Dawn Treader Will Be a Marathon

Deadline Hollywood has posted Friday box office estimates at $9m and extrapolated that out to an opening weekend estimate of $28m for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. By comparison, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe made $65m on opening weekend and Prince Caspian made $55m. It’s obvious that these are very early numbers and things can still turn around. We’re only half-way through the weekend! But if this trend holds, it won’t be a good sign for the Narnia franchise.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is showing on 3,555 screens and made roughly half of Friday’s cum for Prince Caspian ($19m).

It’s important to remember, though, that films opening in December generally don’t have huge opening weekends (LWW was an exception) and that the real value to the December opening is that the box office gets the benefit of the entire month. There isn’t much competition in the box office for family films this Christmas (only Tron) so it’s expected to do well every week through Christmas. In fact, Fox has just announced today that Gulliver’s Travels has been moved to Christmas Day which leaves December 22-23 open for Dawn Treader.

It’s important that the faith and family community gets out to support these films in a big way. If you haven’t seen Dawn Treader yet this weekend, please see it! As Douglas Gresham says, “take your friends and take your enemies.”

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader at Box Office Mojo

Prince Caspian at Box Office Mojo

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe at Box Office Mojo

204 Responses

  1. HUGEFANOFNARNIA19867 says:

    I don't get why it only made 9 million! I was at the movie when it first got to the theater and there was a HUGE line!!! People where standing everywhere wanting to see the movie!!! well i plan on seeing that movie 7 more times in theater!!!!

  2. HUGEFANOFNARNIA19867 says:

    Wow i had the first comment!! Thats new!!heheheh lol

  3. Louloudi the Centaur says:

    Is that just an estimate for the US alone? I have heard reports that in Mexico, it is topping the box office, and had only been released in 3D so far. I also heard it is doing well in Spain. Well, it is only the first three days. When Tangled came out, it started a bit slow, but it made its way to #1 because the word got out. I hope this is the case with Dawn Treader.

  4. NarniaHannah says:

    I saw it yesterday morning and there was only like 10 people in the theater(our group took up half). this does not look good!! I LOVED VDT and want to see it again, but a snowstorm is preventing me from seeing it opening weekend. If you haven't seen the movie yet, then GO SEE IT!!

  5. Finally something else positive!

  6. Tribunal says:

    There is no way to spin the numbers, a $30 million opening is horrible. In the following week it will face competition from Tron and Yogi Bear which will not only steal 3D theaters, but family audiences.

    Don't expect The Silver Chair to be made, the ONLY hope for this franchise to continue are the overseas grosses which look to be good. Narnia films have always performed quite well outside of America.

  7. Really? Wow, you must live far from me…. There were like what fifteen people at my theater? At least it was easy to find seats. But Narnia is really unpopular where I live, and I live in the third most populated city of the United States. 🙁 Well anyway, totally awesome movie!!!!!

  8. Queen Elizabeth says:

    Tons of my friends saw it. I don't get to see it until Tuesday but I think they should count the overall money makings, than just the weeked box office. Cause maybe a ton of people are waiting to see it on Christmas break or something.

  9. Snicket says:

    Goodbye Silver chair. Movies in December don't have huge openings? What numbers are you tracking? December is huge for openings, second only to the summer months of July and May.

    Too bad for Narnia though, I wanted Silver Chair and Last Battle, the others I could live without.

  10. Lyle says:

    The main problem is the film critics — Narnia is posting mostly negative reviews, specifically targeting Apted's direction of being too safe and mundane.

    I'm still going to support this film as Silver Chair is my favorite of all the series! A director shift would help a lot (like the director for HP Goblet of Fire!)

  11. graycsc says:

    that's actually pretty interesting, the EXACT same thing is happening to me, with the number of people and the snowstorm and time of day. I decide the few number of people in the theater was because it was kind of early in the day, and I saw it in 2D when there were 2 other screenings of 3D at around the same time. As soon as I walked out of the theater I wanted to go right back in and see it again! Luckily later this week I'll be home seeing it at least 3 more times and being able to drag a bunch more people with me!

  12. Snicket says:

    Mike Newall? that guy is a huge box office drag and has no place in Narnia. Get Adamson back in the series, he was the talent.

  13. graycsc says:

    That's what I'm doing! Well, I did see it yesterday, but I'll be seeing it a few more times over the break and I know that some of my friends are waiting until then to see it for the first time

  14. icarus says:

    There is no hiding from the fact that those numbers are awful. To try and put any sort of postive outlook on it would really seem to be clutching at straws.

