Beyond the Wardrobe

Movies | Narnia gatekeeper Douglas Gresham isn't surprised by success | Andrew Coffin

Much as C.S. Lewis fans awaited The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on the big screen, it's unlikely that anyone was more anxious about the final product than the filmmakers themselves, as a reported $150 million investment and the potential for a seven-part film series rests, to a large extent, on the film's success.

Any doubts were laid to rest by Wardrobe's strong opening weekend—the third-biggest of the year at $67 million. In fact, holiday moviegoers pushed Narnia receipts up as box-office buys fell for the more recent King Kong and the bigger-opening Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Wardrobe topped New Year's weekend box-office receipts ($34 million to No. 2 Kong's $32 million and No. 9 Potter's $7.6 million)—a surprisingly strong showing in the film's fourth weekend out.

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