Reepicheep775 wrote:And on the other hand the cessation of further movies will likely be a good thing for Christianity and C. S. Lewis. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader flew in the face of what C. S. Lewis and Christianity are about. It might even give people false impressions and think that Christianity is all about believing in your core goodness which is not at all what it is about.
I'm not sure that's what the movie is about either, but per
starkat's warning, let's save that for another thread, since I'd very much like to correspond with you about it.
In any case, I think I made my point earlier that the fact that negotiations are taking so long is an indication that Gresham and the estate are making sure the next adaptation will be more faithful than the last, in terms of both story and the Christian principles that the story is based on. From what I know of the people at Walden, they are receptive to those principles.
Ithilwen wrote:I don't think anyone will blame the author, or an entire religion, for the failure of a movie.
Read some of the critic's reviews again. They have.
Ithilwen wrote:There isn't really much more we fans can do to encourage them. We voice our opinions, tell them what we want in the movies, support the movies by word-of-mouth, ticket sales, DVD sales, even literally pray to God the movies will do well and be well-made. If that isn't helping the filmmakers succeed or put in the right quality, then I'm afraid nothing will.
-And that's all I meant by
continue to encourage. I didn't say we should do more, I just said we should continue.
I'm looking through recent interviews with Micheal Flaherty, and I found this of interest at ChristianPost.com:
Flaherty: We are happy. That one (Dawn Treader) was a slow burn. It took a while for it to catch on. It did much better overseas for us but it finally ended up in a good place. We are starting to talk to Fox and talk to the C.S. Lewis estate now about “The Magician's Nephew” being our next film.
CP: Okay, so there is some talk?
Flaherty: Yes.
CP: I read online that there was some talk about “The Silver Chair” being the next Narnia film but it's going to be “The Magician's Nephew?”
Flaherty: Right. We're looking at “The Magician's Nephew” now and I think everyone has their own favorite, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” being mine. But after that, I love “The Magician's Nephew” because it's a great origins story. You get to learn so much about where the wardrobe came from, where the lamppost came from, where Narnia came from and hopefully we'll get everything together and make that our next one.
CP: What's the timeline?
Flaherty: Well, we're talking to the estate and to Fox and if those three parties, if we can all agree to move forward, then what we would do is find someone to write the script. So, it could still be a couple of years.
Note the part about the timeline and the script.
Even more interesting is an interview with Big Hollywood from back in December which really gets me wondering:
BH: I believe the next in the “Narnia” series is the “Silver Chair,” what can you tell us about that? Where is “Narnia 4″ in the pre-production stage?
MF: It all depends on the box office for “Dawn Treader.” But we are hopeful and while most signs point to “Silver Chair,” there also is a possibility of “Magician’s Nephew.” That is a great story because it is an origin story that explains in great detail the origin of Narnia, the lamppost, the wardrobe and other iconic images. It also has the White Witch in a strong role.
BH: I’ve read that 20th Century Fox — “Narnia’s savior, so to speak, after Disney bowed out — has already agreed to distribute “Silver Chair,” but is it fair to say that could all change if the box office for “Dawn Treader” disappoints?
MF: There have been a number of cheesy nautical references throughout the production of VDT, but we truly are sunk in making any more films from the Chronicles if this one falls short of expectations.
First, I'd like to point out that now, from an interview with Flaherty at the NRB convention (available for viewing at NRB's website if you create an account) it seems that Walden is satisfied with VDT's progress.
Second, I see two interesting things:
1. Both studios seemed intent on making SC next before VDT was released.
2. The Walden was already keeping the door open for MN.
Michael says here they are "hopeful" to make SC, yet since this interview Michael has acknowledged that VDT did less business in the USA than PC and that MN is next, basically as a business decision. (
http://www.narniaweb.com/2011/03/why-is-walden-making-magicians-nephew-next/) May I infer that SC was the studio's plan if VDT was a huge success and MN was the plan if VDT was only a mild success?
From Christianity Today:
CT: Why do The Magician's Nephew next?
MF: It's a creative decision in terms of what story we felt has the best opportunity to draw the largest audience. The box office has pretty closely followed the sales pattern of the books. Prince Caspian sells about half of the books of Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, and it did about half of the box office. Caspian sells about a third more books than Dawn Treader, and it did about a third more box office. That pattern continues to decline with Silver Chair being the weakest book in the series in terms of consumer demand.
We just think the origin tale of The Magician's Nephew is a great one, and it brings back the characters that have proven to be the most popular—a lot of Aslan and the White Witch. It explains the origin of the lamppost and the wardrobe. The order of these books is something that few people agree on anyway. While Silver Chair certainly continues Eustace's adventure, we never knew when Magician's Nephew would come in the sequence of films. We never assumed it would be last, and we never assumed it would be first.
Finally, note Micheal's comment in the recent interview with Inside Out:
“We’re still in our conversations right now with 20th Century Fox, and the C.S. Lewis Estate who own the rights to all the books. We’re all trying to come to an agreement about which film to do next and how to film it. So, we’re waiting to see where that goes.”
Perhaps part of the disagreement (if any) is over which film to do next?
One thing seems very clear though: last we heard, Walden is still interested in making more movies.