‘Dawn Treader’ Awaits a Green Light from Disney
Production art for Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader will be seen on the DVD for Prince Caspian, due out on Tuesday, leading people to wonder if production is continuing on the third film in the series based on C.S. Lewis’ beloved novels.
Jim Hill Media did some speculating that Disney has not publicly mentioned the film for some time and it may need serious retooling before the project gets a green light.
The $200 million film earned tepid reviews and only $141,621,490 at North American box offices according to Box Office Mojo. Add in the $278,024,619 from overseas and the total take of $419,646,109 meant the film lost money, even with merchandising added in.
Hill notes that Disney thought the second film was a stronger production but audiences seemed to think otherwise and it got caught in the Iron Man love fest last May. For a third film to happen at all, the $140 million budget is being scaled back closer to $100 million and the planned location shooting in Malta, Iceland and Praguehas will be shifted to the water tanks of Mexico.
Should the DVD sell well next week, the green light will be expected to follow shortly. If so, the film can be ready for a Christmas 2010 slot, ceding the summer to the super-heroes.