Nice discussion. It's interesting that HHB has come up. I've thought of it a lot as a way for me to see the now older cast members back on screen as the Pevensies. As much as I want SC next for continuity, the idea of HHB next excites me in a way that SC and MN don't. I've never cared for MN that much. HHB was my first favorite Narnia book, then SC, and finally now VDT. Walden screwed that last movie up royally. I don't know who to blame. All I know is, I want the next Narnia film to honor the heart and soul of the books. Just like the Bible, the main character is Aslan - not any human being. Yet I hate to give up on the Pevensies. I just love Will, Anna, Skandar, and Georgie too much!

MN next? http://www.aslanscountry.com/2011/08/as ... rd-part-1/
SC next? http://www.aslanscountry.com/2011/08/as ... rd-part-2/

In fact, I think it's safe to say that the general audience couldn't care less whether or not PC was anything like the book and therefore Walden could not have broken faith with them.

I did not say anything about books. A lot of people who have never read the book Prince Caspian were turned off to the series by the movie. What they care about is that Narnian magic, which the movie PC did not have, in spite of having a number of elements in common with LWW, such as the exact same protagonists, a similar plot structure, and Aslan. They won't trust a Narnia movie to bring back that feeling just because it has Tilda Swinton in it.

While you're right that an LWW connection is more marketable than a VDT connection, an interesting story and engaging characters (whether established or new) present an even greater advantage than either one of those. Because of that, I feel that Silver Chair is actually more marketable than MN. Although, HHB is probably the safest bet, having the best of both worlds.

Consider the movie Up. Nobody knew who Carl Frederickson was before Up came out, but Walden and Fox would be thrilled if a Narnia movie made the sort of box office that that movie made. As for the Snow White comparison, that's not a sequel, its a remake, and it relies at least as heavily on the popularity of the Grimm fairy tale as it does on the 1930s movie.

^^^^^^^^^^^ Okay, quick question: Who's that person you mentioned from Up? (I've never seen it.) Also...did they make a new Snow White or something? Last time I checked, it was just the original, Walt Disney, old time-y Snow White. Is there a new one?

Anyway... I was thinking, LOOK OUT! :

I'm actually starting to think SC is a really good option. Here's the pro's & con's:

Pro's:

a.) Will Poulter's age. (duh...classic consideration)

b.) It introduces a new character. (Jill Pole)

c.) It's a bit dark, actually it's pretty dark, and it could attract a wider audience, especially now that Harry Potter's done. Thank the Lord...

d.) It still lures the old Narnia fans, as opposed to the whole: "Do-the-Magicians-Nephew-Thing:-New-Generation...New Fans" It continues Eustace journey, and it mentions Caspian, who came into the picture 2 films ago,so...that's older fans.

e.) It continues the Caspian/Lilliandil romance, however brief it may be. Speaking of which, it wasn't really well established in VDT anyway... When I told some people who saw VDT but have never read the books that Caspian marries :"That blue girl that Ed & Caspian like who's only in the film for like, a minute." They were like: "Really?!?" So it it sort of connects to VDT, however pathetically.

Con's:

a.) It is a bit darker, and that might not really lure all kinds of people, kind of with PC, it was pretty much only for teens or adults, it was kind of lost on children.So, if would loose the whole "Family Film" advertising strategy.

b.) Because of reason stated above, it would be a risk to make, and would take a lot of money, and after VDT, I doubt Walden/or who ever picks it up, would want to take the chance of another film flop.

c.) If they don't hurry up and make something! The old Narnia fans might give up or ditch Narnia films altogether...the new generations will come along, get bored, and that will be the end of Narnia as we know it.

Any thoughts?

I actually wouldn't mind them doing HHB. It would be a better choice than MN in terms of continuity (although not as good as Silver Chair I think.) However the only problem I have with the idea is the money it would cost. I think HHB would cost much more than MN or SC would. I wouldn't want the movie to be done poorly with a small budget. Other than that, I would be very excited if HHB was made next (considering its one of my favorites. )

I tried to find a Horse & His Boy movie thread, but couldn't so am postin here as default.

For the Horse & His Boy i would go back to the 70% fantasy family film/ 30% young family film ratio of Prince Caspian.

I think Lion, With & Wardrobe was 50% fantasy family film/ 50% young family film.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader was 65-75% young family film/ 25-35% fantasy family.

