I know won’t touch this second movie with a barge pole… no matter how good it looks.
If I get invited to a press screening, I will be there… otherwise it’s not going to be for me.
Matt, I really think you’re being too hard on the film. I don’t know how well you know the source material, but the movie is fairly faithful to the book’s tone, and even nicely expands the book’s fairly lame battle at the end.
My problem with this is that few of the remaining books capture what TLTWATW had … and The Magician’s Nephew is an all-out remake of the book of REvelation, except with a downer ending.
I think I read the first book in school but I will admit I’m seeing it purely from a movie stance and not from a Narnia fan stance.
I saw Narnia. Wasn’t a bad movie, but let’s be rational here. It wasn’t that good either. Was it a waste of money…I guess not. Would I watch it again? No!
For fans of the Narnia books I have no doubt that from a visual standpoint it satisfied you completely -it’s a good looking film if nothing else. Problem is (for me anyways) that’s about all the flick had going for it. The tone was handled pretty well for a story of this type (fantasy-adventure in WW2), but I didn’t get sucked into it. It wasn’t engaging or compelling. Then again, I haven’t felt compelled to try Harry Potter either -in book form or movie either.
Maybe Matt and I don’t get it. The movie’s done gangbusters, so good for them. But please don’t tell me it was all that great. It simply wasn’t.