Oy, I wonder if doing Magician's Nephew is the foreboding of "one last crack at it"?! I mean, if this movie does well, will they attempt to make SC next? And, how will they deal with having a new actor for Eustace? Because, surely they will have to have a new actor for Eustace if they let two years pass in order to make a different film. So, what I'm saying, if anything, aren't they making it more complicated for themselves by making Magician's Nephew? Either that or, like I said, they truly believe this will be their last movie.

I don't think they believe that, but I believe that.

Although, if the series does, by some miracle, survive MN, it shouldn't be too much of a problem for them to do HHB or SC next. Honestly, they're going to have continuity issues regardless.

Yes but i wish they would make HHB first, even though it doesnt look they are.

Oy, I wonder if doing Magician's Nephew is the foreboding of "one last crack at it"?! I mean, if this movie does well, will they attempt to make SC next? And, how will they deal with having a new actor for Eustace? Because, surely they will have to have a new actor for Eustace if they let two years pass in order to make a different film. So, what I'm saying, if anything, aren't they making it more complicated for themselves by making Magician's Nephew? Either that or, like I said, they truly believe this will be their last movie.

I don't think they believe that, but I believe that.

Although, if the series does, by some miracle, survive MN, it shouldn't be too much of a problem for them to do HHB or SC next. Honestly, they're going to have continuity issues regardless.

I believe that too (MN being one last attempt to salvage the franchise). If MN were successful I think they could still make SC and definitely have to cast a new Eustace. I was more upset after reading that article than I've been in awhile.

Oy, I wonder if doing Magician's Nephew is the foreboding of "one last crack at it"?!

I'm sure they're still hoping to make all seven films, but this totally changes my impression of the series. It seems like they are just trying to milk Narnia as much as possible before it dies. And they are clearly willing to sacrifice good story-telling in order to do that, because SC is clearly the logical next chapter.

In retrospect, I think this attitude started after PC performed poorly at the box office. I think the passion of the filmmakers deflated. It's hard not to get the impression that the cast and crew of VDT were just there to collect their paycheck and leave.

Probably not all of the cast and crew but some of them, for sure.

I was very surprised when I started hearing MN might get made next, but now I've had a while to mull it over I actually think it's a really great idea - and no, not just for "$"! I was outraged at first (How dare they change the order?) but, really, am I just annoyed because I've explained to newbies on NarniaWeb for years that "They're making the films in chronological order, that means LWW, PC, VDT, SC ... so, no, don't expect number '1' for a while!"

When it comes down to it, I really don't have any problems with MN being made first. Don't you think it's kind of great? The more I think about it the more excited I get! At the moment the plan for SC seems pretty dire. The "green mist" set up in VDT has been a disappointment for many fans. If SC's made next then that, I think, will play a key role in it. Now that's something I really don't want to see. If MN's made first, then VDT and SC will have to be able to stand on their own.

MN is an opportunity to show a story in Narnia that hasn't been seen before except in a book. With the three adaptions done up to now, there's been a comparison. That won't exist for this film. I think the filmmakers will be more free to take things directly from the book, rather than being impeded by what's been done previously. (Think about remakes, like The Planet of the Apes, which was given a "new" twist at the end to make it different - have some of the changes in LWW, PC and VDT been things to get away from their BBC counterparts?)

The Magician's Nephew is a much more hopeful and happy book. Though The Silver Chair has some great characters (and I do very much want to see Puddleglum!) the whole story is littered with despair. To use a crude example, MN = LWW, SC = PC. We all know which audiences preferred. So this is an argument for the good ol' $, but producers do have to keep that in mind! Would you lend someone $10 if you weren't sure you'd get it back? Okay, now imagine that figure is $150 million.

Plus, MN has some incredible scenes in it. Victorian London will be amazing (especially if they actually shoot it on location). The creation of Narnia ... Fledge ... Frank and Helen's coronation ... MN is a beautiful book. SC, by comparison, has a rather dingy school, a marsh, a giants' castle, and some caves. Mmm.

