PRESS COVERAGE ON: “THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA”
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| Orlando Sentinel |
| Mar 16 |
In a marriage of modern mythmakers, the Walt Disney Co. is marketing a film based on C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia". And in doing so, Disney will take a page from Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ".
Disney has hired … Motive Marketing, which ran the historic, grass-roots efforts for "The Passion". Paul Lauer, founder of Motive Marketing, declined to comment on his campaign for "Narnia", apart from confirming that his firm is handling it.
"Disney, as the consummate corporate animal, is looking at Paul as the guy who delivered the audience of The Passion," says Barbara Nicolosi, of Act One, a program designed to bring Christian writers and executives into the entertainment industry.
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| USA Today |
Disney, along with other studios, has often courted the so-called faith community when the appropriate movie comes along, including such religious-themed comedies as Sister Act or uplifting sports dramas like The Rookie. But since the advent of box-office sensation The Passion of the Christ, such wooing has become a science. For that reason, Disney and Walden have hired Motive Marketing, the company that oversaw The Passion's outreach program, to assist them.
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| Colorado Springs Gazette |
| Nov 18 |
Marketers are counting on Christians, particularly the estimated 70 million Americans who describe themselves as evangelicals, to fill movie theaters Dec. 9, when "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is to be released. Nothing would please these marketers more than to make "Narnia" a financial encore to Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," which became the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time.
To capitalize on Christian interest, Walden and Disney hired Motive Movie Marketing, the same company that promoted "The Passion," to court evangelicals.
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| New York Post |
| 11/28/05 |
Disney hired the marketing firm credited with getting churchgoers to see "The Passion of The Christ" to help give its big Christmas movie, "The Chronicles of Narnia," a biblical box-office boost. Motive Entertainment has organized screenings at 150 churches across the country... Church groups are also being encouraged to include "Narnia" in their sermons, thanks to guides that can be downloaded from a special Web site called narniaresources.com.
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| USA Today |
| 12/2/05 |
"My reading of the situation is Disney came to realize, 'Goodness, we have a two-fer here,' " says Alan Jacobs, a professor of English at Wheaton (Ill.) College. "We can draw in those millions of people who want heroic fantasy, but then we can also tap into those thousands of churches that can sell out theaters."
The lion's share of the film's marketing budget — reputedly $80 million — has been spent on saturation TV ads, but lesser amounts have been spent on grass-roots marketing to schools, libraries and youth groups.
Motive Marketing, which promoted The Passion of the Christ to a $370.6 million box office take last year, is among the companies that have sold Wardrobe directly to churches as a sort of greatest children's story ever told, complete with Sunday school lesson plans. That spadework almost certainly ensures a big opening weekend.
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| Associated Press |
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Disney is using the same company that promoted Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" to publicize "Narnia" through churches across the country. The goal is to create the perfect Christmas blockbuster, appealing to both secular and religious audiences.
"However you're a fan, it really doesn't matter to us," said Dennis Rice, a spokesman for Disney's distribution arm, Buena Vista Pictures. "We want you to become a fan of the movie."
Rice said only 5 percent of the marketing budget for "Narnia," which opens Dec. 9, targeted faith-based groups.
Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc., said Disney would be remiss if it did not go after a Christian audience which is often ignored by Hollywood.
"It's just a matter of being all-inclusive and bringing in as many people as possible," he said.
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