Fox Studios. May I call you Fox? Fantastic Mr. Fox? The Wonderful World of Mr. Murdock? Reynard? El Zorro*? Okay, just Fox is fine. I would like to speak to you as a friend, and I certainly hope we are. You’ve given me a lot of fun over the years. I have enjoyed many of the films you released and I was more then delighted to here that you decided to step through the wardrobe and take over the Narnia franchise after Disney left us so abruptly.
For that reason alone, I should call you my friend. You have no idea how excited I was to even hear about a Narnia film project. I will always remember the day when my best fried Dean and I went to see Star Wars Episode III on opening night, in costume. As we left the theater we said we had that same feeling we got at the end of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. The franchise was over, but yet it was over. No more. Done. Finished. That’s all folks.
We thought we would have to go back to our normal, ordinary lives with no major franchises to look forward too (save a few super hero trilogies here and there.) Then we remembered we had at least one more big series to look forward too. One that could go on for a full seven films. That series was The Chronicles of Narnia.
I understand you had been pursuing the rights and had even bid for the rights to the first film back in 2004 along with New Line Cinema, Warner Brothers and Disney. Yes, Disney got it, but when they jumped ship so to speak, you came right in and pumped some new blood into the series.
I, for one, am glad you did. I knew you guys would be the right fit. You had released such films as The Passion of the Christ, Amazing Grace (also by Walden Media), Ted Dekker’s Thr3e, Frank Peretti’s The Visitation and Hangman’s Curse, and Peretti and Dekker’s House. As such I knew you were open to films with a Christian view.
Now, I’m not sure if you’ll do Silver Chair, but I really hope you will. Did Voyage of the Dawn Treader perform as well as expected? Hmm, that’s up for debate. Let’s face it, there were some things this year no one really expected to happen. The economy still isn’t that great and, well, much of the Midwest and east coast of the US were buried under snow. While I begged and pleaded to brave the elements on opening night, my parents didn’t want to risk it (they were my ride).
Please, I ask you, as a friend, stay the course. I’m sure you will make the money back in DVD sales for sure. If you should decided to stay, here are some helpful tips to keep the series momentum building. While I may think of us as friends and all, I know you are a business, and that means you should make a profit back on your investment. I think these suggestions will help insure that you do make a profit.
1. Don’t repeat the same mistake as Sauron and underestimate The Hobbit. At first it was looking like, should you do Silver Chair, your earliest release date is a week before The Hobbit PT 1. However based on current figures, and judging by how much of Australia is flooded right now, which would make filming hard, you probably won’t get the chance to release it until 2013, which would put it head to head with The Hobbit Pt. 2. Bad idea. The Hobbit is not Tron , it is not King Kong, nor is it Yogi Bear, and despite the fact they are a bunch of vertically challenged creatures who live under the ground, and are guided by a bearded fellow with a pointy hat, Hobbits are not The Smurfs. The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings probably have one of the largest fan bases for a fantasy series. Putting Narnia head to head with The Hobbit would be a bad business decision, one almost as bad as Disney thinking it was a good idea to place Prince Caspian right in between Iron Man and Indy IV. Only Twilight could stand a chance at blowing The Hobbit out of the water due to the strong loyalty, devotion, and young age of it’s fan base and it will be wrapped up at that point. Which brings me to my next suggestion.
2. Remember, remember the 5th of November. Or sometime in November itself would be nice for the release. That’s one of the major doldrums of the year for movies. Along with Twilight, Harry Potter will have finished, leaving that November slot wide open. Point is, let your film gain some better traction. November is a bit more optimal over all, as generally snowfall isn’t that bad in November in some parts of the country. ( I should say I am from Minnesota and we can have pretty wacky weather any time of the year ) but we shouldn’t see winter storms in November 2012 or 13 as bad as in 2010. December for the other films should work fine, but not so much when The Hobbit is your big competitor.
3. Ride the wave! One thing that some feel helped LWW out in the box office was the fact it was able to ride the wave of a new found popularity for fantasy films following Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings. Now, that isn’t the case as much .Lets face it, for now, Hobbits have returned to their Hobbit holes to give room to the sparkly Vampires. However, come the release of The Hobbit “Old School” fantasy should be popular again. You can ride hat wave of momentum again, not only because of The Hobbit, but the completion of Harry Potter.
4.Marketing! Now I’ll admit one thing I loved about your marketing campaign was not only did you go back to churches, you also made a point of showing commercials for the movie during shows that were deemed “family oriented”. I loved seeing a Narnia trailer during programming on cartoon network, and the Disney Channel, or such holiday favorites as “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. You kept your target audience in mind which is good. However I’d also suggest , since you are Fox studios after all, maybe next time around put a few TV spots on during commercial breaks during American Football games, and Saturday morning programming on ABC, CBS, NBC, and the CW.
