The Slow Death of The Chronicles of Narnia Franchise

Disney placed a huge bet on CS Lewis with 2005's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and it really paid off...until it didn't. In this video, I go over the franchise, including Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, to get to the heart of what went wrong with these movies.

[Thetarget]

When you look at the original Narnia movie it seems like a fairly recent movie, but when you see the graphics for the game you realise just how long ago it was...

[ReeKii]

but no one can take away the fact that Aslan and the white witch were so perfectly played in the movies. they're just so iconic.

[Guigley]

Tilda Swinton was such a great piece of casting as the Witch. She is genuinely intimidating.

[rugger]

I think it worth mentioning that Disney also messed up badly with the Percy Jackson series. Which to me had the ability to be Harry Potter-esque as the source material did center around the same characters, was a more modern fantasy story, etc . Live-action fantasy just doesn’t seem to be what Disney is good at.

[boyesjoe-joe]

The irony is that the books are the perfect length for film adaptations, unlike Harry Potter and LoTR

[platypusbunneh]

This cgi lion (Aslan) is better than any single shot in the live-action "Lion King" could ever be.

[Niinque]

I was about Lucy’s age when I watched the first Narnia movie. The idea that a wardrobe could lead you to a magical world where you could befriend fantasy creatures, fight battles and become a queen was so amazing and magical to me. There is no other movie that makes me feel the same kind of ~longing~. Also, I think the film’s music score is really underrated. It invokes a perfect mixture of wonder, nostalgia and otherworld-ness

[kurisari]

The first Narnia movie was too “complete” for me personally. An amazing stand-alone film, great story and actors and cinematography. I never read the books— don’t stone me— so as a child, I could only ever see the film as one whole tale. Had you told me there are more novels, I wouldn’t have expected it.

[ZekeFreek]

It feels like Disney should've actually finished reading the books before making this commitment lol

[thermalreboot]

My favorite line of Dawn Treader is "“There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.”

[limitlessbianca]

Due to the recent "live action" version of Lion King, I'm surprised Disney made such "lifeless" lions. Aslan felt so real and alive, even by today's CG standard! I absolutely love Narnia and I always waited for the sequels. I think now I can only hope that a studio will pick it up and do it properly, even if it means waiting for many years (then I also hope I'll still be alive hahah).

[justcody]

How many Edmunds read Edmund's story, and came away from it never wanting to be an Edmund? One of the best character arcs in children's fiction.

[gskyon]

Disney was unhappy that two of the biggest franchises at the time didn't belong to them, and when they failed to make a sucessful movie to follow the ongoing trend they learned their lesson, and proceeded to buy every single pop culture company, franchise, copyrights and studios known to man. You can't be left out of a trend if you own all the trends.

[KatieLHall-fyhw]

They should reboot with “The Magician’s Nephew” or “The Horse and his boy” would work fine. Have “the silver chair” be the weird 3rd one and then get the original kids back for the finale

[crimson_sky]

The people aren’t the main characters of Narnia,

Narnia is the main Character

[jp]

Pirates of the Caribbean was already Disney's most successful live action fantasy franchise of the 2000s. They just thought that they could pull off two of them side-by-side.

[kayday]

"The horse and his boy" as well as "The magician's nephew" would have been great as stand alone movies

[Chidsuey]

"How can we make this just like all the others" is the death of every adaptation.

[HordrissTheConfuser]

The duel between High King Peter and King Miraz is amazing. I love how it starts off energetic and flashy, and gets progressively dirtier and more desperate. They also used clever camera movement to increase the violence without actually showing it onscreen.

[davfree]

If Narnia ever wants to be a full fledged series... They have to start with 'The Magician's Nephew' and tell the creation story of Narnia... But they never will because The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe is too iconic compared to a boy and girl with magic rings who jump into puddles and travel to other worlds.