As the residents of Narnia like to whisper, “Aslan is on the move.” And so he is. But for the moment, Walt Disney Pictures has him on a very short leash.
Aslan, a talking lion with mystical powers, is the central figure in “The Chronicles of Narnia,” the much-beloved seven-volume series of fantasy novels written by the British academic C. S. Lewis in the 1950’s. By the year’s end, if Disney marketers have their way, he will have joined Mickey Mouse, Pinocchio and Buzz Lightyear in a long line of characters that have periodically provided the Burbank giant with entertainment’s most valuable asset, a new fantasy to trade on.
This next wave begins with the expected release on Dec. 9 of “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” which combines live action and computer-generated images in a movie adaptation of Lewis’s epic. Sequels may follow. But films are only the spearhead of a corporate initiative that is likely to include a theme park presence, toys, clothing, video games and whatever other tchotchkes the infinitely resourceful Disney team can devise. Having been criticized for failing to cash in on the merchandising opportunities offered by 2003’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” Disney is preparing for the kind of all-encompassing drive it hasn’t mounted since 1994, when it turned “The Lion King” into a pop cultural event that still reverberates in its retail stores and on Broadway.
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