Roaaaarrrrrr! The growl of the magnificent lion, Aslan, scares away the evilest of the evil witches and warms the heart of the bravest of brave souls. In the lands of Narnia. And that is where the audience will be taken back this weekend. Not exactly in the lands, rather on the waters. The third movie of the Narnia series, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, brings back two of the Pevensies, Edmund and Lucy, to the magical worlds where they had ruled once as Kings and Queens. In this adventure they join Prince Caspian on the ship Dawn Treader to locate seven lost lords of Narnia. With of course the ever-present Aslan to guide them, whenever required.
The first movie enactment of these tales of C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, was released in 2005 and turned to be such a huge success that it could have been easily compared with the Harry Potter saga at an initial glance. The movie grossed $292 million in the US and $749 million worldwide and easily paved the way for at least a trilogy. But things went wrong with the second film of the series, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. While the Pevensie siblings returned to Narnia to help Prince Caspian regain his rightful place as the King, the movie however lost its own way somewhere and could manage only about half of the revenues of its predecessor. A mediocre $142 million at the US box office and earnings of $420 million worldwide was deemed unsatisfactory on a production budget of $225 million and this made the distributors Walt Disney Pictures skeptical about the project. So when it came to tackle the third film in the series, Disney stepped away from the lands of Narnia and in came 20th Century Fox to carry the franchise forward.
The production budget is said to be $140 million for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and with it falls a grave responsibility on the shoulders of this movie. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis holds in totality seven tales, and for future projects to see the day of light, it would be imperative for the Dawn Treader to fight the tides and post in strong numbers. While a success similar to that of the first movie would be out of reach, numbers in line with the second could ensure more movie adaptations about the Narnian lands and its adventures. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader should take the top spot for the weekend at the US box office though as Tangled would enter its third week and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 would be in its fourth. All said and done, maybe more movies on Narnia should be made just to get another glimpse of the gigantic Aslan and the stirring voice behind it of Liam Neeson. Maybe there is still another roar left. Rooooaaaaaaarrrrrrr!
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