Given how badly VDT is performing at the boxoffice, i would say Silver Chair maybe only has a slim chance of getting produced, depending on strong the desire at Walden Media remains and how low of a budget they think they can get away with producing it for. I outlined my reasoning in thinking over on this topic here but basically i believe there is still some reasons left to be optimistic as far as SC goes.

But the big-screen adaptations of HHB, MN and LB are without any doubt never going to happen now. They were always going to be the three biggest creative and commerical risks of the series, and given how much each would of cost to produce, and how limited the future boxoffice potential of the Narnia series looks, i don't see that ever happening. However, perhaps if Walden Media do genuinely have the desire to finish the series, then perhaps they should look beyond the realm of live-action movies for adapting HHB, MN and LB (assuming they can get a reduced budget Silver Chair movie out to finish off the main movie series in a satisfactory manner).

For HHB for example, as it is essentially a side-story to the main book series, perhaps they could look to how other series which have handled similar material in the form of a short animated features, such as "The Animatrix" for the Matrix films, or "Halo Legends" for the Halo games. It could work out quite well for them as they could produce it in the visual style of a Narnian storybook come to life, being narrated by Mr Tumnus. A perfect example there would be the "Tales of the Black Freighter" Animated DVD which complimented the release of the movie "Watchmen". Like HHB's reference as story within the story of Silver Chair, the Black Freighter essentially exists as a comic book within the world of the comic book of Watchmen, and so the animated dvd was presented in the visual style of a comic-book come to life, and it worked rather well.

Maybe for MN they could look to TV, playing it as more of a Period Drama than a big Fantasy Epic, or maybe even do a series of short online webisodes to tell the story of Polly and Digory, perhaps focusing less on the fantasical elements of the story and more on the real-world aspects of the tale. Again, shows like Lost have complimented their main stories with webisodes to a great effect, and it could be something worth considering here. Alternatively, perhaps they could follow the example of Buffy the Vampire slayer, which continued on after the end of Series 7 on TV in the form of a Comic Book series, appropriately entitled "Series 8". Or movie series such as Ghostbusters which have continued with properly scripted canonical Video Game adaptations.

Maybe some of those wouldn't work so well for Narnia, but i think the general point is this - even if they can't continue with the movie series past Silver Chair, the media world has expanded so far in the past few years that it is not unreasonable to consider far broader horizons in terms of adapting the rest of the series in differing formats. The possibilities aren't perhaps "limitless", but there are still an awful lot of possibilities to consider.

There is one point about continuing with the movies. Whilst other movies might have done better box office wise, few of them have the already established fan base we have on NarniaWeb, as well as on sites like Aslan's Country or Narniafans.

And future adaptations won't require the building of an actual ship. Surely the cost of building the Dawn Treader, itself, must have easily been the biggest item in the VDT budget.

What do you think are sort of things movies of the other four novels in the series would require, anyway?

What do you think are sort of things movies of the other four novels in the series would require, anyway?

I'll limit myself to the final 3 books, as i believe Silver Chair is worthy of it's own separate discussion right now (of which there are a few threads currently on the forum), and as i mentioned i believe it is the story most suited to shooting on a reduced budget, but i don't think any of the final three books would ever come cheaply if it came to adapting them into a live-action feature film.

VDT managed to keep its budget down by shooting extensively on sets, rather than shooting on location. Even when you factor in the costs of set construction it always works out cheaper to film inside the studio as you are in a controlled environment purposefully designed for the process of making films. Films like HHB and LB however would require extensive location shooting for them to even come close to capturing the visuals necessary for the places featured in the story, and to do them even anywhere near well it would have to be in locations which don't come very cheaply. I can't honestly imagine they could get away with shooting a movie like HHB on anything less than the $200 million that Disney spent on the similarly set Prince of Persia.

HHB would perhaps benefit from having almost no creatures or talking animals to render bar the horses which could be done with real horses (though the lack of creatures and animals would no doubt be seen as a major downer by the people in marketing) but you would still be looking at having to hire significant number of extras if you wanted to get the final battle scene in (again, think about how limited the number of extras in VDT were compared with the last two films), and the more extras you have the more associated costs you have.

LB would probably require an equal number of people to HHB, but also massive amounts of CGI creatures and animals. When you consider that VDT was allegedly so tight on budget that they couldn't afford to render a new CGI model of a Lamb for the final scene in the movie, then you can't imagine they could ever do a story like LB, which contains numerous taking animals amongst its main characters, on a budget of less than VDT.

MN would really depend on how you focus the story, given that its probably got the most "real world" elements of any book in the series, so you could as i said perhaps focus more on that, and less on the fantasy elements - but still when you think about a scene like the Creation of Narnia, to do that credibly and to the standards expected of a major studio feature film, i don't see how you could get away with having a budget less than VDT - and you can be assured that any future budgets would have to be less than VDT, as they certainly aren't going to be going up.

HHB will be the easiest to adapt in my opinion, because it already fit's hollywoods formula (it even already has Pensevie cameos!) So they shouldn't change too much (if they do I'll be upset, as it's my favorite book)

SC I'm expecting major plot changes with all the news I'm getting from VDT (Have yet to see it ) How ever I'm not anticipating Tilda Swinton being the LotGK (*knocks on wood) It wouldn't suprise me if she cameoed as another character though...

MN, it could go either way... they'll probably figure out some way of puting a battle into Charn or lengthening the London/WW scene

LB I'm also expecting major changes, unless Walden's willing to make it PG-13

HHB should be the easiest book left to adapt. I think SC would work well too. MN might be a bit hard, but I think it'll be easier than VDT and certainly PC. LB is the hardest book left to adapt.