There's a real possibility there will be no more Narnia films after this. If you had to choose from the remaining four books, which one would you pick to be made? It might not be SC or MN. But, truly, would you choose to see The Silver Chair made over The Magician's Nephew ever being made?

I agree stateofgreen, I was upset when I read this. Its not that I don't want another Narnia film, its just that I REALLY wanted SC next and it makes most sense. I can't believe that this would go ahead when there are so many reasons not to and loads of fans want SC anyway! Plus I really don't want Euastace to be re cast, that would reck SC for me if it were to be made in the future, especially after the great performance Will Poulter gave

AJAiken,

I might share your excitement if I had any faith in this production to do anything but destroy the story. The film is probably going to get a shoe-string budget. And the film is not being made because they were inspired...it's being made because it will be the easiest to market. I expect added action scenes, and a scene where Digory is told to look inside himself to find the cure for his mother.

AJA, you're feeling the same thing all fans feel every time a new film starts going into production: The sense of a clean slate. We don't have details yet, so the possibilities seem infinite.

But the possibilities are very finite indeed when the filmmakers involved refuse to release anything that doesn't have a generic, proven plot.

I'm scratching my head at the math in that article.

"Prince Caspian sold a third of the books as Dawn Treader and did a third at the box office."

Caspian only did one third as well as VDT in the box office? What figures are they looking at?

Also if LWW sold twice as many books as PC and PC sold 1/3 as many books as VDT, doesn't that mean that VDT has sold a lot more copies than LWW?

OK, Mathematician to the rescue.

I think what Mr. Flaherty was trying to say was that PC did about a third more than VDT. PC = $141 million, VDT = $105 million. A third of 105 million is 35 million. Add the $35 million to VDT's $105 million and you get $140 million, which is just a million dollars away from PC's final domestic gross. It's rough math that wouldn't be suitable for a first quarter report, but it'll do for a casual interview.

Here's hoping that all of this analyzing leads them to give MN a bigger budget. There is no way they could make MN on VDT's $155 million budget. I'd suggest something closer to Alice in Wonderland's $200 million budget. Unfortunately, the budget probably will be set by VDT's success, and not MN's expected outcome.

The nice thing about SC is that it could have been made so much more cheaply. $100 million easily. Oh well. Here's hoping that Walden is right and MN is a huge blockbuster film. Then perhaps Fox and Walden can muster the courage needed to trust the stories instead of changing them to fit typical Hollywood structure.

AJAiken, I feel very much the same as you. However at the same time I can't supress the fear that glumPuddle brings up. If MN ends up looking like VDT then I will be very, very upset. However as GP says, a new film just gives you hope. Perhaps that hope is a little blind to reality, but I admit, MN does make me excited.

I also agree that MN will need much more money than VDT. I think the small budget of VDT lead to some of its problems. I bigger budget would look more promising.

When it comes down to it, I really don't have any problems with MN being made first. Don't you think it's kind of great? The more I think about it the more excited I get! At the moment the plan for SC seems pretty dire. The "green mist" set up in VDT has been a disappointment for many fans. If SC's made next then that, I think, will play a key role in it. Now that's something I really don't want to see. If MN's made first, then VDT and SC will have to be able to stand on their own.

The Magician's Nephew is a much more hopeful and happy book. Though The Silver Chair has some great characters (and I do very much want to see Puddleglum!) the whole story is littered with despair. To use a crude example, MN = LWW, SC = PC. We all know which audiences preferred. So this is an argument for the good ol' $, but producers do have to keep that in mind! Would you lend someone $10 if you weren't sure you'd get it back? Okay, now imagine that figure is $150 million...

Thank you, heaps AJAitken. You are so right. I don't even think that MN would be as expensive as one would imagine, especially as there aren't a lot of extras involved, apart from the London crowd, which would be only enough to make a nuisance of themselves. Unless they decide to include a very brief view of Charn in action, which is really up to the scriptwriters and the directors.

The CGI would easily be the most expensive item on the MN budget. Some of the sets and filming won't cost much at all. A set in a London sidestreet or in a few of them if they decide to enlarge Jadis' rampage, wouldn't cost an arm and a leg, and the Londoners after HP would be 'used to it'. Apart from obvious out of doors scenes. much could be done on site in studios, especially the palace in Charn.

