Written by: Michael Hickerson (SoSF Staff Journalist)
As “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” sets to hit theaters later this year, Jim Hill reports that Disney’s initial enthusiasm for the Narnia franchise could be waning. Before “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” hit theaters, Disney proclaimed that all seven books from the popular Chronicles of Narnia series would hit the big-screen.
But then the first movie came out and while it did fairly well at the box-office, it didn’t generate the critical support or passionate fan response Disney was hoping for. Now the future of the franchise could rest on how well “Prince Caspian” does at the box-office this summer.
If it doesn’t do “blockbuster” numbers, Disney could finish out the franchise with the already under production “Voyage of the Dawn Trader.”
Should Disney decide to end the “Narnia” franchise after three films instead of seven, that would leave some openings on its release schedule. The leading candidate to fill those gaps would be a potential “John Carter of Mars” franchise. “Carter” is set to be the first live-action film from the hugely successful Disney partner, Pixar Studios with “Iron Man” director Jon Favreau still rumored to helm the project..
Disney has already registered a large number of URLs for the film and according to reports from the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs, the original author of “John Carter,” they want to do a trilogy of “John Carter” movies. An intital script has been written and met with enthusiastic responses within Disney and should “Narnia” stumble, the films could be on the fast track.
As of now, none of this is confirmed. However, if “Narnia” fans want to see the franchise go all seven books, they may want to get out and see the movie in theaters later this year.
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