The cinematic waters proved to be a little choppy for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader this weekend. While King Caspian’s noble flagship did land in first place at the box office, it did so with an underwhelming $24.5 million—$40 million off the pace set by The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and $30 million behind 2008’s Prince Caspian.
Prince Caspian, which wound up earning north of $140 million domestically, was considered a financial disappointment: Unless Dawn Treader makes a strong rally, it’s unlikely I’ll get to see my favorite Narnia book (The Silver Chair) at the local multiplex anytime soon.
But if Narnia had its problems, at least it outperformed The Tourist, the other high-wattage release of the weekend. With Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp at the helm, The Tourist boasted plenty of star power—but that hasn’t translated to big time profit as of yet. Tangled and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 slid into the third and fourth spots, respectively.
But back to the fate of the Dawn Treader. I thought this installment was the best Narnia film yet, so it’s frustrating that the movie didn’t get opening-weekend love—even more so because its failure is being painted as the fault of Christian moviegoers.
“Where were all the Christians who were supposed to make The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader the first big hit of December?” writes Time’s Richard Corliss. “The movie didn’t roar; it mewled.”
This attitude leaves me feeling a bit perplexed. After all, we Christians are a diverse lot. It’s not like we, at the moment of baptism, land on an e-mail list that gives us directives on what to see or how to vote or whatnot (“Your mission: See Dawn Treader and buy an extra-large popcorn”). Christianity is a system of faith, not a lock-step special-interest group.
But the box office results, and the reaction to them, still bums me out. For one, it could make Hollywood even more reluctant to piece together films that appeal to Christian sensibilities. Oh, Christian cinema is making some strides, but major studios won’t be inclined to craft movies to our tastes if we’re not inclined to see them—and in huge numbers.
But it also seems that these Narnia films are now, in some circles, sequestered to appeal to just people of faith, and that’s a shame. There’s no question that C.S. Lewis crafted his Narnia stories to be, in part, Christian allegory … but they’re also rollicking, wonderful children’s stories that have appeal beyond just church-going kids like me. It’s one thing for a film to have Christian elements in it. It’s another for a film to be labeled for a Christian audience, and that seems to be the Dawn Treader’s fate.
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