  15. Tribunal says:

    They do count its overall total. This is just the opening weekend, which is important to see how it will do in the long run.

  16. gstommylee says:

    the only thing that will make me happy is good news but i doubt we would get any good news.

  17. Bethany Weathers says:

    There were only like six people in theater when I saw it. Granted, it was 11:50 last night in a college town, so most people were not planning on seeing a family movie at that time.

  18. Adamant says:

    I wouldn't panic yet. Things can still change. There are many countries still where it hasn't been released, and maybe people are waiting for Christmas Holidays to see it. Don't give up hope!

  19. gstommylee says:

    There is also a blizzard like conditions going on in the mid-west and north east. That's why all movies are down this weekend

  20. Narnian* says:

    Don't lose faith everyone! It's only one day so far. The local paper here (I live in Idaho) gave it 3 stars and said it was a fantastic film and well made. It also said it was better than the first two. I think we just have to give it time. People who will go will end up telling their friends and family and so on and so forth. I am going today. Very excited!

  21. Pepper Darcy says:

    Wow… I really hope DT does well. I'd love to see Silver Chair! Please, please, please! I can't tell you *how* much I'd love to see SC with Will Poulter in it! I'd love for Apted to direct it too; too bad Peter Jackson is busy with The Hobbit, but I guess I'd honestly rather have Hobbit over Narnia… as long as I had Silver Chair and The Last Battle.

    But wow. I'd love to see more Narnias! Please! Please! Give us a Narnia 4!! 🙂

  22. Eric says:

    I want this film to fail. This was not a good representation of Narnia, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, or C.S. Lewis' intended meaning. It's just a failure on all accounts.

  23. Pepper Darcy says:

    btw, three of us are going to see it in 3D today and then 15 plus people are seeing it with us again in 3D later on, so… we're helping!! 😀

  24. KingSkandartheJust says:

    Yay! thank goodness for that. I was getting worried.

  25. Stephen says:

    "We have nothing, if not belief." –Reepicheep

  26. Really? I read several reviews that targeted what the reviewers said was a flimsy, vague plot, an overly obvious and simplistic script with some excessively cliched dialogue, and sub-par acting (excepting Will Poulter). I didn't see very many at all that specifically targeted Apted's directing. A couple, sure, but I saw more praise or at least neutrality about his directing than outright criticism.

    I think Mike Newell would do a good job with The Silver Chair (and probably would have done a better job on Dawn Treader in general), but I think that it would be even more important to get totally new screenwriters and to cast Jill, Puddleglum, and Rilian with people who can act really well. I'm afraid this discussion will end up being moot though if the box office for this film doesn't start picking up (here's hoping it will).

  27. Mike says:

    VDT is not doing well in Australia…

  28. Oops. I meant my last post to be a response to Lyle, not Snicket.

  29. Bob T. says:

    This film is horrible, it was confusing, didnt stick to the book, and the 3D effect was horrible. This was one of my favorite books in the series, and they killed it. The only thing that was close to the story line was the names of the characters. the rest was way off, probably why it wont last.

  30. Bob T. says:

    After you see it tell us what you think. I bet you change your mind.

  31. Rich says:

    We went to the late show last night. There were only 6 others in the theater with us. I was mortified. Made me feel I was sitting in on the most unpopular movie of the year or something. THis upsets me. I want to see all the other books made into movie form, especially Magicians Nephew but fear VDT is flopping and this is the end of the movie series. I hope not.

  32. Noogah says:

    No offense to you, but that's your opinion and nothing more. Many long time Narnia fans such as I really did enjoy the film. Though it had its cons, it had plenty of pros as well.

    How good of an adaptation this movie was is a subjective thing.

  33. Rich says:

    By the way, I loved the movie. It's worth it and if the do make the others like they have been these 3 then it'll be the best movie series of all time as far as I'm concerned.

  34. Bob T. says:

    I wanted the movie to be great, i went and saw it, the whole time it was hard to even understand what was going on. I read the book, the whold thing was horrible.

  35. gstommylee says:

    Like i said there is a blizzard going on in some parts of the country and that is not helping.

  36. The Inscrutable Rutabaga says:

    Thanks for that reminder 🙂

  37. Jcavhs says:

    The weather has to be an issue. Where I am we are under a blizzard warning for today and traveling is not advised. People were spending yesterday stocking up at the grocery store rather than going to movies. I had been planning on going this weekend but the weather is preventing that.

  38. Carol says:

    i'm sad because yesterday there were i think just 30 people or less at the auditorium of the theater i went. hope today there's much much more.

