A few highlights from an article about the Licensing plans for the new Chronicles of Narnia films:
With 85 million copies sold in 29 countries, nearly 6 million copies annually, indeed, reader expectations will be high on a worldwide basis. Producer Johnson believes expectations will be met: “When audiences see this movie, they will have never seen anything like it in their lives.”
“Projects of the scope of The Chronicles of Narnia are few and far between,” reveals Dick Cook, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios. “This is well beyond a single movie.”
With HarperCollins as worldwide publisher of “The Chronicles of Narnia,” opportunity to cross-promote between the books and the movie is a natural, according to Mooney, and HarperCollins already has implemented some marketing tactics and agreed to republish the books to coincide with the first film. Asked what would be the marketing spend for the film, Cook says coyly, “The nature of the biggest marketing spend ever for a film.”
As The Chronicles of Narnia has a broad fan base, Mooney reveals the target age groups are “still being defined, and may change over time.” He continues, “Historically, the books have skewed more girls than boys. But translating the movie to product with the environments, characters, and the Narnia world, merchandise may skew more boys than girls.” Mooney speculates a 60-40 ratio, particularly where toys are concerned as they may have more boy appeal. In addition, he points to an older avid reader fan base, and believes collectibles would be in the merchandise mix. “We are treating this as a long-term franchise, analogous to Lord of the Rings and Star Wars,” Mooney asserts. “We would rather have the market be short on product than long on product.” At this stage in development, answering pointed questions relating to product is no easy feat, as Mooney and the Disney Consumer Products team are in the beginning phases, and are headed to Licensing 2004 International Show this month to showcase opportunities for The Chronicles of Narnia.
Walden Media-50/50 partner with Walt Disney Pictures on The Chronicles of Narnia-which originally brokered the deal with the C.S. Lewis Estate, secured the merchandising and licensing rights to an education project, which includes educational publishing, school workshops, and teacher training. The entertainment company, in its negotiations with the C.S. Lewis Estate, cinched the deal when it outlined its plans for education, and forged a relationship to work closely with the C.S. Lewis Estate on the development phase of the project.
Mooney concurs, “We will be very careful about how we embellish merchandise, whether toys, video games, or board games, and will work in conjunction with the C.S. Lewis Estate. The consumer products are an extension of the movie, but we will work to remain true to “The Chronicles of Narnia” original intent and content.”
With The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe slated for holiday ’05, timing for the next film in the series has yet to be determined, although License! attempted to pry.
