Why Disney Pulled Out of 'Narnia'

Oooh.. this is such a juicy news report.

We all have heard on Disney's decision to pull out of the Narnia franchise. Most of us thought it was just a matter of the cost not justifying the box office receipts. But noooooo.... There's a lot more going on behind the scenes that we first heard, which cumulatively might be the main reason why Disney drops Narnia.

But what really derailed Disney's involvement with "Narnia" was a nasty feud between the studio and Anschutz, the real-estate baron and supporter of Christian conservative causes who seems to own half of America. Anschutz has a stake in or outright ownership of Regal Entertainment Group (the nation's biggest movie theater chain), Staples Center, the Kodak Theatre, the Los Angeles Galaxy, the L.A. Kings, London's Millennium Dome, a string of U.S. newspapers (including the San Francisco Examiner) and Walden Media, which has produced such films as "Journey to the Center of the Earth," "Nim's Island" and "Because of Winn-Dixie."

According to multiple sources, the once-close relationship between Disney and Walden began to unravel when, after the first "Narnia" film cleaned up at the box office, Anschutz essentially put a gun to Disney's head and demanded that the studio renegotiate its deal with Walden. Anschutz insisted that Disney either give back a sizable chunk of the studio's lucrative distribution fee or Anschutz would distribute the "Narnia" series on his own. Believing the franchise was too good to give up, Disney reluctantly changed the terms of its Walden deal, but the renegotiation poisoned relations between the two behemoths. When the second film faltered, there was so little goodwill left over that Disney had far fewer qualms about cutting its ties with the franchise.

Can I admit that I've never seen any of the Narnia movies? Honest! I have no good reason why. Just never got around to it, and never even bought any of the DVDs.

Zz.