This may come as a shock to you, but Iron Man and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull are pretty popular movies. Apparently, that was big news to Disney CEO Robert Iger, who should really know better. He says one reason The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is doing poorly in comparison to expectations is that the competition was just too strong.
Iger made this admission at a conference in New York, as reported by HR. While it’s hard to argue with that logic, it begs the question of what Iger and the folks at Disney expected when they decided to release their movie on May 16th. Did they not expect Indy would be pulling in the crowds? Why didn’t the suits release the film around the holidays, like the first movie, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe? That movie, which garnered critical reviews similar to Prince Caspian, pulled in $745 million worldwide. Prince Caspian will be lucky to hit half that.
I’ve seen Prince Caspian, Indiana Jones, and Iron Man, so it is possible to work all three into your busy schedule. There are probably other reasons the movie has been lagging, but it doesn’t excuse Disney from the mistake that was made in scheduling. They should have known it was going to be a hard slog against tough competition. Seeing as the next Narnia movie is scheduled for release in May 2010, maybe they haven’t quite learned their lesson.
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My guess is that even though he knew Indy would be huge he didn't think that Indy would play as strongly to the family crowd as it has.
The really huge problem from a marketing standpoint though with this film is just how violent it is especially when compared to its predecessor; it's PG but it should have been PG-13 and it's not even on the edge either. I couldn't imagine a parent wanting to take a kid under 11 or 12 to this movie if they knew how violent it was.
I agree that they messed up with the marketing. It looks too violent for the fantasy family film set, and it's still Narnia, so it's possibly unlikely that groups of older teens are going to get together and see it (recalling the classic SNL Digital Short). Plus it's well over 2 hrs long, which can keep parents away. If they make #3: a) keep it under 2 hrs, b) target the family market, and c) release it around the holidays.
Its very simple, really, why PC did poorly at the box office compared to the first Narnia movie Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.
All of the loyal narnia fans, called by Andrew "fanatics" were extremely disappointed with the film. We "fanatics" either watched it only once (got very upset, and did NOT spend hundreds of dollars to take all our friends&family to see it as we did for LWW.) or we boycotted it entirely after seeing some clips and hearing the plot from our friends.
They mangled Peter. They mangled Susan. They mangled Caspian. They mangled the Telmarines. And they mangled Aslan. For starters...if they wanted action...there was the whole Miraz-usurping-the-throne deal when Caspian was a small child. There was also the mysterious reason for why Susan is losing her faith throughout the book. There is Peter's character, which exemplifies sanctification and faith, especially when he fights the duel. It would NOT have made a poor movie. There was ALOT there.
But Adamson scrapped all those themes for a teeny-bopper action flick. Whoever wrote the script had no idea what true faith was. Romance was portrayed as a temporary/irresponsible/hormonal thing (no sense of restraint, self-control, or faithfulness). And of course, Hollywood can't stand a real male hero leader, so Peter had to be mangled into "just one of us". Well, it didn't do as well as LWW, which actually stayed true to the themes of the book.
Because there really was so much depth/meaning/symbolism/inner struggle going on in the book. But the scriptwriters were blockheads.
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This may come as a shock to you, but Iron Man and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull are pretty popular movies. Apparently, that was big news to Disney CEO Robert Iger, who should really know better. He says one reason The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is doing poorly in comparison to expectations is that the competition was just too strong.
May 29th, 2008 at 18:53
My guess is that even though he knew Indy would be huge he didn't think that Indy would play as strongly to the family crowd as it has.
The really huge problem from a marketing standpoint though with this film is just how violent it is especially when compared to its predecessor; it's PG but it should have been PG-13 and it's not even on the edge either. I couldn't imagine a parent wanting to take a kid under 11 or 12 to this movie if they knew how violent it was.