In a world where Harry Potter films come out almost annually and all five Twilight movies will be released in a span of less than five years, will the leisurely Chronicles of Narnia series seem left in the dust?
The teaser trailer has been released for the third installment, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and it's been five years since the franchise's big debut, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Back then, it seemed like Narnia might be a Potter-worthy page-to-screen success story, but follow-up Prince Caspian underperformed so much that Disney shrugged the franchise off, leaving 20th Century Fox to pick up the slack.
Now, it's time to see whether Narnia can undergo a successful kickstart even as its cast has been pared down, losing two of its original children (and even if it can be, future installments will prune the actors even further). The teaser seems serviceable enough -- though it unconsciously evokes The Last Airbender with its elemental locales -- but there's one secret weapon that's conspicuously missing:
VERDICT: Needs more Tilda Swinton.