Comments on: Prince Caspian: Why did it lose the box office throne?

By: Sense of Wonder: 2008 Box Office for Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films | Cinefantastique Online

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 22:59:32 +0000

[...] THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN: $141. 6-million. Though argualby better than its predecessor, this film failed to match the [...]

By: Laserblast Home Video Releases | Cinefantastique Online

Laserblast Home Video Releases | Cinefantastique Online — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 01:34:30 +0000

[...] should please their fans now that they are available on home video. The e-ticket item is certainly THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN, which somehow was tagged as a financial failure despite earning well over $100-million (admittedly [...]

By: John T. Stanhope

John T. Stanhope — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:38:10 +0000

I’d like to thank Dennis & Steve for their thoughtful comments. A summer release for this particular film was one of my concerns for its robust success as well.

I do agree with Dennis on his points. The problem is that the weaknesses he prescribes to CASPIAN, I prescribed to WARDROBE more so. As with every battle scene in every STAR WARS film that followed THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, I felt that WARDROBE made every non-main character (specifically anyone involved in battle) little more that cardboard cutouts. Though there was no grand improvement in that regard on the second film, I did feel that its makers did grow a bit in that area. Also, the second time around characters weren’t as cute or likeable in many ways, but I did feel that they were more complex. I also found the three main villians intersting (especially the reluctant general) and interestingly cast. That was an important element for me.

By: Dennis Fischer

Dennis Fischer — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:25:09 +0000

As someone who preferred THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE to PRINCE CASPIAN, the main thing that struck me about CASPIAN was the paucity of characterization. The original film didn’t offer us deep characters, but they were given very definite personality traits and we came to care about them.

The new film has many accomplished action scenes and battle scenes, but unfortunately they don’t seem to me to have a lot of impact as, apart from Reepicheep, none of the characters demonstrate much personality, so if one gets hurt in battle, there isn’t much of an emotional investment. Visually, this is a very accomplished film, but when basic storytelling is skimped on in favor of spectacle, the film suffers.

By: Steve Biodrowski

Steve Biodrowski — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:02:35 +0000

Just want to add something gleaned from this Variety article: Before PRINCE CASPIAN came out, studio tracking predicted that the film skewed slightly older than its predecessor. The belief was that this meant it would reach a broader audience and possibly outperform THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE.

Also, in a Hollywood Reporter article (Iger: 'Caspian' release date a mistake"), Disney CEO Roger Iger blamed the May 16 release date, which fell between IRON MAN and INDIANA JONES.

The original idea was to release PRINCE CASPIAN in December 2007, but they held off to avoid competition with THE WATER HORSE!

Still, PRINCE CASPIAN has made over $200-million worldwide. It may be a disappointment compared to expectations, but it is not doing badly.