LW&W had the advantage of being the first film, novelty value for the feel of the whole Narnia chronicles, so it was able to appeal to the fantasy family crowd with it's novelty value propping up the young family element of the adaption to the more fantasy family market segment. But that was a oncer due to novelty value.

PC got the ratio exactly right, like all the great fantasy tales, and it was only the underground caverns & resulting battle that seem to make it jar more than it really did, because this was at a crucial part of the films climax where it segued out of that flow into something else before getting back to it's narrative grove with Lucy in the woods. PC was a factor in VODTs long legs, i always though that would be the case, and dvd sales have inferred this also.

I'm not bashing VODT being what it is, i think it is good to have variety in the adaptions as long as that is the context for that particular adaption, over the long term that in itself adds value to the CoN adaptions, and the new ones to come. VODT best moments for me as for the potential it had in the adaption, was the entire sequence at the magician's island. Georgie Henley was in the fore-front with a Lucy type narrative that could have gone threw whole film of finding Aslan as older person in a magical quest, Caspian N Edmond were in strong supporting roles taking on the dufflepods, the new character Eustace was about right in the narrative, and the innovations added to the story were still full of wonder and danger. It really builds up momentum as an exciting singular story for me in this part of the film, rather than just becoming an enjoyable watch as it goes along.

For Horse and His Boy, i would add King Peter into the adaption more. This would be through the awe he is held in by the Colormens and the end battle. I would also show in a subtle way but in a few successive sequences, despite him being a wise, powerful & Noble King, there are repeated glimpses of the weaknesses that came up in PC for him to deal wtih, and each time we see subtle glimpses of these we also see Aslan giving him puzzled/concerned glances although no one else really notices. It would be really cool seeing this type of thing in the adaption in relation to PC, and is part of the unique opportunity there is in undertaking such a series of inter-related stories for adaption, where they all contribute to moments in the other stories adapted.

Nic, you seem to have rather peculiar taste. This is not a criticism (I'm in no position to judge ). At the same time, something that will make a Narnia movie more enjoyable for you, will not necessarily make it more marketable.

PC did not get a positive response from general audiences. I don't think that altering the HHB story to give it better continuity/similarity with PC is a wise idea. As I've said before, I think switching Edmund and Peter's roles in the story would be a better alternative than recasting Edmund, but I don't think they should bring back teen-angsty Peter. He's supposed to be an adult.

I suspect that VDT's strong legs were a direct result of the PG rating and the timing of the release. Parents were scouring the papers for G and PG films to entertain the little ones over the holidays. Given a choice between seeing Tangled for a 4th time, seeing Yogi or Gulliver, both of which looked painfully dumb, and seeing VDT, many of them decided to go with VDT.

I think HHB would cost much more than MN or SC would. )

I think it would definitely cost more than SC, But MN has a heavy CGI scene to contend with in the creation of Narnia, plus multiple sets... that are extremely diverse. So I think MN might cost more, but it would be close.

@Nic5 I have to admit, though I'd prefer a LWW tone for HHB, I always imagined SC with a PC tone. (I even imagined it starting in Narnia like PC did

At the same time, something that will make a Narnia movie more enjoyable for you, will not necessarily make it more marketable....

.......................................

Hi Anhun, thanks for your comments. I wasn't meaning High King Peter's moments via relation to PC being teen-angst at all, quite the opposite, simply subtle character traits that have grown through his role as High King, which was a unique adult situation of much weight for potential good & bad.
I could be wronger than you related to VODT's long legs but i would have thought that it is unusual for a 'second alternative' also ran PG type film option for that active market (particularly an un-hyped PG second choice option), to steadily march towards 400 mill in it's movie run as far as this general industry goes, not even taking into account it's similarity with PC's final box office.

@Wolfloversk, right.
I'm not sure the ratio type i was meaning is necessarily the same as tone. In a general sense my sensibilities are the same as yours regards H&HB & SC in regards to darkness/light adaption feel

At the same time, something that will make a Narnia movie more enjoyable for you, will not necessarily make it more marketable.

You never said a truer word. Last week and a couple of weeks ago I visited two movies made cheaply, made without much CGI or 3D effects, and though they were enjoyable movies to see, neither would even make it into BOM's first 200. Marketing is part of the reason in both cases.

