Disney CEO Faults Release Date for CASPIAN

yup thats what i was thinking when i saw the release for this movie... to me, it just felt like it should have been released in and around Thanksgiving/Christmas time... that'll learn ya!!

I agree, I think Speed Racer would have likely bombed no matter when it was released. Prince Caspian could have performed much better if it had been released as the big fantasy epic of last Christmas season (clearly The Golden Compass didn't fulfill that role, at least not in North America). The Water Horse - which I thought was a terrific little fantasy movie - probably would have also fared better if it had been rescheduled for a less competetive time of the year, like February, when family movies are in short supply.

It's not because it was a bad movie or anything? 150 mil wah! Sounds like a pity party.

I agree with dazzler...how much were they expecting? Does anyone know the budget?

The budget is listed at $200 million, so thats why there knickers are all in a twist.... I saw the first one in the theater, but not this one,,,maybe later on, but too much other good stuff to see.

'pity party'? as much as you want to think of movies as being pieces of Art, they're a business. a movie like this is supposed to make them buckets of money. it's not that the movie won't turn a profit - between merchandising, dvd sales, and over-seas box office, it will. But, it won't come close to it 'should' have made. so, this isn't a 'pity party' as much as it is 'damage control'. it was a very poor business decision, and has cost Disney possibly hundreds of million dollars - and someone should be fired over it, just as someone would get fired from any other job for making a blunder like this

Yep, budget of $200M (first one was $180M). It's not bombing, but so far it's tracking about 15% behind what the first movie made in its first two weekends. I don't believe Iger is whining, but explaining why the movie isn't doing as well as the first one - and his analysis is spot-on in this case.

I know Disney will complete the first three Narnia movies, but the fate of the last four will be very much up in the air if Disney isn't happy with the returns on the sequels.

I personnaly don't see a reason to do Dawn Treader. Of the three of the series that I've read it is easily the poorest entry. If Disney does decide to pin it's hopes for the franchise on Dawn Treader, they need to seriously revamp the story. If not, it will sink to the bottom of the Eastern Seas.

I have been screaming about this since last year, when Spidey, Shrek and Pirates were all released in May. It worked last year but it was a gamble. Too many big budget films being released so close to each other is nuts. You invest upwards of 150 mil and yet don't give your film at least two weeks with no or little competition? So unless it opens huge it's going to be hard to recoup because the next week something else big is opening.Not to mention families that for example after seeing IronMan probably didn't want to go right back to the theater and spend all that money on Speed Racer.Space these movies out, is for the better.

snally, is bombing. make no mistakes about it. It dropped almost 60% the second weekend (the most by far of the top ten) and IM is almost pulling in the same money even though is been out 4 weeks.

I'm glad for selfish reasons... one less movie to fight the crowds and smelly tourists (we live outside a gambling mecca)... I will be the big Fat DVD version and quietly enjoy at home with the family... and a glass of beer, not in a paper cup, but a glass of beer.