  39. narnian21 says:

    Most of the movies in December with a high opening weekend opened up during Christmas break when people can go opening weekend, except for LWW

  40. gstommylee says:

    Perhaps once the weather clears up it'll get better.

  41. DamselJillPole says:

    COME ON PEOPLE OUT THERE!!!!!!! SEE THE MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  42. Louloudi the Centaur says:

    Well, it's blizzard weather in the Midwest where I live, yet at the theater last night, at least 70+ people were there, with a majority being a church/Christian group. I think if the Christian community likes the film, we will have a larger box office.

  43. always narnian says:

    I saw it in 3D. Let's just say, because I can't get into it all right at the moment, I'm a huge fan of the books. It was horrible adaption. I enjoyed parts of it very much so, but it wasn't the book. It's so disappointing when they change the plot so much… =( Eustace was the highlight of the film! He was awesome! Reepicheep was awesome too, they finally got his character right after ruining him in PC. Aslan was again belittled and did not get much dialouge at all. They always make someone like Aslan's spokesman, like Aslan couldn't talk for himself. It annoys me, seeing Aslan represents Jesus Christ. They never have enough reverence or give him enough credit. The undragoning wasn't handled well…I didn't want them to get violent at all, I just think they could have explained it better and handled it better.

  44. narnian21 says:

    Box office mojo hasn't posted any earnings yet so maybe this prediction could be wrong? That would be really nice but let's hope we see SC!!!

  45. always narnian says:

    But I must say the characters were adapted alot better than in PC. PC was just a wreck!

  46. always narnian says:

    To me adaption is practically everything. If you like a book and want to make it into a movie, why change it if you liked the book? C.S. Lewis was brilliant, and his stories were amazing and meaningful. They gave that all up for so much action & battles. I love a good battle scene (like the first movie's) but they tried to put way too many in VODT. Of course, those aren't my only complaints…

  47. gstommylee says:

    Or the estimates were low.

  48. akibaali says:

    I loved the movie. I loved the book. I am truly a believer that when you are dealing with two different media – it is impossible to follow the book to the detail people wish. I look at them to see if the message is what I expect to get. This movie did that – just not following every part of the book.

  49. MissAdventure says:

    Doesn't surprise me for my area, we're getting the biggest snowfall in 19 years where I live. Very few people are going to be heading to the movies this weekend. Still, I'm sad that VDT isn't going to be doing as well as LWW. Hopefully VDT will have legs and make it big in the end. 🙂

  50. Bilal says:

    i knew it, the magic of the first film could not be met and the movie was boring. i guess the film will make a 25 million in the opening weekend. a 125 million total at most. foreign money will put it to about 350 million total. i hope my predictions workout.

  51. glumPuddle says:

    Wow, it seems like it's tanking. My theater (midnight showing) was about 30% full.

  52. Pepper Darcy says:

    I'm gonna see it in an hour and a half! I'm gonna see it in an hour and a half! *bobs up and down in excitement*

  53. kirsta says:

    My siblings and I are planning on seeing it next week – but as LWW is my all-time favorite film, I'm guessing VDT won't come close, even if I do like it. We'll see. I was hoping the Chronicles of Narnia would get an entire feature film series, like Harry Potter is, but as I said, we'll see. 🙂 The jury's still out, guys!

  54. JT says:

    I saw Voyage last night and I thought it was wonderful!

    It wasn't exactly like the book, but I still think it was great. I also think it is too early to guess the outcome of the franchise.

    Word of mouth can be a powerful thing 🙂

  55. gstommylee says:

    It would done better if there wasn't a snow storm going on. So it may rebound once people can get to the theaters to see it.

  56. narnian1 says:

    we went to the first showing this morning, (my second time), there were plenty of people. And we had people come in, thinking it was the next showing, clearly Narnia is getting more audience. But how much? I will keep hopeful throughout the month.

  57. Aslan's Meadow says:

    You most likely don't care if it fails. You hated it anyway.

  58. Lucylove says:

    It doesn't matter how much money they make in USA or the UK it matters how much they make world wide.

  59. Lucylove says:

    Spreading the word about Narnia on nick.com that it's the best movie EVER!

  60. waggawerewolf27 says:

    I hear the weather has been nastily cold in the Northern Hemisphere this winter. Exactly why would anyone go to the movies of a night if they can have a more comfortable viewing the following morning?

    That being said, I hope Tirian is right. I'm off to see the movie a second time today if I can. In 2D this time.