With the economy scaring the pants off of everyone, even the studios are hedging their bets. Even the Chronicles of Narnia series faced inevitable obscurity as Disney announced that they didn’t think Voyage of the Dawn Treader would be worth the financial risk and cut it from their prospects.
However, fear not Naria fans! It seems that Fox has picked up the baton and intends to carry on the franchise without Disney.
When Walt Disney Pictures left the project, Fox got the first chance to make The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of The Dawn Treader due to the shared Fox Walden marketing and distribution label. The label made the promise to make the project. The plan is for a 2010 release via the Fox Walden label.
Currently, there is a no budget and work is still being done on the script but the plan is for a 2010 release around the holidays. It will come out via the Fox Walden banner.
Fox and Walden plan to go halves on production and P&A costs for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of The Dawn Treader. The budget is currently in the $140 million budget range.
I liked the first two movies and I was a little disappointed to find that they were not going to finish out the franchise. There was still more Narnia books to adapt and the stories are wonderful.
So maybe in hindsight Disney will kick themselves for letting this option go, or the movie will not cash in as much as the first two and they will have a quiet “I told you so” look on their collective faces.
Time will tell!
