EXCLUSIVE: The C.S. Lewis classic series The Chronicles of Narnia will receive new life on screen. Sony-based TriStar Pictures is joining The Mark Gordon Company, The C.S. Lewis Company, and Entertainment One (eOne) to make The Silver Chair. The film will be financed by TriStar, eOne and The Mark Gordon Company with Sony and eOne distributing the picture. Mark Gordon, C.S. Lewis’ stepson Douglas Gresham, Vincent Sieber, and Melvin Adams will produce the film. Life Of Pi and Finding Neverland scribe David Magee was already writing the script.
This becomes the second live action iteration of the literary classic. The previous films grossed a collective $1.6 billion at the worldwide box office and they were 2005’s The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, 2008’s Prince Caspian and 2010’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The first two came through Disney, and the latter through Fox 2000. The property fits TriStar head Hannah Minghella’s mandate to generate literary properties that will travel, something that fits Tom Rothman’s mandate at Sony. The seven novels in the series have sold over 100 million copies worldwide.
Said Gordon: “Developing this project with The C.S. Lewis Company has been immensely exciting and a real joy. We are so pleased to team up with our good friends at TriStar and our partners at eOne to introduce this new, magical chapter of the Narnia franchise to fans around the world, both old and new.”
Minghella grew up loving the books. “Reading The Chronicles of Narnia was one of the formative experiences of my childhood, just as it has been for children around the world for generations,” she said in a statement. “To have the opportunity to bring new life to the Narnia films with a new creative team is a career highlight. Our mission is to build TriStar Pictures as a home for filmmaker-driven literary and commercial movies, and this film represents a huge step forward for us. We’re thrilled to be working with Mark, Doug, Melvin, Vincent, and David as we adapt The Silver Chair.”
Gresham, the stepson of the late author Lewis said “It’s been both fun and exciting to work with Mark Gordon and David Magee to develop the next Narnian movie, and now it’s a thrill to welcome Tristar to our Narnia family. I greatly look forward to plunging again into the joys and challenges of once more bringing Narnia to the screen, this time with the wonderful story of The Silver Chair.”
Nicole Brown will oversee the project for TriStar with Minghella, with Sara Smith overseeing the project for The Mark Gordon Company. TriStar has the Ang Lee-directed Billy Lynn coming up next.
"The Silver Chair" is one of three novels in the series that doesn't feature any of the children from "Lion, Witch and Wardrobe" so its much easier to stay in sequence even when being done by another studio/creative team etc.
This becomes the second live action iteration of the literary classic. The previous films grossed a collective $1.6 billion at the worldwide box office and they were 2005’s The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, 2008’s Prince Caspian and 2010’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
I find it curious that despite box office grosses of that magnitude, the studios been so slow to adapt more of this series. Then again, as thinly-veiled "faith based" stories, it would not surprise me if there have been creative differences between the Lewis estate and the studios (who would certainly wish the films to downplay Lewis' religious allegory).
Even DAWN TREADER grossed over $400 million worldwide ($104 mil domestic and better overseas) and that was 6 years ago, so it is somewhat surprising it's taken them this long to figure out what to do with the sequels. I wonder if Walden Media no longer being involved had something to do with the hang-up (and TriStar/Sony would be the third studio after Disney and Fox to be involved with the franchise).
Granted, neither of the sequels did the insane amount the first NARNIA managed ($745 mil worldwide), but that came at the height of the LORD OF THE RINGS craze so its performance was never going to be duplicated. Problem was Disney was expecting blockbusters each time out after LION, WITCH & THE WARDROBE hit it big, and PRINCE CASPIAN was a massive disappointment relative to its predecessor, AND had an insane $225 mil production budget (especially for 2008). That's why Disney jumped ship.
The budget will likely be less than DAWN TREADER's $155 mil (and that movie essentially repeated CASPIAN's commercial performance) but there's clearly healthy interest in the series. TriStar has done well marketing "faith based" films recently so it would seem to be a good fit on a number of levels.
I really enjoyed The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe -- well, except for the lackluster score -- but didn't care so much for Prince Caspian. I thought Dawn Treader was a better than Caspian, though still not as satisfying as the first film.
The Magician's Nephew could make a terrific movie, being one of the the best of the books, and it offers potentially visually-exciting settings such as Victorian London, Narnia and two other fantasy worlds. Hope the series makes it to that point!
If they ever get to "Last Battle" they will be faced with a very awkward matter regarding the fate of the Susan character which has always been the most controversial part of the entire series.
Netflix has closed a multi-year deal with The C.S. Lewis Company to develop new series and film projects based on Lewis’ popular The Chronicles of Narnia books.
Under the pact, Netflix, working with Entertainment One, will develop stories from across the Narnia universe into series and films with eOne’s Mark Gordon as well as Douglas Gresham and Vincent Sieber serving as executive producers for series and as producers for features. Netflix is the studio.
The deal marks the first time that rights to the entire seven books of the Narnia universe have been held by the same company.
“C.S. Lewis’ beloved Chronicles of Narnia stories have resonated with generations of readers around the world,” said Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer, Netflix. “Families have fallen in love with characters like Aslan and the entire world of Narnia, and we’re thrilled to be their home for years to come.”
They are going to create new stories set in Lewis' universe? That doesn't bode well -- The Chronicles of Narnia is a self-contained biblical allegory, which really doesn't lend itself to non-canonical "side stories".
I have a feeling this is either going to wind-up a generic fantasy series -- like a G-rated Game of Thrones -- or, conversely, a heavy-handed "Sunday school"-type thing, on the level of Veggie Tales. Either way I expect they will distort Lewis' creation.
I'm not sure about "new" stories, it didn't really specify that, more that they have access to all the books and stories now. Maybe they will remake some of them. Lewis' estate presumably has a hand in this so it may well end up being generic or dull, but I doubt it will severely distort the message.
We'll find out as we go -- this franchise has had a rocky go out of it since the last movie came out in terms of announcements that never came to fruition. Netflix's cash influx seems to have put this over the top, which is understandable, and it's a brand they can work with.
AndyDursin wrote: ↑Thu Oct 04, 2018 11:53 am
I'm not sure about "new" stories, it didn't really specify that, more that they have access to all the books and stories now. Maybe they will remake some of them. Lewis' estate presumably has a hand in this so it may well end up being generic or dull, but I doubt it will severely distort the message.
I'd prefer to see them adapt the remaining books as a continuation of the films thus-far made. I thought The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe was very good (2 and 3 were less effective but by no means bad). The kids from the first three books don't show up again until the final book ("The Last Battle") and have aged by several years in the interim, so they could conceivably use the same actors.
As it stands, we have no cast and no release date, but producer Amy Pascal is now telling Deadline that production is being eyed for July 2025. Pascal describes Gerwig’s vision as "A very new take on Narnia" and reveals that "it's all about rock and roll." Oh, boy.
mkaroly wrote: ↑Wed Dec 11, 2024 5:57 am
Why do movie makers insist on f***ing everything up, as if doing so makes the project more creative?? So profoundly dumb and brain dead.
Smacks of the "My sh!t doesn't stink" mindset that led to Joker: Folie A Deux. Some directors get that one massive hit, and suddenly being given carte blanche on their next project/sequel, lose their fricking minds. How about an ORIGINAL movie, Greta?
Some directors get that one massive hit, and suddenly being given carte blanche on their next project/sequel, lose their fricking minds. How about an ORIGINAL movie, Greta?