The secret history of why Disney dumped 'Narnia'

On the night before Christmas, when all of Hollywood was in Aspen or Hawaii on vacation, Disney quietly announced that it was bailing out on the "Chronicles of Narnia" franchise that the studio had co-financed and co-produced with Phil Anschutz's Walden Media. I was blissfully snoozing on the beach when the story broke in the trades myself, so it was only after I started analyzing Disney's 2008 for our continuing Studio Report Card series that I realized what a shocker it was. Totaled together, the first two "Narnia" films grossed nearly $1.2 billion around the world, making it one of the most successful box-office franchises in recent years.

So why would Disney walk away from such a valuable property? The back story is complicated, to say the least. The obvious reason was that compared to the astounding success of the first film, 2005's "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," which amassed nearly $750 million in global business, the second film in the series, 2008's "Prince Caspian," was a big disappointment, grossing roughly $420 million. Still, $420 million is nothing to sneeze at, being way more money than any Disney film, except for "Wall-E," made all year.

But it turns out that "Prince Caspian" didn't just bring in less money, but it cost more to make and market--a lot more. Disney acknowledges that the film cost roughly $225 million, with nearly $100 million of that going for the film's elaborate special effects. Even worse, because the studio was trying to expand the series' audience by going after teen moviegoers as well as families, Disney overspent on marketing, with some insiders estimating that the studio spent as much as $175 million on worldwide marketing for the film.

But what really derailed Disney's involvement with "Narnia" was a nasty feud between the studio and Phil Anschutz, the real estate baron and supporter of Christian conservative causes who seems to own half of America. Anschutz has a stake in or outright ownership of Regal Entertainment Group (the nation's biggest movie theater chain),  Staples Center, the Kodak Theatre, the Los Angeles Galaxy, the L.A. Kings, London's Millennium Dome, a string of U.S. newspapers (including the San Francisco Examiner) and Walden Media, which has produced such films as "Journey to the Center of the Earth," "Nim's Island" and "Because of Winn-Dixie." So when Anschutz gets into an ugly dispute with Disney, we're talking about a true battle of the titans.

What happened? Keep reading: 

According to multiple sources, the once-close relationship between Disney and Walden began to unravel when, after the first "Narnia" film cleaned up at the box office, Anschutz essentially put a gun to Disney's head and demanded that the studio renegotiate its deal with Walden. Anschutz insisted that Disney either gave back a sizable chunk of the studio's lucrative distribution fee or Anschutz would distribute the "Narnia" series on his own. Believing the franchise was too good to give up, Disney reluctantly changed the terms of its Walden deal, but the renegotiation poisoned relations between the two behemoths. When the second film faltered, there was so little good will left over that Disney had far less qualms about cutting its ties with the franchise.

To be fair, Walden wasn't all that happy with the way Disney handled the film. The first movie had been released at Christmas, which seemed a logical slot for a family-oriented picture. But when Disney saw that "Prince Caspian" was an edgier, more youth-oriented film, it decided to go after teenagers as well as family filmgoers. That decision led to what, in hindsight, appears to be a huge blunder, releasing "Prince Caspian" in May, at the start of summer. Sandwiched between "Iron Man" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," "Prince Caspian" not only failed to attract many teenagers, but it lost a large piece of its family following, who were turned off by the edgier, not especially well-focused marketing materials.

"We felt that, for that film, we had to try to appeal to every audience," says Disney studio chief Dick Cook. "The movie was edgier and tougher and the marketing materials reflected that. Sometimes when you do that, you risk alienating the families and maybe that's what happened." Cook defended the studio's decision to put the movie into the summer. "Warners has always been able to move 'Harry Potter' back and forth, so we thought we had just as good a chance of doing well. Honestly, who knows--it may have been a factor. In the summertime, you don't get always get many second chances. But release dates are funny--they never seem to effect a movie people really want to see." 

Walden is moving ahead with plans to make a third book in the series, "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader," which will have a new director, Michael Apted, at the helm but much of the cast, including Ben Barnes (Prince Caspian), from the previous films. The book is said to be far more commercial than the last installment, being more of a classic boy's seagoing adventure story, complete with fantastic sights, dragons, wizards and sea serpents, not to mention Eustace Scrubb, who I hear on good authority is one of the most inspired rotten kids in English literature. The real fascinating question is: Who will release it? Walden could announce a new deal as early as later this week.

It doesn't have a lack of suitors. The studio with the inside track is 20th Century Fox, which has first dibs on the project, since it already markets and distributes Walden projects under its Fox-Walden banner. Fox has plenty of interest, having seriously considered acquiring the movie rights to the C.S. Lewis books even before Walden originally landed the franchise. Fox has a strong marketing department, with lot of success with family entertainment--the studio's biggest hits last year were both family films, "Horton Hears a Who" and the year-ending "Marley & Me."

