The next chapter of The Chronicles of Narnia may have gotten off to a rough start, being abandoned by Disney before Fox sailed in to save the franchise, but it’s headed for smoother waters now. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader has gotten a new projected release date and will be sailing into theaters in December of 2010.
Variety reports on the new date, specifically December 10th, 2010, and notes that this returns the Narnia franchise to the winter season. The first movie in the series, the popular The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe made its debut in December of 2005 and did quite well. I think this was a combination of the family-friendly holiday season along with it being the most popular book of the saga. Releasing the second chapter, Prince Caspian, in the summer proved to be less successful. Again, was it the season or the title being less popular?
I think winter is a good time for this series, although I can’t help but think the box office draws are going to go down from here. Each subsequent book is less popular with most people. I know I’ve commented that I tend to lose interest about halfway through Dawn Treader, when most of the familiar characters from the previous chapters start to fade out. We’ll see if it winds up being the same for the movie franchise, but I think Fox may have picked up something less successful than they hoped for.
