If you’ve read the L.A. Times article that Mike posted about, you might have read far enough to know that there are other suitors for the Narnia franchise. We’ve been speculating that 20th Century Fox would want the franchise, but we’ll take a look now, at the studios that the article says are showing strong interest in the series.
20th Century Fox: They have a good relationship with Walden Media, especially with the Fox Walden label that they released a few movies under. None of the movies released together have done very well, though, and I’m sure they’re looking to change that around and have a few hits together. Doing the Narnia series would be a good bet for that.
Sony: They’ve got the Spider-Man franchise, and have been doing well with that, save for Spider-Man 3, which fell prey to too many villains, and Venom being shoe-horned into the screenplay, when he was going to be saved for Spider-Man 4. They also haven’t had a big fantasy series in years.
Warner Brothers: After the next three Harry Potter films, having 5 Narnia films assures them of eight total fantasy films that will bring in the bucks. They have been handling Potter really well, but not perfectly, however. They’ve not pleased many book purists, but as someone that’s never read the books, I’ve enjoyed films 3 and 5 of the series, and that’s probably due to the great directors on the projects.
Patrick Goldstein writes:
It doesn’t have a lack of suitors. The studio with the inside track is 20th Century Fox, which has first dibs on the project, since it already markets and distributes Walden projects under its Fox-Walden banner. Fox has plenty of interest, having seriously considered acquiring the movie rights to the C.S. Lewis books even before Walden originally landed the franchise. Fox has a strong marketing department, with lot of success with family entertainment–the studio’s biggest hits last year were both family films, “Horton Hears a Who” and the year-ending “Marley & Me.”
But Fox is famous for driving hard bargains and exercising fiscal discipline, so don’t expect to see “Dawn Treader” costing anywhere near $225 million. Walden has been aiming to bring the new film in at around $140 million, which would be a far more enticing price tag for a 50/50 studio partner. If Fox passes, both Sony and Warners have expressed strong interest in the project. It would be a good fit for either studio, giving Sony something it hasn’t had in recent years–a fantasy-oriented family franchise, while it could provide Warners with a ready-made family-oriented franchise to replace the soon-to-be completed “Harry Potter” series. Whatever happens, it seems likely that “Narnia” fans will soon have another chance to visit the enchanted world of Narnia and other distant lands.
He also says that Walden Media could announce a new partner for the Narnia franchise by the end of the week!
Keep your eyes here at NarniaFans.com for the latest news!