Well, let me see. I think that the possibility of Tilda being in SC has already been discussed with Douglas Gresham who said they would have to get someone else to play LOTGK, someone who is young or at least younger looking. That doesn't mean of course they can't have a picture of the White Witch hanging on the wall in LOTGK's palace for LOTGK to ask 'who is most beautiful and evil Narnian witch of them all'.

In HHB, the Tisroc and others do mention that Narnia had been ruled by the White Witch. They almost can't believe that Narnia is normal again. Maybe they have read about the White Witch's doings in the Daily Tash. And of course in the Last Battle, the White Witch will be running towards that big doorway, veering off to the left into Aslan's shadow.

Seriously, the idea that there are talks going on about MN, rather than SC does suggest to me that there has been some sort of working script around for a while. Whereas as of last January they were still thinking about how to go about SC now that VDT had been released. Do you think that might also be why it will be MN first?

There is no logic to making Magician's Nephew first.

The audience is sick of Tilda. Will Poulter is aging. Silver Chair is the better book.

I'm getting really angry at this talk of MN being filmed first. The Silver Chair is the film I've been waiting for since the series started and I know that there cannot be a Silver Chair movie if the Magician's Nephew gets filmed. The continuity of the series will be thrown out the window for the casual fans, the film will flop, and I'll never get to see the Silver Chair brought to the big screen.

Honestly the thought of filming Magician's Nephew first makes me want to throw a knife at something. THIS CANNOT HAPPEN!!!!!!!

Audiences are not sick of Tilda, Will P isn't aging that fast anymore, and continuity is not an issue because there is no overarching plot to the series. Each book has it's own self-contained story.

People ARE sick of the filmmakers' attempts at milking the success of LWW, rather than trying to create compelling movies that are worth watching in their own right. MN is going to look like a last ditch effort to recapture the fans that made LWW a baffo success, but it won't work. A lot of those fans were a part of the masses who gave PC such a strong opening, and who subsequently had their faith in the series shattered. MN does not have the built-in fan base that the filmmakers seem to think it has.

I think they might want to film Silver Chair and The Last Batle back-to-back , cause they both have Jill and Eustace. It might not be such a stupid idea, cause if they do MN and HBB after SC, people will have to endure 2 films before Jill and Eustace return.
In the end i think they will drop Horse and his Boy and if they make it probably as the last one.

I think they might want to film Silver Chair and The Last Batle back-to-back

I've been thinking the exact same thing Rilian. Now that it seems they will likely sever The Silver Chair from the rest of the Caspian trilogy, it makes more sense to me to go ahead and do The Horse and His Boy after MN, and then come back and do SC and LB back to back. The one issue that remains of course is Will Poulter.

In terms of story-telling, making MN* next doesn't make sense. It is a 100% commercially driven decision, not a creative one.

Is it?

I disagree that it's a 100% commercially driven one, as they were talking about changing the order around back before PC came out... that's before Narnia had any financial problems. Secondly, lots of people in the production have been excited about MN from the get go.

Their excitement is actually why (with the possible exception of HHB) MN is and has been the one I'm looking foreward to the most, even though it's my least favorite book. It could mean that they'll be respectful of the source material, and that its inspiring them. They know something we don't, and I can't wait to find out what it is

At first, I couldn't quite figure out why they would choose to make MN before SC. Having stewed on the idea for awhile, I'm starting to understand it.

It should be very interesting. So far, we have not seen a film for MN, but we've seen a take on SC. While SC follows VDT, seeing a prequel (as it were) might be a bit more interesting visually than a continuation of what we have already seen (as MN spends more time in England than Narnia... perhaps helping a budget cut on special effects? I can't say, I'm not an expert). Not to mention, it might be nice to see the origins of the Wardrobe (as all the panels in the film were designed from imagery in the MN story). Could be a very nice way to end the film, with a young professor Kirke putting the completed wardobe into his home and then fading out.

This does not let anyone off the hook. MN is not an action packed story (in the sense of what has been seen in additions to the previous films in terms of battles and action). If they continue the previous formats, MN is a dangerous turn to take. It's more of a character based story... so is VDT (and we know how that turned out). Hopefully, they plan to take the film in a different direction than previous films while still remaining faithful to the book. I would like to see a MN film a bit more than SC (now that I have thought about the whole idea longer), but if, and only if, they get it right and don't add a load of nonsense.

Ah ha, eureka, I've got it! A continuation of Narnia through MN means a continuation of the White Witch's character and we all know what that means. However, at least for MN, it makes sense.

Lets say, for the purposes of debate, that we were to completely rule out HHB and LB from ever getting made - due in part to the very high budgets it would take to produce either story to an acceptable standard (given a fairly predictable rate of return of only $400m per movie), and due to the inevitable studio politics concerning the perceived controversial nature of the stories contents - that leaves just SC and MN on the table. As far as i see it, given such a scenario, Walden only have two options:

1. Make Silver Chair first as the natural successor to VDT, and then round the series off by going back to the beginning with Magician's Nephew.

