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The Chronicles Of Walt Disney
"The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," the best-known novel in C.S. Lewis's allegorical series "The Chronicles of Narnia," is being made into a movie by Walt Disney Co. with Christian marketing companies handling some of the publicity.
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In 2001, HarperCollins, the U.S. publishers of the "Narnia" books, issued an internal memo -- revealed by the New York Times -- in which executives urged colleagues to downplay the books' religious dimensions in order to market them to a mainstream audience.
Any efforts to deemphasize the religious aspects of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" film are bound to backfire with Christians, according to Take One's Nicolosi.
"Disney and [co-producer] Walden Media are aware that there's a proprietary sense about 'The Chronicles of Narnia,' " she said. "C.S. Lewis is our guy. They better not take that away from us."
For its part, Disney is trying to play down the Christian marketing approach, noting that it will reach out to the science-fiction and fantasy communities as well.
"We don't want to cater to one fan base over the other or at the expense of another," said Dennis Rice, Disney's senior vice president for public relations.
Leaders of the religious boycott, launched with great fanfare in the 1990s, accused Disney of betraying its family-values legacy by providing health benefits to same-sex partners; allowing gay days at theme parks; and producing what they considered to be controversial movies, books and TV programming through Disney subsidiaries.
Financial analysts said the boycott had no effect on Disney's bottom line. The Disney-"Narnia" campaign appears to acknowledge implicitly that the Disney boycott has been a failure.
One of the groups that led the boycott, Colorado-based Focus on the Family, has been included in the early stages of the marketing campaign. Bob Waliszewski, the head of teen ministries for Focus, attended a Disney presentation for "Narnia" at the Burbank studio.
"We have still told families there are disappointing elements at Disney," he said. "We haven't changed that disappointment in Disney. But with Eisner leaving, we're all hoping that Disney will be a better company." Disney Chief Executive Michael D. Eisner plans to retire Sept. 30.
Some evangelical critics are not willing to abandon the boycott.
It won't be over "until the Southern Baptists, American Family Association, Concerned Women for America and others actually decide to call it off," said Bob Knight of Concerned Women for America.
But "the departure of the prickly, anti-Christian Michael Eisner and the advent of the 'Narnia' project might open lines that could lead to a new understanding," he said. "Political realities are catching up to Disney as well, as wiggle room disappears in the culture war."
When the Southern Baptists, the nation's largest Protestant denomination, meet this summer in Nashville, they might simply "declare victory and move on," said the Rev. Richard Land, who led the Baptists' boycott.
"The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," the best-known novel in C.S. Lewis's allegorical series "The Chronicles of Narnia," is being made into a movie by Walt Disney Co. with Christian marketing companies handling some of the publicity.
The film will combine live action with computer-generated animation. Disney has launched a 10-month marketing campaign targeting evangelical Christians.
