popular thinking

REACTIONS TO NARNIA

Working down the street from the HQ of Walden Media comes in handy when the company produces a blockbuster movie. To wit...

‘Narnia’ roars to the top (Boston Herald)
Boston-based Walden Media wasn’t sure how to celebrate after its latest movie, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, vanquished its box-office competition last weekend.
“This is bigger than anything we’ve ever experienced,” said Walden President Micheal Flaherty.
The $65 million opening, better than any 2005 movie after Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, also bested all previous Walden Media adaptations of children’s books.
Narnia is based on the best-selling C.S. Lewis book.
“We’re all just sort of stunned,” Flaherty said. ”A pleasant surprise for me — I thought we were hosed on Friday from that blizzard.”
Local figures weren’t available, but nationwide exit polling led Walden and its co-producer, Walt Disney Pictures, to believe audiences were split equally between families and adults.
Anecdotal evidence suggested the movie’s Christian themes drew many churchgoers, but Flaherty said weekday figures will show whether school field trips also turn out in force.
Last year, Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ earned $370 million — thanks in large measure to attendance by church groups. Narnia employed similar Christian marketing efforts.
Chuck Viane, head of Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, said releasing Narnia before King Kong and the rest of the Christmas fare allowed the movie to establish a foothold.
Last weekend’s positive momentum “bodes well” for the remainder of the month and into 2006, Viane said yesterday.
Kong, which opens tomorrow, should reign this week.
But Dergarabedian and Viane believe the competition will spur both films to king-sized grosses.