America's half-empty shopping malls aren't the only place where big business is sucking its teeth and proclaiming “everything must go”.

The worsening credit crunch is also threatening the future of some of Hollywood's best-known film franchises.

Disney took advantage of the seasonal news lull last week to quietly slip out that it has decided to withdraw from producing The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the next in the Chronicles of Narnia series, based on the books by Belfast author C S Lewis.

Blaming “budgetary considerations” for its decision, the studio said it would not renew an option to co-finance the $200m (£137m) movie because the worsening economic climate has forced it to become more selective about the films it produces.

It was the second major fantasy franchise to be unceremoniously cancelled in recent months.

Earlier this year, Warner Bros decided not to make a follow-up to The Golden Compass, the first instalment of Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy. At the time, the studio suggested that the decision to abandon the sequel, The Subtle Knife, had been made because the original had upset Christian groups.

However, the real reason was likely to have been more prosaic: The Golden Compass received lukewarm reviews and managed to generate just $70m at the US box office. Although the film staved off disaster by taking $300m internationally, investors were sceptical about a follow-up.

The wider film industry is expecting to tighten its belt in 2009, with even blue-chip film-makers unable to raise funds. Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks company is facing a rocky new year after failing to raise the $750m it needs to produce its slate of 17 films. Some of the money was to have been provided by AIG, the insurance giant that collapsed in September. No new investor has yet emerged.

Even Harry Potter, the most profitable franchise in film history, isn't secure. Its screenwriter, Steve Kloves, said 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.