TodaySentinel Lunchtime Blog (Movies): Bailing out at the first sign of trouble
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Bailing out on a film or franchise after it does terrible in theaters is just studios being practical. No one wants to put in their time, effort, faith and, more importantly, money on a sequel that won’t earn any money at the box office.
That trend seems to be happening more often, especially when it comes to the fantasy film market. All of the adaptations from recently written fantasy books just aren’t doing all that well in theaters, and it’s not too hard to guess why a studio would give up on a losing franchise.
It was, however, a surprise when I read that Disney abandoned ship from the production of “The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader.”
Even though I actually liked the second installment “Prince Caspian,” I’m not under any illusion that there weren’t problems from a studio standpoint. “Prince Caspian” started off well with a $55 million opening weekend, only $10 million less than its predecessor, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” However, while the opening weekend for the first film was only 22 percent of its total gross, the opening weekend for “Prince Caspian” was almost 40 percent of its total gross.
Some people will say that “Prince Caspian” failed to meet its production budget, which is only a half-truth. It took $200 million to make “Prince Caspian” and the film only earned $142 million domestically in its entire run. However, it made another $278 million in the foreign market, making its total worldwide box office number set at almost $420 million.
And yes, that is a disappointment given that the first movie made $745 million worldwide, but $200 million after production costs isn’t too shabby. When you look at “Prince Caspian” in the scope of other live action fantasy films, it’s still only behind the first Narnia film, “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and all five “Harry Potter films in box office numbers. It is still leaps and bounds above “Bridge to Terabithia,” which did quite well for a children’s fantasy adaptation, “Eragon,” which is unlikely to see a sequel, and “The Golden Compass,” which notably fell below everyone’s expectations.
And yet, the numbers for “Prince Caspian” were enough for Disney to bailout on what could have been, and still could be, a successful franchise of one of the most popular children’s series ever.
Maybe Disney should have looked closer to home about why they changed the release date from a Christmas Day opening, which had very strong box office numbers this past weekend, to the summer, two weeks after “Iron Man” dominated theaters, which continued to do well after “Prince Caspian” opened. The second Narnia film was actually scheduled for Christmas weekend 2007, but was pushed back to May for the opening of “The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep.”
Don’t remember it? Don’t worry, neither does anyone else.
The move hasn’t quite put “Voyage of the Dawn Treader” out to sea just yet. Walden Media, which has co-produced both Narnia films, is still attached and looking for a big studio to help it out. The fate of the director and the cast is “in doubt,” and the opinions on whether they will be coming back or not is as varied as the media outlets who can’t seem to get the cast members right — for the sake of clarification, Ben Barnes (Caspian), Georgie Henley (Lucy) and Skandar Keynes (Edmund) are in the third movie, not William Moseley (Peter) or Anna Popplewell (Susan).
Some movie industry buffs are predicting that 20th Century Fox will step in, and if everything goes according to schedule, the movie still has a release date set for May 7, 2010 ... a week after “Iron Man 2” is released.
Something tells me “Dawn Treader” will pull a “Harry Potter” and abandon its original release date, if it gets there at all.
Another film that may be in limbo is “Watchmen” after a recent ruling giving 20th Century Fox the rights to release the film, which was developed and shot by Warner Bros. Fox argued that it had the rights to the superhero comic adaptation, and a judge agreed. Fox released a statement saying it will try to delay the opening, which was scheduled on March 6. A trial is set for Jan. 20, and Warner Bros. is appealing the ruling and steadfast that the movie will still open in March.
