Very cool news if they do it right and keep the spirit of the books. link 02 Mar 2004 00:17 Disney, Walden team up for "Narnia" movie LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Fast on the heels of the Oscar triumph for "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," The Walt Disney Co on Monday said it will back a film, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," based on another popular series of fantasy books. Disney has signed a deal with Walden Media, part of the companies owned by Colorado billionaire Philip Anschutz, to co-finance and distribute the movie. It is expected to hit theaters for the Christmas season in 2005. Financial details were undisclosed, but the deal marks a high-profile partnership for a series of potential blockbuster films following a recent decision by Disney and Pixar Animation Studios Inc. to sever ties that led to five straight box office hits with animated films such as "Finding Nemo." Like the three-part "Rings" movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy novels about a war in middle Earth, the "Narnia" books have a long and loyal following. The "Rings" movies, distributed by Time Warner Inc. unit New Line Cinema, have grossed more than $2.8 billion in global ticket sales. On Sunday, the third film, "Return of the King" won a record-tying 11 Oscars, including best film -- the U.S. film industry's top award. The seven "Narnia" books by C.S. Lewis describe a war in the frozen fantasy land of Narnia pitting the forces of darkness led by the White Witch against the lion Aslan and four children who stumbled into Narnia through a wardrobe closet. Published in 1950, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is the second book -- a prequel was written afterward -- and perhaps best-known in the series of children's books that has sold over 85 million copies worldwide. "'The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe' has the potential to be just the start of an extraordinary series of films," Walt Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook said in a statement. The companies said their agreement calls for their partnership to continue on future "Narnia" films, but details were not disclosed. Walden had previously signed up director Adam Adamson ("Shrek") for the "Narnia" movies. Earlier this year, Disney and Pixar decided to go their separate ways after co-financing, promoting and distributing blockbuster animated movies like "Nemo," "Toy Story," and "Monsters, Inc."
Well if they want to make a movie for kids I know I have seen one version of "Narnia". So it has been done but hey if they think they can do better more power to them. It shouldn´t be too hard since the first movie sucked.
I read all the Narnia books when I was a kid in the '70s. The movie made me cry when the Lion died. I reread "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" about a year ago and I could not figure out why I liked it so much when I was a kid, but I know did.
I've read that series about 3 times and the movies that aired on PBS on wonderworks were very good for their budgets. I can't wait to see these movies if they're anything like the production values of LotR. They're gonna make a crapload, and of course, after the success of LotR and Passion, people are gonna eat up the fantasy and religious aspects of it.
Geez, where have you been recently CK?? I thought you had disappeared for good - glad to see that you are still around.
There's a DVD set of this series at Sam's...I've always wondered if it was worth getting. Haven't talked to anyone who knows anything about it.
me too . . . .. I can only imagine that the movie is gonna be about perhaps this is the good result of Hollywood running out of ideas What is next Rocket RIver
They better ****ing make the Silver Chair, that is by far the best book. I read all the books and Seen the 4-5 movies they made of the different ones. They were made by poor english actors with no special effects at all.
Oh, I'm still around, just lurking mainly. My interest in NBA basketball has plummetted to an all time low. I really don't like the state of the current rox, roster wise. I give a lot of leeway for improvement, but it appears some leopards don't change their spots. And I really don't feel like feeding the cheerleader vs chicken little arguments too much. btw, official website of the movie: http://www.narnia.com/ and it will be live action, not a cartoon. disney better not f this up.
Agreed... that and "Voyage of the Dawn Treader", which I liked the best when I was younger. Looking back, though, I like the idea of the Silver Chair better. Imagine the special effects. If you do this right, you get seven movies. That should keep you in business for a long time.
Yeah, those were both quality books. Silver Chair to me just seems somewhat in that LOTR genre what with giants and evil stuff and the marsh wiggle, I think it would be quite an epic of a movie.
I'm sure Walden Media is exerting creative control. They did a good job with "Holes", though that's obviously a different kind of movie.
And just like LotR, The Last Battle would definitely be the most epic and visually stunning. The Horse and his Boy might be a little dull for the movie treatment though.
I saw a production of "the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" at the RSC Stratford last christmas and it was awesome. Looking forward to see what they do with a movie version.
