Wednesday, a spokesman for the Walt Disney Company announced that the latter was bowing out of a partnership with Walden Media for the third installment of the Narnia franchise, by virtues of financial reasons.

Disney and Walden Media co-financed the 2005 production “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” which was based on the first volume of the children’s book series authored by C.S. Lewis.

At that time, the movie turned out to be a major hit, bringing in $745 million in box-office earnings throughout the world, also becoming a top-selling DVD within 2005, which prompted Disney to deem it as a franchise with a potential to put forward as much as seven installments.

Nevertheless, the sequel to the original film, called “Prince Caspian,” had to face great competition from “Iron Man” and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” when it was released back in May this year. Consequently, its box-office revenue only totaled $420 million.

On the other hand, the “Prince Caspian” DVD which was launched on December 2, managed to become a holiday top-seller since the beginning of this month.

The Walt Disney Company was the one to distribute the Narnia movies throughout the world, coming into 50 percent of the profits for the two installments that have been released so far, which cost an estimated $180 million to $200 million to produce.

Unfortunately, for the scheduled for 2010 “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” Narnia film, Disney will be a no-show in the partnership with Walden Media.