THE WEEKEND BUZZ ON NARNIA, PART 3?
COOL 3D EFFECTS. EXCITING FOR ALL AGES. NOT AS BIG AS POTTER.
NOT AS POTENT AS POTTER: ReadTheSpirit attended a midnight opening of “Dawn Treader” in a nearly empty theater. For the earlier Harry Potter midnight debut, the same sprawling, suburban cineplex was sold out—every theater in the place—to thousands of eager fans. Now, don’t misunderstand that first-night report. The first two Narnia movies in this new series produced healthy revenues worldwide. However, the Disney company watched their second film’s revenue decline, when compared with the first film’s huge success—and Disney pulled back from this third movie. Walden Media, which has a strong religious motivation in choosing movie projects, went on to produce “Dawn Treader” without Disney and Fox is distributing it.
Bottom line for fans: This means the Narnia movie series really is at a turning point. What you do—and millions of potential viewers do with your entertainment dollars—will determine whether there are future Narnia movies.
Of course, Disney’s original hope that Narnia could become a Harry Potter hit machine was naive. There’s nothing like the generational wave of Harry. (Click here to visit our Harry Potter Central page for news, photos and stories about the spiritual side of Harry Potter books and films.)
NARNIA IS STILL VERY EXCITING FOR ALL AGES: Hollywood news reports predict that Narnia ticket sales will top the boxoffice list this weekend—and that’s a key test if any future big-budget Narnia films are going to come our way. Chief competition this weekend is the new Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie action movie, “The Tourist.” If you care about Narnia movies—and we know that many of our readers do care—then go see “Dawn Treader” this weekend! Think of it as voting for future directions in media.
It’s a well-told tale of adventure and heroism. No question—the movie is exciting and the 3D special effects are cool! As a lifelong Narnia fan, we appreciate how closely this Michael Apted production has followed the traditional Narnia illustrations. You’ll be gripping your seat in the climactic scenes. And, of course, Aslan springs to life in stirring form, complete with Liam Neeson’s god-like voice.
C.S. LEWIS IS ALIVE AND WELL WORLDWIDE. ENJOY THESE STORIES!
A YEAR WITH ASLAN: We share an excerpt from the new book, “A Year with Aslan,” which gives you 365 short Narnia stories to enjoy through the new year.
C.S. LEWIS BIBLE: Lewis is a best-selling author to this day because he wrote far more than his famous fantasy series. The new “C.S. Lewis Bible” collects hundreds of short excerpts from Lewis’ writing and sprinkles these inspirational thoughts through the pages of a new Bible that’s great for daily devotional reading.
MEET THE GUYS BEHIND THE BOOKS: Learn more about the creative team keeping Lewis’ spiritual writing alive for his millions of fans around the world.
FREE STUFF FOR TEACHERS: With this story, we provide a link for teachers to download a free, full-color curriculum to explore issues in the “Dawn Treader” with students.
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(Originally published at readthespirit.com)