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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. (Prince Caspian.) The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Kim Hollis: If Prince Caspian could start its marketing campaign all over again, what would you do differently?

David: I would mention The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe every three seconds. Forget subliminal messaging. They should have gone into super-liminal mode. That title was well received and well remembered. Playing up the ways that Prince Caspian would be a similar experience to it would have been a huge positive. The other part that got ignored too much was the quality of the trailer. Try naming one aspect of the commercials for Prince Caspian that stands out. I can do it, but I doubt most people could. This is in stark contrast to the first film, which had three killer bits. The first was the kids crossing the gorgeous, icy bridge. The next one was the little girl biting her lip before opening the Wardrobe itself. And the final one was the shot of Aslan. Prince Caspian has that last one, which feels redundant, and one image of the White Witch breaking through ice. Otherwise, it's a completely vanilla ad.

Shane Jenkins: I was actually impressed by the trailers that I saw. I wasn't a big fan of the first one, but I thought they did a good job of making this one seem more like a real "movie." In retrospect, perhaps the intensity of the ads scared off families. The film has an adorable Puss in Boots-ish talking mouse that I don't remember seeing in the ads, and a really well-done badger. Maybe they should have taken a page from Shrek and played up the cute-creatures-with-identifiable-voices aspect more.





Calvin Trager: This seems obvious in retrospect even if it may have been deemed needless during production, but why not title this movie "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe: Prince Caspian"? I guess that's my way of saying I agree with David's super-liminal comment.

Les Winan: I can't help but wonder if audiences are turned off by the prospect of seven films to finish the story. This isn't Harry Potter, after all. In most people's eyes, it's a second-rate Lord of the Rings knock-off.

Kim Hollis: I have to agree that talking animals would have helped here. I'm not sure I believe that people won't be up for seven films in the series, though. This is a beloved series that specifically targets Christians in a big way. It's been proven that they will lend their support to projects such as these. I just wasn't feeling that same grassroots effort that existed for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

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