But Fox is famous for driving hard bargains and exercising fiscal discipline, so don't expect to see "Dawn Treader" costing anywhere near $225 million. Walden has been aiming to bring the new film in at around $140 million, which would be a far more enticing price tag for a 50/50 studio partner. If Fox passes, both Sony and Warners have expressed strong interest in the project. It would be a good fit for either studio, giving Sony something it hasn't had in recent years--a fantasy-oriented family franchise, while it could provide Warners with a ready-made family-oriented franchise to replace the soon-to-be completed "Harry Potter" series. Whatever happens, it seems likely that "Narnia" fans will soon have another chance to visit the enchanted world of Narnia and other distant lands.

Photo: Sergio Castellitto in "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian." Photo credit: Dieny Enterprises/Walden Media

DISNEY BLUNDERS IN DUMPING "NARNIA" SERIES:

Comments

[Carolyn]

My family and I love the Narnia books. The symbolism is so creative and is woven throughout the stories. In fact, the stories without the symbolism that CS Lewis intended are not the Narnia stories at all; they are a compromise. My 7 year old and I spend hours listening to the reading of the Narnia books and dramatizations of the books while riding in the car. She is a huge fan and knows the stories better than most adults would. She had looked so forward to Prince Caspian coming out. She even dressed as Susan for the movie. She was so disappointed. When Caspian and Susan kissed she said she was so embarrassed to be dressed as Susan. C.S. Lewis wrote these as children's books that would appeal to all ages. (I loved the books at 25 years) If the movies do not appeal to all ages, maybe it was the fault of the film makers changing what Lewis had intended. I would suggest that when Voyage is made that Fox listen to Focus on the Family's radio theatre adaptations which are wonderful. They truly capture the book. I sincerely ask that the books be adapted to film in a way that stays true to the story and symbolism. There is an audience for it to be done that way. By the way, if you are not a lover of the Christian message so clearly interspersed in these books, why are you so concerned about how the movies are made?

[martha]

HURRAY! I'm just glad someone is making the next movie. I have been waiting for these movies to be completed since 6th grade and that was like 18years ago.

[Mary Ann]

Frankly, I wish someone else ENTIRELY would make Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Caspian was abysmal. I think the reason it made less money is because the producers/writers/director slapped real C.S. Lewis fans in the face by presenting what they call the "edgier" Caspian story, which was really a bunch of bad Lord of the Rings-style battle scenes, but with a lack of charm that made this movie an epic disaster.

Here are a few of MY chief complaints regarding the Disney movie:

1. The sequence of events was WAY out of order. First of all, in the book, Caspian KNEW that the horn given to him by Dr. Cornelius was the magic horn of Queen Susan, but only the BADGER believed in it; the dwarfs did not. In the movie, everybody (including Miraz) knows about the horn except Caspian.
Also, in the book, Caspian does not blow the horn until they have been in many skirmishes with Miraz's army and feel they are losing, whereas, in the movie, he blows the horn because he's scared of the dwarfs. Terrible.

2. Peter. What a disaster. In this movie, the heroic, giving, manly Peter of the book is traded for a moody, brooding, whiney bully whose poor self-image interferes with his good judgement and his relationship with Caspian.
In the book, they were instant friends and Peter was only ever interested in winning Caspian his rightful throne - the movie Peter was interested only in winning BACK his throne from 1300 years before. His inherent good character was tarnished.

3. In the movie, THERE WAS A FULL-SCALE FAILED ATTACK ON MIRAZ'S CASTLE!!!!!!!!!! Needless to say, there was no such event in the book. Who needs it?

4. With all the time and space they wasted on made-up stuff, they could have done a really good representation of the REAL story.

5. At the time Aslan was SUPPOSED to appear, he showed up, went through the scene with stunning accuracy (first time in the movie), then Lucy Woke Up and it was only a dream and Aslan didn't show up until almost the END of the movie! ABSOLUTE TOSH!!!

These are just a few of the things that were ridiculously bad about this movie.
Not to mention the missing magical romp at the end while the second battle of Beruna was happening.

The writers, producers, and director of this movie went for action and drama (which the book is already full of, people!) and sacrificed the magic and the message.

[joey]

Those flicks were alright - but they needed more Nazis and more T&A.

[Erik Cardwell]

Who cares? The movie was crap.

[Catherine H.]

To be honest, I was throughly upset with the way Fox presented the 'Dawn Treader.' It was like they threw all the elements of the book into a jar, shook it up a bit, and chucked a jumbled mess back at the audience.To say the least, Fox basicaly constructed their own plot that was, seemingly, more exciting then the original. All in all, I dread to think what Fox has in store for 'The Silver Chair.'