I did a double take... to quote the Avengers: "seeing... still working on believing." That pretty much sums up my feelings at this point. I'm super excited though... wasn't that long ago it seemed like we'd be waiting forever... maybe 7 years isn't as bad as I thought

People keep talking about how if Walden Media was involved in this movie, it would be a disaster. I don't think they will be part of the production. Correct me if I'm wrong but Walden downsized or something and are no longer working on producing or financing theatrical films and focusing on TV movies.

You're not wrong, Puddle. At least about the downsizing. I'm not sure about their focus on TV movies. I think they also cannot pick the series back up but that may not be accurate.

Wolfy, I had the same thought. It certainly has been a few years since the moratorium was put in place, so what was once 7 years is now about four or five.

Well well well! How unexpected and exciting!

It's been so long since I've read SC. I'm going to have to reread it so I can really hop into future discussions. But yeah! I really hope this all works out and they're able to find funding for it. I don't know much about Gordon's work. I've heard people talk about Saving Private Ryan being a good film but I've never seen it myself.

I wonder if a new production would allow Ben Barnes to reprise his King Caspian role?

YES, I was just thinking this! I'm a little worried about Will being too old to play Eustace again though. Especially if this doesn't go into production for a while still...

Either way, it's great to have another Narnia movie to look forward to again.

I found out when glumPuddle called me and let me know. Wow. This is huge news. I've had a bit of time to settle down since earlier excitement (see youtube.com/princerilian for said excitement).

By the time I talked to Tirian this evening, I was basically exhibiting two emotions.

The first was NARNIAWEB IS BACK! I have missed so much of the fun with covering news and spy reports that I think it's awesome we'll go back to that. Even though I am proud to say I do not own the recent film, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the process as a NarniaWebber was still fun.

The second emotion is most definitely

Now, of course I'm excited a Silver Chair movie is being made. However, I'm sort of back to square 1 like I was with LWW. Will it be true to the book? Will it be similar to the first two movies? Will it be as bad or worse than the third film? We don't know what will happen, but it'll be an exciting journey!

Surprise! Yes, I too find all this news rather unexpected.

I really have no opinion on the new company yet, even though I am glad that the C. S. Lewis estate will have a bigger role in this production it seems.

Mostly, I'm just glad that NarniaWeb is back. I was just thinking to myself on Saturday how much I missed a busy NarniaWeb...

Time to dust off the forum!! Buckle up, get set, further up and further in!

P.S. Please don't mess up Puddleglum.

Also, with respect to the previous screenwriters, I hope that new writers are hired who have more respect for the material this time. (I nominate myself.)

Honestly, I doubt it was the screenwriters' fault. I'm thinking the producers and studio bigwigs pushed them to make a script that was more "family friendly": i.e. simplified, good-vs-evil plot and boring be-yourself moral of the story.

You could be right. It may not be coincidence that the last Shrek instalment had a 'be yourself' sort of theme not too different from the 'be yourself' twist put on Lucy's temptation to read the beauty spell. Or that Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger tides had themes and settings not too different from what you might find in Magician's Nephew. Or even the LOTR treatment of trees in PC.

It seems these bigwig production companies might be a tad more interested in competing with each other and in cribbing each other's ideas to make gazillions of profit than in developing quality films.

Looking at the above link posted by glumPuddle I saw that David Tennant had been suggested for Puddleglum. Well, he might do, but does a suitable candidate to play Puddleglum always have to have experience in playing Dr Who?

By the way, could someone please let me know how to go about posting any news I might find? I am interested in the commemorations this November for C.S.Lewis in UK, for one thing.

P.S. Please don't mess up Puddleglum.

Or cast Tilda Swinton as the Lady of the Green Kirtle.

Does anyone else think that when Walden Media ceased film production last month the Narnia moratorium expired prematurely?

