Walden Media’s Film Library Up for Sale
According to Variety, Walden Media will be auctioning off its film library . The article does not specifically say the first three Narnia films will be included in the sale, but stay tuned for more info.
Walden, unfortunately, has been downsizing for the past few years with a series of layoffs. They plan to use the money from the sale to help produce up to four films each year, as well as television content. Their latest film, Everest, released last September.
At this point, the sale does not seem likely to affect The Silver Chair production.
Wow!
yikes!! sounds a bit drastic…
If you go to the Walden Media IMBd page and add up all the films in the Production and Distributor categories, and subtract films currently running or in production, you come up with 46 titles, which is the number of films Variety says is selling. So, apparently the Narnia films are included. But, like you say, it shouldn't affect TSC.
Could is speed up Silver Chair production if the production company for The Silver Chair were to buy the old rights? Would that end the moratorium that has kept is in suspense for so long?
By this point, I almost doubt it would do much. Most people calculated the moratorium would end in 2018- that's just over two years. And it takes most movies 2-3 to go from scripting to post production, and we know they're still scripting. Even if they canceled the moratorium today, we'd have to wait the same amount of time.
Plus I think this is only for movies that have already been released, but I'm not positive.
Thanks for counting. The film library on Walden's website is small. The question now is whether this sale will affect its distribution contracts with Disney and Fox. Will these companies still release Narnia on Blu-Ray, DVD, and VOD, or will the new owner find another one? When’s the last time a production company sold its stock? What happened to distribution contracts?
Yes, this sale is only for movies already released. Variety: "Upcoming projects will not be included in the auction." Walden isn't part of Silver Chair anymore anyway.
The moratorium "ends" in December 2017. That's the earliest a new movie can be released – 7 years after the previous one.
It's possible that the buyer of the Narnia library will also likely be producing company for Silver Chair. It would sure facility any box sets for the series.