Posted on 12/12/2005 9:13:07 AM PST by truthandlife
The movie version of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe has topped the UK box office with takings of £8 million in its opening weekend, figures showed today.
The adaptation of the CS Lewis classic is the biggest UK opening for a Disney film - beating previous record-holder Toy Story 2.
In the US, box office takings of 67.1 million dollars (£37.8 million) made it the second highest December opening of all time behind the final Lord Of The Rings film.
O
Worldwide, The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe took 108.8 million US dollars (£61.4 million) and went straight to number one in 14 countries.
The 150 million-dollar (£84.6 million) movie features Tilda Swinton as the White Witch and Liam Neeson as the voice of Aslan the lion.
It has also boosted sales of the Narnia books - the tie-in version of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe sold more than 42,000 copies in the lead-up to the film's release and is the UK's number one children's paperback.
The Chronicles Of Narnia are a Christian allegory, with Aslan representing Christ.
Disney has promoted the film to the religious Right in the US, and in the UK churches have bought tickets in bulk to give out to parishioners.
The world premiere was held last week, with the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall in attendance.
In US, many churches and Christian groups screened the movie on Thursday, a day before the official opening on Friday. I don't think the $67m over the weekend included this number.
Well, what can I say except, YEEEEEE-HAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!! I'm trying hard to wait until my birthday (New Year's Eve) to see it, but I'm weakening!
Just out of curiosity, anyone know if the overseas markets got the same version of the film the US market did? Just curious.
Nice to see churches in other countries doing this as well.
I guess those forces trying to make the film seem sinister because it was "too religious" failed. Again.
That's certainly good news... It shows it has strength beyond the "Christian" market in America, which also means it may have better "legs" that the Passion of the Christ, which did not play so well in secular Western Europe, and did not have "legs." (Of course, The Passion of The Christ WAS still far more successfully internationally than anyone would have dreamt; I simply mean it was no way near it's record-shattering open-day US strength.)
But just for comparison, I'm guessing 8 million pounds is what, about 14 million dollars? Harry Potter IV made $25 million; Wallace and Gromit made $17.
It'll be interesting to see how Latin America and East Asia like Narnia... Father Christmas giving arms to children?
BTW, I am totally pulling for it to do fantastically. I am very pleased they spent so much money ($180 million) doing it right, but it HAS to do VERY, very well to make a profit (likely $300 -$400 million internationally); and if it doesn't make a huge profit, I'm not sure I'll get treated to further installments.
"Prince Caspian," the second book, is probably no-one's favorite, and I believe it's definitely the blandest, but "The Voyage of the Dawn-Treader," the third book, is definitely the most vivid. Aside from the fact that it is the longest and the most episodic, it'd probably make for the best movie.
A lot of people seem to like "A Horse and His Boy." (#4) I had a seven-volume set as a Christmas present, and my brother lost that one, so I haven't read it and re-read it so often. Chronologically, it takes place before the end of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, when the children are grown. Buth the children are not grown in Prince Caspain (#2) or the Dawn-Treader (#3), and, well, they need to be filmed while little Georgie is still a tyke. But if I were doing these animated, I'd be tempted to squeeze it in.
Dawn Treader will be the Gem if done right. Possibilities are endless.
Minor nit-pick... "Horse" is #5, #4 is "The Silver Chair".
Of course... that's still about Prince Caspian!
Ha-ha! Spoiler!
Come to think of it, who should play Prince Caspian? I used to think Carey Elwes would be good, and he's finally gotten the chance to show the world that he is a fine actor (John Paul II). But now he's too old and heavy.
(Give Elwes his due; he never stumbled over the dialog in "the Princess Bride." If not for his heroicly fine job that movie would be known not for its brilliantly playful language, but for its impossibly mental language.)
I picture Caspain as tall, thin and smooth; "princely" of course, but just slightly awkward enough that he seems not-quite-ready-for-prime-time, while still projecting that he WILL be a great king.
Hmmm... Everyone I know of as a good actor is too old... Orlando Bloom, Johnnie Depp, William H. Macey (kidding). Joaquin Pheonix... I don't KNOW the young guys, except for the comedies. And Ashton Kutcher is NOT going to be Prince Caspian.
... except for short guys, like Tobey Maguire, the hobbits, etc.
Keep the good news coming! I'm beginning to believe that Christian-themed movies can bring good returns...
I heard the head of Walden movies state that Prince Caspian is the next one and it sounded as if production was already beginning.
Well, I don't know. In Europe we normally get the better version (all the good bits that get edited out for American audiences still in) ;-)
Seriously (although, that was serious- many films get cut for Americans), it's a movie for kids. I doubt they would've made the versions different for Americans or Europeans. There wasn't any sex in the version they showed here in the UK anyway. Bunch of kids went through the back of a wardrobe and wind up in a snowy forest with a really bitchy woman who turns people into stone. A lion gets whacked but comes back to life. The bitchy woman winds up getting whacked by the lion. The kids go back through the wardrobe into the regular world afterwards.
That sound like the US version?
You forgot that Centaur...he ROCKED!
And...(spoiler alert)
Beavers in Chain Mail!
Maybe people actually enjoy stories and characters instead of obligatory cleavage, good cussin', and guns that never need reloading.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.