It's frustrating that it may not be released until 2018, but on the bright side, we can hope that this means they'll have a lot of time to work on the story and make it a really excellent adaptation of the book.

That's a great way to look at it.

Though of course, SilverSea could be right about the moratorium being somehow ended. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

And as NL101 pointed out, the talk sounds great, let's hope they walk it.

Whatever happens, it's a thrill to see everything starting again. We stuck out the wait, and it ended up shorter than we feared. Hugs all around!

I think Will Poulter could easily reprise his role as Eustace. Even though he'd likely be 22 by the time the film goes into production he could probably pass as a 16 year old relatively well. That would make Eustace several years older than he was in the books, but I think it would be a good change. As much as I love the Narnia books, kids fighting in battles and going on epic adventures doesn't translate all that well to the big screen. Making him older would make The Silver Chair MUCH more believable. Pete was older in the first film than he was in the book, and Caspian was MUCH older in the movie than he was in the book. And both of those changes were for the better in my opinion. There's also really no reason why Eustace couldn't be in his early 20s in The Last Battle, too. Just make Tirian 30 or so and the dynamic will work just fine.

I also think that you guys who think they're going to try to distance themselves completely from the previous films as much as possible are mistaken. They may try to make this film a back-to-the-basics soft reboot that hearkens back to LWW as much as possible and largely ignores VODT, but they won't totally start from scratch. Don't underestimate the power of having an established franchise. The last two films didn't exactly set the box office on fire, but only because they had such large budgets. $400+ million is nothing to shake a stick at. Those two films still earned the franchise a lot of name recognition. With a $150 million budget VODT should have been reasonably profitable with those numbers. I think it's reasonable to believe that the next Narnia film can expect a box office haul at least somewhere in the $400 million range due to the performance and name recognition of it's predecessors, so I don't think they'll abandon that. Instead, I think we'll just see the film get made with a lower budget. Maybe $100 million or so, which would still make for great film.

Make no mistake. The CS Lewis estate will not make a dent if they don't have producers, writers and a director who respects and understands the source material.

One of my favorite immediate effects of this news is seeing a lot of familiar faces suddenly pop back into the forum after extended absence. Nostalgia!

I have mixed feelings about them making it now, rather than having a reboot of The Magician's Nephew or something (continuity-wise it would be strange to have a lone Silver Chair movie disjointed from other productions, while Magician's Nephew is fairly self-contained).

The bottom line, however, is that I would prefer a mediocre film to no film at all. At the very least, it's something new to discuss again.

So... do we know what role the Mark Gordon Company will be playing? Are they going to handle the creative aspect of the movie (e.g. Walden Media) or the financial aspect of the movie (e.g. Disney, Fox)? Both? Neither?

Hey guys, any casting discussion can be relocated to the Casting section. fantasia_kitty started a great thread over there on whether or not Eustace should be recast.

Thanks!

The more I've been thinking about this, the more I find myself slightly disappointed that they aren't going to reboot with MN. If it does end up that they can't release the film until 2018 -which seems likely to me at this point- it will have been 8 years since VotDT. That's quite a long time between sequels.

As much as I've always been in favor of publication order over chronological order, I think, given the current circumstances, it would make sense to reboot and go the chronological route. It would give them a chance to revisit PC and VDT (mostly VDT) which would be nice, but it would also start the series off fresh (MN).

Having said that, I'm still excited to see SC made. I suppose my real concern is that we'll end up with a complete set of Narnia movies, but that some of them will be almost worthless or unwatchable (VDT). It would be nice to have a complete series that is good; Great would be preferable, but I would settle for good if I had to.

My one note to the producers/directors/writers/anybody-involved-with-the-film:
Please understand the source material and respect it. (echoing Rilian's sentiment here) Please be inspired by the source material and don't try to make it something that it isn't. Please absorb the spirit of the book and let it carry you throughout the film making process. If you can't do that, then there seems to me to be very little point in making the film.

I'll always be a,
NL101