Research Report: Emulating Fantasy Franchise Success

By Ricky Miller, Book-to-Film Franchise Project Team

Abstract

     Due to the difficulty in pre-determining the commercial viability of a proposed film franchise, many film production companies opt to recreate the proven success of established franchises. This article, written by Ronald Grover for Bloomberg BusinessWeek Magazine, is an analysis of the direct correlation between the Harry Potter film series' successes and the impetus behind the creation Chronicles of Narnia film series. Throughout the article, Grover examines the financial and ideological intentions that led to Narnia film series being envisioned as a competitor and alternative to the Harry Potter series. 

Description  

     Longtime media and entertainment industry correspondent for Bloomberg BusinessWeek Magazine Ronald Grover wrote the article "The Lion, the Witch, and the Franchise"  in late 2005, shortly before the release of the first installment in the Chronicles of Narnia film series. Adapting the 1950 book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, the film of the same name aimed to capitalize on the youth-centric fantasy genre audience that the Harry Potter film series had established in recent years. Grover opens his article by noting the delay between the initial proposal of a Narnia film franchise, around the late 1990s, and its realization in 2005.  He also mentions that the main reason Anschutz Film Group pushed for a Chronicles of Narnia film series was because the company's owner Phil Anschutz "was drawn by Namia's spiritual underpinnings" (Grover 63). He points out these two facts to establish a point early on that Narnia is moving forward due to the success of Harry Potter and to emphasize its more moral foundation. This leads into the driving question behind Grover's article: whether or not a film adaptation of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe can replicate the box office, marketing, and critical success of Harry Potter given the original book's Christian leanings. Branching from this question, Grover examines the necessary strategies in marketing and production to simultaneously capitalize on and downplay the religious material in the film to capture the same large audiences other blockbusters routinely brought in. 

     According to Grover, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was made by two distinct entities with two different intentions. Walden Media, a film production company and subsidiary of Anschutz Entertainment Group known for its family-friendly adaptations of children's literature, was interested in creating a blockbuster film with wholesome Christian values. Grover seems wary of using such a Christian-heavy film as the basis for a blockbuster film. He acknowledges the film, "a lightly disguised Christian allegory about four children," has great appeal to a certain demographic, but he also realizes that '"if Disney markets it too heavily as a Christian film, others may take a walk"' (64). To this point, Grover goes on to say that the other studio involved in the film's production and distribution, the Walt Disney Company, intended to use special effects driven spectacles to maximize audience appeal. The Walt Disney Co. wanted the draw of the film to be CGI-heavy battle sequences, the perceived strength of its competitor Harry Potter. Thus, rather than rely solely on story, story marketing, or book recognition, Disney increased the film's production budget to over $150 million for use in creating 1,600 special effects. 

     Ultimately, Grover, citing early reviews of the film, remains somewhat uncertain of the actual quality of the film. He argues that the heavy marketing is responsible the film's early positive reception. He mentions that "Disney marketers have courted every possible constituency" to entice a Christian crowd, video game players attracted to fantasy CGI, and typical families with children (64). After identifying the three target audiences, Grover cites specific actions taken by Disney to garner interest from each group. These actions include hiring "Christian-identified Motive Marketing, the firm that helped turn Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ into a hit, to hold Narnia screenings at churches" and allowing a reporting team from the popular video game-centered website IGN to visit Narnia's in New Zealand (64). Disney even distributed more than 100,000 copies of the books to teachers to further generate interest in the Narnia brand. Further, because Disney distributed 10 minutes of a special effects lade segment of the film to sci-fi fan websites, Grover indicates that the company was doing what it could to limit potential financial losses born out of Narnia's bloated budget. He ends the article by briefly mentioning the fact that the film had yet to be fully completed. He uses this endpoint to implicitly speculate whether Disney and Walden Media will be able to produce enough of a quality film to merit such heavy handed marketing, particularly given its subject matter and intentions.

Commentary 

     Grover's article is relevant to our project because he examines specific issues in the differences between a novel and a film franchise. Further, he analyzes certain goals the production team sought to address regarding appeal, message and tone, and franchiseability in comparison to the Harry Potter series. Because our group has largely decided, for the sake of this project, to accept the Harry Potter multi-media franchise as the standard for success, this analysis will allow us to focus on direct comparisons between the two series. We can also determine whether or not the Chronicles of Narnia series was successful in meeting its own financial and social goals by using web tools and internet databases to address the specific issues raised in the article. For example, we can use social media analysis to measure its success in reaching a Christian audience. However, because this article was written before the The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, it mostly serves as a starting point. It gives us a better idea of what to look for and analyze without answering the questions it raises. Also, this article focuses only on one film from the Narnia series and the whole of the Harry Potter series. Our group will have to theorize and validate more immediate direct relations between individual films in and across the two franchises.

Resources for Further Study

Clarke, Cath. "From Harry Potter to Narnia: The Pressure on Film Franchises to Perform". The Guardian. 9 Dec. 2010. Web. 23 Nov. 2014.

     <http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/dec/09/film-franchises-success-harry-potter-narnia>

Grover, Ronald. "The Lion, the Witch, And the Franchise." Bloomberg BusinessWeek Magazine. Bloomberg LP, 6 Nov. 2005. Web. 15 Nov. 2014.

     <http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2005-11-06/the-lion-the-witch-and-the-franchise>

McFarlene, Brian. Novel to Film: An Introduction to the Theory of Adaptation. Diss. 1996. Oxford: Clarendon, 1996. Print.

Novikov, Eugene. "'The Chronicles of Narnia' vs. 'Harry Potter': It's All in the Magic." The Moviefone Blog. AOL-HuffPost Entertainment, 13 Dec. 2010. Web. 23 Nov. 2014.      <http://news.moviefone.com/2010/12/13/the-chronicles-of-narnia-harry-potter-majic/>