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Jan7
No ‘Narnia’ or ‘Compass’ sequels
"The Chronicles of Narnia's" Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson) may have let out his final roar on film.
If you are one of the Chronicles of Narnia enthusiasts who thinks book three, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, was the best of the C.S. Lewis series, you can stop waiting for your cinematic ship to sail . . . at least from Disney.
Over the holidays, the Mouse announced it will not pick up its option to co-produce more films from the Narnia series with Walden Media. The studio said in a faltering economy it had to be choosier about the films it produced. Last summer’s Prince Caspian, the second in the Narnia series, was considered a disappointment after the success of the first film in the franchise, 2005’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which doubled Caspian’s domestic box office gross of $141.6 million, according to Box Office Mojo.
News was no better for another fantasy franchise, The Golden Compass, as Warner Bros. Pictures passed on producing its sequel after a disappointing performance by the first film over the 2007 hoiliday season.
It doesn't look like Dakota Blue Richards will get to reprise her role as Lyra in "The Golden Compass" sequel. Photo by Laurie Sparham | New Line.
We often complain Hollywood makes too many sequels, however these are two a lot of people wanted to see. But it doesn’t seem enough people were interested to justify the expense of more CGI-heavy epics.
Both cases illustrate why it’s hard to build a literary-based franchise.
They were all the rage earlier this decade, as the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter series swept into theaters, wowing viewers and leaving them itching for the next installments. As with any success, Hollywood wanted more, and the Narnia and Golden Compass series seemed like logical places to turn. Narnia has long fascinated readers, particularly Christians who had been flexing some financial muscle in the entertainment industry with successes such as The Passion of the Christ and a growing audience for contemporary Christian music. And Compass was from author Philip Pullman’s hit His Dark Materials series.
If the stories did as well on screen as they did on the page, Disney and New Line Cinema, Compass‘ original home, had built in tentpoles for several blockbuster seasons to come, like Potter and Rings.
But there were flaws with each series.
Lion, Witch was always the most popular book in the Narnia series, with its fanciful story and strong Christ metaphor in Aslan, the lion who sacrifices himself to atone for the sin of another. The audience for the other books has always been smaller, and since Lion, Witch is a tidy, self-contained story, it did not compel people to come back. (Variety did hint Tuesday that 20th Century Fox may come to Narnia’s rescue.) The Rings films are all critical components of one story, and with its school year frames, the Potter series naturally keeps people coming back for each tale and the larger narrative of Harry vs. Voldermort.
The Golden Compass‘ problems in many ways stemmed from some people in Narnia’s audience. The Dark Materials trilogy is seen by many readers as anti-Christian and distinctly anti-Catholic. Evangelical Christians and Catholics raised a stink about the first film, and when it was released, many fans of the Dark Materials series complained the anti-religious tone of the books was too toned down.
Compass‘ $70 million domestic box office take was so disastrous, it is widely cited as a final straw in the demise of New Line Cinema, which was absorbed by Warner Bros. last year. Though the story naturally calls for a follow up, Warners inherited a good excuse not to tackle the two even more controversial Compass sequels.
Pair these sorts of factors with a faltering economy, and those precious green lights start turning yellow and red, and the message is no sequel is safe.
Even Potter?
Harry Potter screenwriter Steve Kloves recently raised hackles on the Intent hinting that Warner Bros. might be getting cold feet about producing the final chapter of the Potter franchise, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (which is being split into two movies for release during the 2010 holidays and summer of 2011), because Potter scribe J.K. Rowling is no longer writing books to drive anticipation for the movies.
Considering the last Potter, The Order of the Phoenix, made more than $900 million in global box office receipts, it seems this summer’s Half-Blood Prince would have to lay a major egg to scuttle the grand finale — but don’t take that to the bank.
7 Responses to “No ‘Narnia’ or ‘Compass’ sequels”
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A major problem with the Narnia movies is that the failed to establish their own identities, particularly “Prince Caspian,” which on the screen came off as nothing more than “Lord of the Rings Lite.” Peter Jackson created a rich, visual world with the LOTR movies, and the Narnia franchise looked like someplace you pass on the way to Mordor. (I realize that might be among the nerdiest things I’ve ever written, but I take comfort knowing Led Zeppelin wrote many songs about LOTR.)
I also hated the way some of the “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” producers/marketers skirted the Christianity issue prior to its release, with several people saying Aslan was not intended to be a Jesus figure. I had my doubts about that, especially after the lion sacrificed himself to save the world and then rose again on the third day. “The Passion of the Christ” was more subtle in its religious imagery.
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Charles Edward Pogue January 7th, 2009 at 9:31 am
Rich, it’s Philip Pullman, not Bill Pullman, the actor.
