Disney has dropped out of financing a third Chronicles of Narnia film, citing budget reasons, leaving Walden Media as the sole source of funds. Which, unless I’m severely underestimating Walden Media’s net worth or the budgetary demands of Voyage Of The Dawn Treader, the next in the series, basically kills the movie.

And, as they are wont to do, a British newspaper has taken this interesting news, paired it with the interesting fact that The Golden Compass crashed and burned (largely for pissing off Christians, also for being no good) to come up with the conjecture that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is somehow in trouble…

The Independent writes:

Even Harry Potter, the most profitable franchise in film history, isn’t totally secure. Its screenwriter, Steve Kloves, said recently that Warner Bros was worried about the prospects for the last three films in the series, since J K Rowling is no longer driving anticipation for the titles by producing new books.

The article heavily relies on the disappointing numbers and falling budgets of The Golden Compass and Prince Caspian, but never seems to hit the most important nail on the head, possibly because it makes the article seem much less severe: the Harry Potter franchise is the highest grossing franchise ever. And it hasn’t even finished yet.

Yes, there is going to be decreased hype because no books are released to keep Potter fans happy until they get their next dose. But Warner Bros seems to be doing a pretty good job of hyping up Half-Blood Prince by needlessly letting it sit on a shelf for 6 months, completely finished, so they can have a summer tent pole movie. This after breaking the record for single studio box office (Sony previously held the record in 2006), greatly thanks to The Dark Knight.

Let’s look at Warner Bros, shall we: Rich? Check.Will eventually pay off Fox and have The Watchmen make buckets of money in March? Check. Harry Potter in July? Check.

And by that time, the Potter crew will be ready to shoot part one of the two part ending book and no one will care about this “fantasy series” purge because Disney made Narnia, but didn’t manage to make money on it and New Line Cinema isn’t even around anymore to make another Golden Compass movie.

It’s apples and oranges, Potter fans, and our oranges are magical.

Accio magical oranges!