We arrived in 2004 with some degree of excitement, as we watched for news.

On 19 January 2004, Tirian posted this:

NarniaWeb has learned that about one thousand children have been auditioned and that the production will soon be casting from the short list. It has also been confirmed that pre-production is forging ahead and that the studio has an accepted screenplay and budget.

USA Today had a story:
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/01/more-rings-magic-on-the-way/

In January 2004, there were also news items that Grant Major and artist John Howe had left the Narnia project.
Then in February came the Disney rumour.
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/02/disney-distribution-rumored/
It was confirmed in March:
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/03/disney-to-distribute-co-finance-lww/
[Note the agreement to 'co-finance and distribute' - they never planned to make the movie themselves.]

Casting stories and parental comments turned up in various places.
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/02/the-two-that-almost-made-it-through/ - this was about two boys from north east England (not far from where Georgie lived)
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/03/a-letter-from-pippa-hall/

Advertising began....
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/03/narnia-ad-runs-in-major-newspapers/

Hold onto your wigs because hair, I mean here, comes the rumour about that blonde Australian actress playing The White Witch!

8 March 2004
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/03/nicole-kidman-as-the-white-witch/

9 March 2004
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/03/kidman-still-a-rumor/

Tirian reported that 'IMDB printed a retraction on their website stating that Nicole Kidman has not yet signed on as the White Witch'

Sooo..... did she get cast? Was she going to play the WW? *suspense music* (see below)

And, where would the filming be taking place? Those who guessed it might use Peter Jackson's studios in Wellington were wrong. In fact, Auckland had a good collection of studios, especially in the western suburb of Henderson.

9 March 2004
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/03/waitakere-opens-doors-to-disney/

[I note that the Disney name was already getting the attention, and Walden hadn't even begun filming the movie!]

https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/03/some-filming-to-take-place-in-the-czech-republic/
on 11 March 2004 Tirian quoted a report that some of the filming would take place in the Czech Republic.

'It is expected that the Czech Republic will be used for filming scenes of the White Witch's castle.'
In the report Walden Media denied the rumor that Kidman is part of the cast. "It's a project that we're all very excited about, but unfortunately this is just not true,"said company spokeswoman Alison Lehrer. "Hopefully we'll have some exciting news soon."

Let's hope so!' added Tirian. 

After a long search in my own documents from 2003 and 2004, I have found a long document where I had compiled all the news at the time, from local NZ news media (including transcriptions I did myself) and online sources.
I hope to include at least some of these here (to check with other mods first).

APRIL 2004 - lots of news items, especially the company's arrival in NZ!!

5 April 2004  Digital company updates -  some of us heard of Rhythm & Hues for the first time a few days earlier; now it is confirmed that they are the main company for special effects.

https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/04/weta-workshops-in-weta-digital-out/

6 April 2004 : The production is officially welcomed to NZ with a traditional Maori welcome ceremony (powhiri)

“Today brought a key scene in the making of the New Zealand production of the Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, the arrival in Auckland of its Kiwi director Andrew Adamson. The big-budget fantasy will create 600 jobs, take a year to shoot, and hit cinemas at Christmas next year.” (TV reporter)

https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/04/nz-television-spot-transcript/

7 April 2004:  Mark Johnson was interviewed by NZ media.
The following link has a summary and a long transcript.

https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/04/mark-johnsons-radio-interview/

CASTING CALLS FOR EXTRAS IN NEW ZEALAND

12 April 2004

Excitement stirred for some weeks for the average New Zealanders who wanted to work on the film - or should I say 'non-average'?  These two links cover the first 'small and tall' casting call in Wellington:

https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/04/nz-casting-call-for-extras/
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/04/looking-for-big-and-small-new-zealanders/

These are two reports on the Christchurch small and tall casting call - both are by Narniawebbers.

https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/04/second-casting-call-in-christchurch/
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/04/christchurch-casting-report/

(coracle may be seen in a photo halfway up the stairs)

27 April 2004
Advert for Auckland Casting Call (Auckland is the largest city, and the location of the studios used for LWW)
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/04/auckland-auditions-planned/

3 May 2004 Two reports on the Auckland casting call. The longer one is by a Narniawebber.

https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/05/narnian-hopefuls-audition-in-auckland/

May and June 2004:

Casting news for leading roles began to be a real thing for both the Evil and the Good characters!

Then in early May, we got excited over this:
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/05/tilda-swinton-may-play-the-white-witch/

It was followed up by:
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/05/swinton-confirmed-as-the-white-witch/

And on the side of Good:
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/05/james-mcavoy-to-play-mr-tumnus/

Just before that, we had this little gem:
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/05/gregson-williams-scoring-confirmed/   (2 May)

Other stories featured animals to be used in the film:
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/06/american-wolves-brought-to-narnia-set/   (11 June)
In mid May we had this report:
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/05/narnia-horse-training-developments/
This was followed a month later by:
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/06/white-horse-picked-for-narnian-unicorn/

Gamers got excited from this 10 May report: 
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/05/buena-vista-to-publish-narnia-video-games/

Other items in May & June:
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/05/jasmine-watson-to-do-jewelry-for-narnia/

Artwork began to appear:
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/06/new-images-from-disney/
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/06/more-narnia-banner-images/

Locations were also in the news:
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/06/flock-hill-station-may-be-used-for-final-battle/
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/06/flock-hill-to-host-film/
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/06/flock-hill-station-pictures/

After this some more roles were confirmed as cast:
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/06/dawn-french-to-play-mrs-beaver/
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/06/mr-beaver-has-been-cast/
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/06/rupert-everett-gets-part-in-film/
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/06/james-cosmo-rumored-to-be-in-narnia-film/

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN? we all wondered.
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/06/lucy-cast/
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/06/children-to-be-announced-soon/

But filming was about to begin!!!

Two important interviews were published/broadcast at this time:

https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/06/adamson-interview/

https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/06/producer-mark-johnsons-interview/

July and August 2004:

Firstly an animal story:

https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/07/reindeer-not-allowed-at-film-set/
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/08/animatronic-reindeer-ready-and-other-set-news/

Then some casting news:

https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/07/james-cosmo-casting-confirmed/
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/07/james-cosmo-to-play-father-christmas/

https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/07/jim-broadbent-to-play-the-professor/

Finally the casting that people most wanted to hear about: THE CHILDREN

https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/07/four-children-announced/

A newspaper story from Georgie's home town:

https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/07/more-on-georgie-henley/

A story from William's home area:

https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/07/william-moseley-in-the-news/

Further casting:
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/07/more-casting-announcements/

Comments by newly-cast actors, including Tilda Swinton's description of how she would play her role (not exactly how it was filmed).
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/07/actors-weigh-in-on-the-movie/

And the first of the Extras casting calls:
https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/07/south-island-casting-calls/

Finally, an article about the sets:

https://www.narniaweb.com/2004/08/ign-reports-news-from-the-set/

Posted by: @coracle

On 19 January 2004, Tirian posted this:

NarniaWeb has learned that about one thousand children have been auditioned and that the production will soon be casting from the short list. It has also been confirmed that pre-production is forging ahead and that the studio has an accepted screenplay and budget.

It's interesting to see that less than 2 years before release, we sill had little-to-no news on the Walden movie at that point either.

Now coming up on the 2 year countdown for Greta Gerwig's film (if the Thanksgiving rumour is to be believed) perhaps we shouldn't be entirely worried about the lack of major news yet.