2. Make Magician's Nephew first, and then not be able to make Silver Chair at all - The 5 or 6 year time gap that will have elapsed by the time SC comes to theatres will have completely destroyed any sense of continuity in the series, and any audience interest in continuing along the main storyline of Narnia will have entirely evaporated. Rather unfortunately, the recasting of Will Poulter almost becomes an irrelevance, as trying to sell a Silver Chair movie to an already disinterested global movie audience that long after VDT will be impossible.

So the fact that Walden want to make Magician's Nephew now, pretty much gives me the impression that they are looking to get one more pay-check out of the franchise before the well dries up, and then be done with it.

Yes I also think they will make MN first because of financial issues.

First of all, I'd like to point out that if I had the deciding vote, I'd vote for SC to be made next. That being said, there are a fair number of reasons that I'm okay with MN.

1. I like the book better.

2. I agree that it will be easier to market a LWW prequel than a VDT sequel.

3. People keep saying Will Poulter will be too old, but what about Jill? If they did it the other way we'd have almost the exact same problem. Also, he's not annoying (in a good way) in SC, so we don't know if he will work well as reformed Eustace.

4. There have been cases of films where continuity was temporarily suspended and then did fine. Star Wars episode 1 for example, it was years before that came out. Then there are the whole slew of video game franchises that have been redone lately.

5. We'd remove an excuse for them to keep bringing back the White Witch in movies she doesn't belong in. They may have been trying to keep her in our minds for this movie, or at least using that excuse.

Overall, I'm just as happy about MN getting made as I would be about SC.

I am not happy with MN being made. I was so looking forward to Sc...."sigh". But if there was a choice of MN or no more Narnia movies....I welcome MN with open arms . Actually, now that I think of it, I don't care what book they do next as long as they make it good. The main point is that its a good adaption.

This article I saw on Aslan's country suggests that the reason for doing Magician's Nephew next is to keep audiences mindful of LWW before they forget about that particular book. There is light shed on which are the most purchased books in the series, and it appears that Magician's Nephew is the second most bought book, after LWW, with Silver Chair being the least popular book.

Devin Brown, who wrote the original article for Christianity today, also suggested that MN might be released in December 2013, which seems crazy considering even Devin Brown acknowledges that Hobbit Part 2 would be released at that time as well. He said in that article:

My wish would be that The Magicians Nephew is released in 2013 to great acclaim, producing demand for more. With the series then reinvigorated, I suggest that the producers then do The Silver Chair for Narnia 5 in 2015, and then The Horse and His Boy as Narnia 6 in 2018. But as Lewis might have said, perhaps it does not matter very much in which order anyone makes these two particular installments.

At the moment there is more than a suggestion that Silver Chair will be next after Magician's Nephew, especially as the IMDb Silver Chair board has been updated to 2015. However, it is still early for both Hobbit and Magician's Nephew, let alone Silver Chair.

This article I saw on Aslan's country suggests that the reason for doing Magician's Nephew next is to keep audiences mindful of LWW before they forget about that particular book. There is light shed on which are the most purchased books in the series, and it appears that Magician's Nephew is the second most bought book, after LWW, with Silver Chair being the least popular book.

Devin Brown, who wrote the original article, also suggested that MN might be released in December 2013, which seems crazy considering even Devin Brown acknowledges that Hobbit Part 2 would be released at that time as well. At the moment there is more than a suggestion that Silver Chair will be next after Magician's Nephew, especially as the IMDb Silver Chair board has been updated to 2015.

However, it is still early for both Hobbit and Magician's Nephew, let alone Silver Chair.

It would be interesting if they went to The Silver Chair after making The Magician's Nephew, though if they were going to go chronological again The Horse and His Boy would be next. And making The Silver Chair and The Last Battle together would be a great last pairing, especially since they containt the same main two characters.

At the end of LWW there was a bit of a hint at MN which excited me at the time. I'm curious to see how they do it since there isn't a BBC version to compare it with. So I think part of the decision was in the thrill of unexplored territory. Also I think it makes sense in terms of DVD sales. I could see an Easter package including MN selling well.

On both sides, there's a gamble. On the side of MN, it would gain a lot more attention because it's more connected to LWW than SC, which was very successful. They said that's a reason to do MN next. They could easily use Tilda Swinton and Liam Neeson.
On the other hand, if they want to continue the Narnia films they would have to do SC, MN, HHB, then LB. Will Poulter was a fantastic actor in VDT and almost everyone agrees. I woud definitely want to see another film with Will in it.
It's a risk on both sides, they would almost be ending the Narnia films if they do MN next because Will would be much too old to be in SC at any other time, but if they did SC, MN, and then HHB it would make more sense because they need a Polly and Digory for LB and characters from HHB for the Aslan's country scene in LB. And anyways, It's a difference of about 7 years from SC and LB for Eustace and Jill, so they would be the right age. And if glee has taught me anything, it's yes, grown ups can still pass off as teenagers.