One of the problems these movies have for me is their open-endings, where a film is not complete in itself and plot strands are left floating and unknit until the next movie. I still have not been able to watch the last Pirates of the Caribbean movie because of characters I didn’t remember from the last film, plots strands and exposition that cannot be easily summarized at the beginning of a film, and agendas carried over from the last film that I can’t follow.
With something like the Golden Compass where the mythology is very complex, it makes it hard for one of a series of films to work as a stand-alone movie. They would actually work better as event mini-series on HBO or something where all their darkness, complexity, and richness doesn’t have to be compromised. I was fortunate to see the Royal National Theatre’s two-part, six-hour stage production of Pullman’s His Dark Materials (which includes the Golden Compass and the rest of the trilogy) and it was one of the most mesmerizing theatrical experiences of my life.
This phenomenon of cliff-hanging incomplete movie endings, predicated on seeing the sequel, began with George Lucas and Star Wars and has irritated me for a long time. I think you must give the customer their money’s worth and that means a complete story in and of itself, that stands alone.
That’s why HARRY POTTER works better than most of the others of this ilk. While each story may be part of a bigger, over-all fabric, each tale is complete in itself, resolving the essential conflict of the individual narrative. The reason Tarzan, James Bond, and the Thin Man sequels worked so well over the years was each film was one story in their adventures…no waiting two or three years to find out what happened.
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Rich Copley January 7th, 2009 at 10:08 am
Thanks Chuck. You are the honorary copy editor for the day.
You’re absolutely right about the phenomenon of the incomplete film — that was always my gripe about “The Empire Strikes Back,” that it didn’t stand alone. Maybe these unceremoniously canceled series will bring an end to making movies where the sequel is presumed. Assuming no one picks up the “Dark Materials” franchise, that’s one of the things that will be sad about “The Golden Compass” (which you’re right, laid on a lot of thick mythology): It won’t be seen as complete, because the end is so open. Then again, maybe that will drive people to read more.
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I didn’t much care for the Harry Potter movies. I have read the first 3 books and they were much better than the movie’s so it would not have been much of a disapointment if they discontinued that, I wish they would have done that instead of what their current choice is, to eliminate any creativity in the world starting first by taking away a movie series that would have been so great and that is just the start of it. It is getting worse religion pushers are getting worse and infesting itself in hollywood soon we will all be forced to go to church and worship something that not all may believe in. Is that fair…really?. I do not understand why they even bothered making the 1st Philip Pullman based movie (The Golden Compass) if they were not going to continue by “pussing out” because they cannot stand up for themselves, they just bent over and took it. I have read all of the Philip Pullman books and they are a great read and I would have loved to see more movies, but of course “someone” (being the christians) always have to have a problem, why can they not just look at it as a great movie with adventure, love, friendship and not as a movie all about the hate of god? The message that they claim was so strong in the movie was not I had no clue there was any anti-god messages until i looked on the internet at all of the crazy people obbsessing over something so stupid they look into everything as some kind of hit at god, no one would have known or thought anything less of god by watching the movie for what it is and that is a good movie. It is dispointing to know that some people have are still overly god crazy and must ruin everything for everyone else. The “god” community finds a need to take everything away that is interesting and daring because it is not what they see fit. If we were to listen to all of that then we would still be writing letters in the mail and sending them through the pony express and there would be no internet or creativity or much of anything. My point is that if you were to watch it for what it was, a movie, and not add anyone’s own miss guided interpretation of it as anti-christian then it would be what it was, just a simple awesome action packed movie for all ages. I really hope they reconsider and make the sequel. I must also add that I am in no way an atheist or whatever it is that they claim this movie is trying to revert them to. I do believe in god and this movie in no way changed my view I am not a satan whorshipper. You can believe in god and still watch this movie because that is all it is… A MOVIE!
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I forgot to add why is there no complaints or “freak outs” about TWIGHLIGHT they are advertising that to the younger generation much more than the golden compass was I cannot go anywhere without seeing something about that movie. It is far worse they have clearly hinted at killing and there is “sin” all over that movie a young couple that is not married and they are attached to eachothers faces the whole time. oh and no one is going to church in that movie they’d burn alive it also shows that to their favorite characters cross’s are BAD. I guess I just do not understand why they chose to single out that one movie and ruin any chance of more sequels.
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The people who stomped all over this movie (The Golden Compass and all of the great sequels that would have come) must not truly have faith in their god if they think that one movie is going to corrupt everything.
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brittani November 14th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
I am a christian, and I agree with the comments that have been made on this site. I don’t think one movie will corrupt the whole world, or a series of books for that matter. I have read HIS DARK MATERIALS and loved it! I can’t wait for THE SUBTLE KNIFE movie! THE GOLDEN COMPASS ending (the movie) was so open-ended, that it sort of forced me to go out and buy the books. Pullman is a literary genius and people need to stop reading so much into things (no pun intended).
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