Without considerably more marketing than a historical article in the Daily Telegraph, or local word of mouth, neither movie is at all likely to make even $50 million, let alone succeed worldwide. That does not mean they failed abysmally. The title of the first one, Eagle, doesn't give much indication that it is based on a well-known and loved Rosemary Sutcliff novel about Roman Britain, that people might have been just as interested to see as any Narnia movie. Despite the hordes attending blockbusters next door, there were quite as many attendees, in the theatre with me, as I have seen in any of the VDT or PC sessions I attended. Just as well, because this M rated movie never had more than one daily screening in its entire run of one week at the local theatre.

The trailer I saw for the other 2011 movie, which I attended last Saturday,Red Dog, was actually coupled with VDT when it came out last December. And this PG movie, easily as entertaining as VDT, only cost $8 mill Australian to make. It had a similar sized cast as you would expect for SC, MN, or even HHB, but I can't see it featuring on BOM at all, since this Australian movie might not even go overseas to USA.

The star of the show, an Australian Red Kelpie or cattle dog, can't talk, being too busy listening. But Koko the dog, whose interview for the film formed the trailer, is as good an actor as some humans. And yes, the township, Dampier, named after the buccaneer who first visited the area before 1770, is a real one as was the legendary Pilbara Wanderer, whose statue is in Dampier. There are no battles, or any real bloodshed, though there is a bit of romance, one happy and one sad. Though there was a token American in a leading role, there were no heroics, nor were children at all the focus of this outback story.

VDT did well to have the top grade scenery, the ship, good 3D effects and the CGI. Because those are the sorts of things in the movies which this winter drew the hordes locally. Transformers, Harry Potter and Pirates of the Carribbean in 3D have all drawn good audiences as they blitz the box office, being popular, well-anticipated movies. These are also the only movies that the local shops and theatres, themselves, were really interested in promoting, unlike VDT last December. But when VDT was released on DVD last April, the buyers of it and other Fox DVD's got a free ticket for the then upcoming Rio. That must have helped this animated cartoon in Australia quite a bit.

When $125 million each makes the two parts of Deathly Hallows, there isn't any further excuse for throwing more money into good film productions than is strictly necessary. The biggest expense in VDT was the ship. The biggest expense in PC was the locations, in particular, the engineering of that bridge. I can't see why both SC and MN couldn't be screened quite comfortably in UK, or as far as possible, within studios. Jadis' rampage through London would be nowhere as expensive as last week's real rampage there. Even HHB, if it is made, need not take a lot of money to make since there isn't anywhere near as much CGI demanded of it than is the case in MN. The only real cost in HHB is constructing Tashbaan.

I would like to see HHB made. Although, when I asked around some people who enjoyed the book said that they would be hesitant to see it in the movie due to what they referred to as, "Ed the Talking Horse Syndrome."

One thing I would hope is that the White Witch not appear in any way shape or form.

...when I asked around some people who enjoyed the book said that they would be hesitant to see it in the movie due to what they referred to as, "Ed the Talking Horse Syndrome."

lol, that would be funny to see. Someone should make an animation based on that! Can you imagine? "A horse is a horse, of course of course.."

One thing I would hope is that the White Witch not appear in any way shape or form.

Agreed. I think I'd pull my hair out. Walden: give it up...please. Seriously, it's like Jaws in James Bond...he NEVER dies. It's a pain.And very unrealistic.

I am looking at this strictly from a commercial perspective.

Hah! Simple enough, really! Commercially, anything funny they have tried yielded commercially disastrous results.

.did they make a new Snow White or something? Last time I checked, it was just the original, Walt Disney, old time-y Snow White. Is there a new one?

This may be a bit off topic, but yes, there are three big-budget snow whites coming out.

Disney is coming out with a fan-boy action movie version set in China, that is going to start filming next year.

Relativity is coming out with a straight-up fantasy version for Spring Break next year:

And Universal is making a medieval romance/adventure version with "Thor" and the girl from Twilight for summer 2012:

None of them are sequels or prequels though.

"And MN does have the White Witch in spades"

Haha... I think we need to put a link into this to are old old classic discussion about this debate:)

I suppose it came as rather a shock to all of us when the news about MN being the next movie came. At first I was completely confused; it didn't make any sense to me. However, after I heard their reasons I kind of understand. A little. But I think that the reasons they have for MN could be the same for HHB. There's a close connection to LWW, which did the best out of all the movies and the Pevensies can still be in the movies. The only marketing aspect I can't figure out (and don't want to) is how they would manage to wedge in the White Witch. I'm afraid that even if they did HHB they would find some way to weasel Tilda Swinton in. Right now I can't think of a way for them to do that, but then again I couldn't figure out how they'd fit her into VDT and they managed to do that.