Narnia is turning out to be a magical place at the multiplex, too.
In its debut weekend, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" grossed $67.1 million, exceeding both industry projections and the initial weekends for the first two "Lord of the Rings" films. Disney said its $180-million adaptation of the C.S. Lewis children's book about a magical land populated by talking creatures and an evil witch played strongly across the country, attracting a surprisingly large number of adults without children. (Not enough, though, to reverse the industry's sluggish box office, which is still on track to fall about 6% short of last year.)
"The movie is playing to everybody," said Chuck Viane, Disney's distribution president. "We always knew it would. But thinking something would happen and seeing it come together are two very different things."
While the studio said Sunday it did not have data on how many ticket buyers were attracted by the film's Christian themes (the story's lion, Aslan, sacrifices himself to save four children, only to be resurrected to vanquish evil), anecdotal evidence suggested faith communities turned out in droves.
Lake Forest's Saddleback Church took over 13 theaters for pre-opening "Narnia" screenings; of the 20,000 group-sales tickets purchased, all but 4,000 were sold to church members and friends. The rest were donated to local police groups, children's hospitals, elementary schools, shelters for abused children, and Christian radio stations as giveaways.
"We wanted to create an 'event,' " said Saddleback pastor Tom Holladay, who saw a rough cut of the film two months ago. "And we wanted to stand up and support 'Narnia.' Churches boycott movies they don't like and it's more valuable to be positive. Hollywood knows it needs to be making more of this type of picture."
Costa Mesa's Harbor Trinity Church also climbed aboard the "Narnia" bandwagon. Senior associate pastor Ric Olsen rented a theater Thursday night, booking 600 seats on two screens. In addition to e-mailing his congregation about the movie, Olsen, who was part of Disney's grass-roots "Narnia" campaign, posted signs about the screening outside the church.
Olsen also preached a three-part sermon series pegged to "Narnia's" release. "This weekend, I'm talking about evil and temptation, handing out Turkish delight candy," he said. "That's what Narnia's white witch uses to bribe Edmund into betraying his brothers and sister."
