This week’s mailbag is a little bit late, and I apologize for that. I had some stuff to get done this week, and I’ve started doing a new project. Not to mention that I have been a little sick, so I’ve gotten a lot of extra sleep lately. Not that it has anything to do with this. Anyway, let’s get to it, some interesting letters came in this week.
Q: When the list of eligible songs for the “Best Original Song” Academy Award was released, “The Call” was there but “This is Home” and the others weren’t. Can you explain this?
-Skulblaka_Shur’tugal
Paul: Good question. I’m not sure the rules on this, and even the official site for the Oscars doesn’t have the rules for eligibility posted in this category. There must have been a reason, but I just can’t find it. Can anyone else?
Q: I want to say something about the most recent mailbag; Skulbaka had a question about Fox’s handling of Narnia, and mentioned that Eragon was a poor film compared to the book. While I haven’t read Eragon and haven’t seen the film, so I don’t know anything about it, I do know that Fox has handled STar Wars quite well (which I believe you mentioned). HOWEVER, Fox will not be responsible for what’s in the script, am I right? Michael Apted and the screenwriter(s) are responsible for what goes into the script; the studios (Walden and Fox) will handle the distribution, marketing and publicity.
I also wanted to ask a question: since Disney has bailed on the films, do you think there will be better publicity for Voyage of the Dawn treader, like there was for Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe?
-Aravis Kenobi
Paul: Good additional points about the Dawn Treader script, and you are correct about that. I think that there’s a good chance for better publicity than Prince Caspian had. 20th Century Fox wants to make this a franchise and they don’t want to do one Narnia only to see it fail. Expect to see a lot in the way of publicity, this time around.
Q: Am I the only one who noticed the Narnia flag (rampant lion) on the opening shot of the Disney castle in the movie theater version of Prince Caspian? I was rather disappointed when it didn’t make the DVD.
Kelley
Paul: Now that you mention it, I sort of remember seeing it. Anyone have verification on this? I’m not sure I can find it. It is interesting if it really isn’t on the DVD. If I wasn’t watching the Ocean’s trilogy at the moment, I’d check the Blu-ray. 🙂
Q: Any idea on when we’ll hear casting announcements?
Do you think/know if TCF/Walden will market VDT to faith groups?
Mike
Paul: Casting announcements, if filming indeed starts in late July, some time this month. Keep your eyes on NarniaFans.com for these! I think that that Walden will market VDT to faith groups again, and hopefully with as much stress as they did LWW. The biggest problem is that the rest of the Narnia films don’t have as public a symbolic reference to Christ. Nor the name recognition. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe could have been released under that name alone. Calling it The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was pure marketing so that when future films in the series were released, people could see the name Narnia and remember the last film on the weight of that name alone.
And that’s it for this week’s mailbag. Keep sending us e-mails, and we’ll keep answering. If you have any answers, feel free to comment below, or send us an e-mail and we’ll post it in future mailbags.