5.Remember the wisdom of Yogurt: Moichendising! Now, I’m not saying as some you should go crazy and release things like say a Mr. Potato Head of Aslan or a Chia-Reepicheep for example. I get it that times are tough and it’s becoming harder for movies have toy tie-ins. I think we can both admit that an Action figure based on a Na’vi from James Cameron’s Avatar just didn’t sell that well, at least compared to a figure of say Batman , Iron Man, Optimus Prime, GI Joe or Darth Vader, and the same is true for many other movie based action figure lines. But a few basic figures wouldn’t be bad. I was also a bit disappointed by the slim pickings on tie-in books. I was delighted that you focused on the read it before you see it campaign. I hope that Professor Lewis, as an English Professor would approve of helping to get kids more excited and interested in reading. Well, the best way to do that… More books!
6. What’s the deal with the missing end credits song on the soundtrack? Now, I love a good symphonic orchestral score. I certainly prefer them over the so called “Official Movie Soundtrack”, which is really just 15 pop songs that may or may not have been featured in the movie with a “suite of the instrumental themes”. I also liked the fact you just picked one song for the end of Dawn Treader and stuck with it, instead of having snippets of five different songs as in the last two films. But the fact that Carrie Underwood’s song was only of iTunes in the states? Couldn’t you have at least made it a hidden bonus track, or made it accessible via an enhanced CD? Something like that? Maybe even do another “Inspired By” album? Just saying.
7. Have you considered following the example of Christopher Nolan on Inception and John Favreau on Iron Man 2 and just saying no to 3-D? How much did it cost to upgrade VDT into 3-D? Was the cost worth it? Now, I’ll admit I felt the 3-D in some ways enhanced the spectacle of Narnia, and I liked the 3-D in Narnia more then in Alice in Wonderland or Avatar. But that’s just me. Fact is the movie going public is going to get sick of 3-D, just like they got sick of all the movies after The Matrix that had the Matrix-style fight scenes. After a while the novelty of the effect wears off and people look for something new. It maybe wise not to do it in 3-D, unless it’s necessary to the story you are trying to tell. Otherwise, make your movie THE MUST SEE 2-D event of the Holiday season! Something to consider.
8. Have bad reviews ever stopped you before? No. X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine got horrible reviews from fans and critiques alike. And yet X-Men: First Class is set to go head to head with Warner Brothers Green Lantern this summer. Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakuel was blasted left and right and yet, there is a third film in the works. So don’t give up on Narnia because critics hated it.
9. Stick to it! I know you’ve expressed interest in films of The Screwtape Letters and in The Great Divorce, all by CS Lewis. But, before you do those, please, fulfill the commitment to Narnia first. In the long run it’ll help those films as well. General movie goers may be more inclined to see them after Narnia as they’ll be a bit more familiar with the Lewis name. Plus, Fans of Narnia may be more willing to support those projects if you fulfilled your commitment to Narnia.
10 . Movie trailers- I’m not talking about how you market your movie. I’m talking about the ones attached to Narnia. Sometimes those can be an extra incentive. It has been well noted that the movie Meet Joe Black did so well because it had the first teaser spot for Star Wars Episode I, and people paid to see the movie just for that trailer. I’m not sure what other big films will be coming out, but it may be worth looking into. Sure, this time you had Transformers, but what? No X-Men: First Class? The movies stars the once and future Mr. Tumnus, James McAvoy, as the young Professor Charles Francis Xavier and it’s released by your studio! It would have been perfect!
11. Don’t wait to long! It would be nice to see The Silver Chair before Will Poulter starts looking at Universities or Liam Neeson starts drawing a retirement pension. So please, in the words of Larry the Cable Guy, “get ‘er done!”
12. No Tilda. Don’t get me wrong, I love Tilda Swinton as the White Witch, but that is only as The White Witch. Do not cast her as the Lady of the Green Kirtle. Yes, there is a small segment of Narnia fans who believe they are the same person but most fans and scholars (and even Douglas Gresham) say she is a different person. Give the roll to some one else. Please. With a cherry on top.
So in closing I really hope to hear an announcement from you soon as to The Silver Chair being Greenlit, and that the movie will be made soon. Thank you again for your time.
-For Narnia and For Aslan,
Jonathon Svendsen
NarniaFans.com
*Fun fact, Zorro is actually Spanish for Fox.