^ I agree Ithilwen, I doubt they would do it right. If the movies were set in modern times, it could work but they probably wouldn't do it right and the themes and main points of the plot wouldn't come through. I doubt the themes would still make sense if set in modern times.
I wouldn't mind if they rebooted starting with MN, but then they would be expected to go in book order and that just wouldn't work. You can't wait between LWW to HHB to PC. The Pevensie actors would be all grown up by then in that amount of time. The published order works for me for the most part. But there wouldn't be any harm in doing MN. I just think LWW would attract more attention since it is iconic for Narnia and would get the Narnia movies series to start on the right foot.

Here's my thoughts on a reboot: (and I haven't read all the posts on this thread so this could very well have already been mentioned. Sorry if so.)

OK, so I think most of us can agree that LWW was the best adaptation yet. If, as the thread title says, they made fundamental changes, then the movie would be just like PC/VDT, big things that just change the storyline. Maybe it's still a decent movie, but we NWers would be up in arms about this one too. There were no big problems with LWW, no plot changes or anything.

Or, another option is to start a rebooted series with MN. However, even if this did go through, how many people would realize it was a reboot? Right now we're wating for a MN adaptation which has new characters and cast anyway (except Aslan and Jadis, and Digory in a sense, but no one would recognize him as the professor). So even if a reboot started with MN, the next movie would probably be LWW which brings us back to my first point above.

All in all, I think a reboot right now would be a terrible idea. Oh well.

I believe more than ever now that the Narnia series will probably get a reboot of some kind, whether we like it or not.

To me, Hollywood is making fewer and fewer original films now and turning toward other sources, being book series, video games, comic books, and even board games. That being said, even reboots of some of these are being made, such as Clue. I wouldn't be too surprised if one day in the future on NarniaWeb that there will a news story that (insert company name) has bought the rights to make a reboot of the Narnia series, based on the books by C.S. Lewis.

Here are some more thoughts on some things I would like to see differently in a Narnia reboot.

1. I do think that starting off with MN would actually be a good idea. Going in chronological order of the books might actually help tie the plots together better. Instead of starting off with LWW and taking years to get to HHB, the book that doesn't exactly tie in with the other Chronicles, HHB will fall in place where it will make the most sense.

2. I believe that Aslan should be the main focus, instead of the children. Make Aslan the fierce Christ Lion He should be! Not some magic lion that pops up randomly. I would like to see an Aslan I myself as a book fan and viewer of the movies would be afraid of, yet want to come near. This would be very hard to pull off, but I know that there must be someone with heart for these books that would be willing to try.

3. The films should have the magic C.S. Lewis gave the books, not cheap plot devices used just to give a battle just for some action. I would still have liked to see Caspian use his brilliant plan to fool Gumpas on the Lone Islands. I don't want the films to turn out like LotR or HP or PotC, I want them to turn out like Narnia.

If only Walden had tried taking more risks like these, I think Narnia could have been received better by the audience and not treated like "just another fantasy series". If Peter Jackson decided to risk an entire film company on LotR, why couldn't Walden have tried? Narnia has/ had so much potential to be something like these other franchises, but different in its own special way.

If they restart the series i do not want them to start with MN ever. I really think that would create all sorts of problems for the series as well because LWW is the main event of the series. And to start with two children as the main characters that are not back again until LB i do not think would work. I really think that publication order is always the way to go and don't ever want to see a version of the series in chronological order. MN is a prequel and, i think, should always be treated as one. It is the explanation for things we already know.

I disagree that MN is a weak book and that it's unable to support the series. It isn't the best written of the Chronicles (I have to give that to HHB and SC), but its story is captivating and emotionally the best of the series.

I agree the step after MN would be difficult. Would they skip around in the series to avoid doing LWW again? That's one of the most beloved films of the century so far. Remaking it would almost be suicide for the series and the film would have to be perfect.

I am not saying that MN is a weak book. I am saying that MN is a prequel. It is written as if you already know the events of LWW. It is written as an explanation to some of those things and should be treated as such. It is not the beginning of the series and i think it would cause too many problems to treat it as if it is. It is the only book that has kids that don't come back in any of the other books as well as a huge time gap in our world. I just don't think it is the story that defines the series as it is an explanation prequel and not the main event.

. And to start with two children as the main characters that are not back again until LB i do not think would work.

Actually if they did reboot Narnia starting with MN, I think that by time LB would be done, the young children who played Digory and Polly would have grown up enough to play Digory and Polly when they would enter Aslan's Country.

Well they should do that even if they do the movies in chronological order. The children would be more then old enough to come back in LB either way so i don't see your point.

PS. What i was saying was that the protagonist in MN do not come back until LB and then only for a cameo. Therefore the series would lack continuity if it was done first. If it is done as a prequel, which it is, it does not seem out of place.

Lou was joking. Even if they were filming in chronological (starting with MN) order, the filmmakers would have to take an average of 7 years between installments in order for "young Digory" and "young Polly" to age enough that they could play sexagenarian Digory and Polly in LB. Even Walden isn't that slow.

I disagree. They don't have to wait seven years. They can just make Polly and Digory a little bit older like they did with Eustace which i am sure they would do anyways and they would both be plenty old even if it is just three or four years. No matter how many years it was they would be plenty old enough going publication order. That has always been true. That is also true for using the Pevensies in HaHB.

I think the film would need a very distinct visual style, that makes every shot simply a joy to look at. Not that I did not like the snowy woods in LWW (I thought it one of the most beautiful color pallets for a fantasy film). A good way to explain: Tim Burton. No, I do not want a Narnia to become a Tim Burton film, not at all. But the man has an incredibly iconic visual style, that runs through all his films. whether it's animation (corps bride), live action (big fish, sweeney todd), every shot in the film is gorgeous. I think a new Narnia film should have a very unique visual style, like Tim Burton has a unique visual style.

I think the film would need a very distinct visual style, that makes every shot simply a joy to look at.

That's why i think animation would be the route to go. Can you imagine if they produced an animated feature whereby every single frame of the movie had the same unique visual quality as a piece of hand-drawn concept art such as we saw for the Walden movies? It would have the potential to be absolutely stunning.

For example:

http://www.narniaweb.com/wp-content/gal ... art/42.jpg

http://www.narniaweb.com/wp-content/gal ... 20Main.jpg

http://www.narniaweb.com/wp-content/gal ... oncept.jpg

Imagine those, but brought to life as scenes in a fully hand-drawn animated feature film.

Icarus, you just made me geek out. That would be amazing!

I would prefer the Narnia films to be in live action, because I've always thought that Narnia would seem weird in animation.

However, recently watching some of the Disney films from the 90's (Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King), I saw how beautifully animated everything was, like Mufasa and Simba, the kings of the pride lands, and the snow landscapes in Beauty and the Beast. I think if you combine great animation like that with a great script, we could have a beautiful new look and take on Narnia.

I think CGI could be done too if it is executed right, but I think some animated figures done this way look rather creepy.

Or maybe Narnia could be animated in Pauline Baynes' illustrations' style. We saw a little bit of that in the VDT credits and the DVD extras, but they hardly even moved. Who knows how great it could look if Narnia were animated that way?

I would agree with the comments that it is too close to the original films to do a reboot. However, I wouldn't mind seeing a reboot in the next ten years or so.

If they would make a redo, I think the series as a whole could be more realistic. Given what's in the books, to do this would probably mean making them PG-13. Also, releasing a new one every year would be nice. And maybe try and stick closer to the books than the current films have.