VDT managed to keep its budget down by shooting extensively on sets, rather than shooting on location. Even when you factor in the costs of set construction it always works out cheaper to film inside the studio as you are in a controlled environment purposefully designed for the process of making films.

A favourable exchange rate also helped to keep expenses down. Throughout 2008-9, the Aussie dollar hovered anywhere around 80 US cents up to 90 US cents. This year the Australian dollar is just two or three cents under the American dollar. Hiring Aussie actors and workers was a good idea also, since they, at any rate, are all covered by Medicare, if there is any illness or accident.

And what about the Magician's Nephew? Is there any possible way to incorporate a battle? Also, by Hollywood standards, there is a distinct lack of storyline, so much will have to be added.

Battle scenes cost money. Extras need to be paid for one thing. And they are basically a cheap thrill. In MN, there is the aftermath of a battle scene of sorts, if you include Jadis at the top of the stairs watching her victorious sister leading her army into the Palace. Then Jadis says the deplorable word.....An atomic sort of wave rolls over everything. Then there is a big silent nothing... This is in Charn, and is only the awoken Jadis telling Polly and Digory. Much of this would be done in sets with light filters and ruins everywhere.

Why are battle scenes and spurious romances needed anyway to bolster MN? There is already a MN storyline of a mad scientist inventing some rings and sending Polly by trickery to the Wood between the Worlds, which I would so love to see. The children find out the Wood between the Worlds is a sort of in between place and that is how they find Jadis and bring her back to London. After that they stumble into Narnia in an effort to return Jadis to her own world. The worst part of MN would be reproducing the creation of the place with all the creatures and flying over Narnia to the mountaintop garden. Though I thought the Mt Tambourine garden in VDT was fairly good.

I agree that both HHB and SC are a bit more straightforward to produce. The big thing in SC is how to show the owls, giants, gnomes, a ruined city saying Under Me and Underworld. However, the BBC managed a convincing show of all of these with a fraction of VDT's budget.

HHB, by contrast, has to worry about Tashbaan mainly, three gorgeous rooms, one in the Tisroc's palace, and a desert. Not much to ask, is it? Plenty of deserts to choose from when we have at least 9 largeish deserts here in Oz, and there must be smaller deserts even in Europe. And then there is the siege of Anvard, though even a smallish castle like the often used Aydon Castle might do for a setting.

I can't see LB being made, frankly. It is really too doom-laden for PG, and such a format would not do the story justice anyway.

I think Silver Chair could be the turning point for the series. Everyone loves Will Poulter, but I think a lot of people are getting tired of seeing the Pevensies. As I've said before, I think that if SC is made, we will most likely see Magician's Nephew, as they nearly considered SC to make it in the first place.

And future adaptations won't require the building of an actual ship. Surely the cost of building the Dawn Treader, itself, must have easily been the biggest item in the VDT budget.

Although I don't think that the creation and construction of the Dawn Treader was cheap by ANY MEANS, I really think that the biggest cost is time, and visual effects.
In LWW Aslan alone cost 10 million, in Price Caspian he was near 13 (this PC number was only a rumour, but it makes sense). Visual effects cost a lot of money and this movie had Reepicheep in the majority of scenes (and being the center of attention), Aslan in many parts and the dragon in many parts so i think that the best way for them to save money in furture adaptions is to limit the screen time of Aslan and to reduce the length of the movies.

I think it was smart that VDT was the shortest so far of the films. Its budget was $155 million....had they add more scenes then it would have easily escalated into LWW's $180 Million.
If SC gets greenlit then i would prefer a SHORTER well done adaption then a longer cheap looking one. If that means cutting out a few things, then I am okay with that.
Do you think that VDT will gross enough to justify an Hour and a half SC with a 140 Million budget? I sure hope so.

i think that the best way for them to save money in future adaptions is to limit the screen time of Aslan and to reduce the length of the movies.

But that's just the opposite of what everyone wants - more of Aslan (just his voice would do in some scenes, I guess...) and less of a rushed feel to the story. So complicated.

It's true they should be able to do a pretty good SC without too much spending. It would help if they do Puddleglum with prosthetics and makeup only - no CGI for him, and keep interactions with under-earthmen to a minimum.

For the rest of the movies, I'm afraid icarus is right - huge expenses CGI-wise. In MN the animals coming out of the ground, long scenes with Aslan and Fledge, and lots of traveling between worlds. In HHB, talking horses and Tumnus, at least. And for LB, Tash, big battles, the End.

Yes, I'm being a pessimistic realist right now.

I'm really wondering if Walden could do a reasonable Silver Chair TV production if all else fails and they couldn't do big budget movies any further. Even with the cheapest CGI but a strong written well plotted script and keeping Will Poulter and getting other good actors for Jill and Puddleglum....at least commercial TV could subsidize it?.... Though I'm not sure how TV filming budgets compare to movie ones, I'm sure TV budgets are less! I can't believe I'm posting this. I just want the series to continue onscreen in some shape or form....even if it would mean Walden co-producing for television....

Yes I realise I'm jumping ahead here, but one thing I really don't want them to change is in HHB, when Shasta realizes who he's talking too at the end. The whole, "I was the lion..." part and the fact that he stayed hidden by the fog until after that line was just one of my favorite parts of the series. *Badly wants to see that on screen*

By all means, jump ahead! This thread is for all the remaining books, after all! Yes, that is one scene that has to be done really well. I can still faintly remember having that read to me at a young age; the amazement when I realized it was Aslan that was talking to Shasta in the foggy wilderness.

yeah, that was a great scene from HHB!