That hall of statues might be a little expensive depending how detailed and richly one tries to dress the statues, though the 'jewellery' and crowns would be fake, the sort of thing sold at Spotlight and other places which promote crafts and beading. A side trip to the Tower of London shows how even Royalty economised in Crown Jewels over the years.

For outdoors scenes I'm most interested in seeing how the film portrays the 'Wood between the Worlds', as well as the Narnian sites. But apart from passing spectacular topography, there are only two sites where the action is really at: Lantern Waste where Narnia was formed, and the valley beyond. Plus the garden at the top of the mountain which also comes into play in LB.

And if MN can't be made well on a reduced budget, how much more money than MN's filming costs would be needed to make the remaining films, that is to say HHB and SC? Both of these need at least an equivalent budget as well.

I was very surprised when I started hearing MN might get made next, but now I've had a while to mull it over I actually think it's a really great idea - and no, not just for "$"! I was outraged at first (How dare they change the order?) but, really, am I just annoyed because I've explained to newbies on NarniaWeb for years that "They're making the films in chronological order, that means LWW, PC, VDT, SC ... so, no, don't expect number '1' for a while!"

Technically MN should be first if the movies were in Chronological order, but the problem was that the Pevensies who were in LWW had to be shown also in PC and then in VDT. As in the HP films they needed to be seen as growing older, but it was never going to work as well as in JK Rowlings' HP septology, which in turn was at least indirectly and partly inspired by C.S.Lewis' Narnia septology.

Yes, everyone is expecting SC to be made next, but why exactly? BBC has already been and done that. Furthermore, the way Eustace was portrayed in Walden VDT, whenever he appears in future movies, he is really a completely different character. We would be seeing a post-dragon Eustace, unlike Will Poulter's pre-dragon VDT Eustace.

Ideally Will Poulter should be able to play the reformed Eustace in SC and LB, and sorry, I don't see why his growing into young adulthood should be such a problem. Especially today when Elizabeth Taylor's death was announced, and her fellow pre-WW2 child actor, Judy Garland, who played Dorothy in the 1939 Wizard of Oz classic, is also called to mind.

Besides, despite the time frame in the books, in even SC, a teenaged presence is more viable, due to the darker tone of SC, which comes across even in the BBC version. There are things in SC which I feel are more pertinent to children growing up to adolescence that they should be mindful of in their spiritual and social development.

And yes, even when Disney was happy to make LWW, it, too, was rubbing its hands in glee over a good return for a recognised children's literature classic. Is anyone saying the bottom dollar didn't count then just as much as it appears to be doing now? After all, a healthy financial return does pay the bills.

MN is an opportunity to show a story in Narnia that hasn't been seen before except in a book. With the three adaptions done up to now, there's been a comparison. That won't exist for this film. I think the filmmakers will be more free to take things directly from the book, rather than being impeded by what's been done previously. (Think about remakes, like The Planet of the Apes, which was given a "new" twist at the end to make it different - have some of the changes in LWW, PC and VDT been things to get away from their BBC counterparts?)

Again I have to agree that yes, some of the changes have been to get away from the BBC versions. In particular I noticed this in VDT, in the Narrowhaven scenes and also Eustace's undragonning. Furthermore, if MN is made, the diehard Narnia fan still has the BBC version of SC to keep them consoled for a while. And yes, I also expect a greater degree of accuracy and fidelity to the original sources in this production if and when it occurs.

By the way, Coming Soon now has a site up for Magician's Nephew, which I know for a fact did not exist beforehand.

I expect added action scenes, and a scene where Digory is told to look inside himself to find the cure for his mother.

Ugh! Don't give them any ideas!

When rereading the part in Magician's Nephew where Jadis grabs on to Diggory as he and Polly jump into the pools, and the way the "pool travel" is described as quick and confusing, I always come back to thinking of the scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows where Yaxley grabs on to Hermione as they escape the Ministry of Magic.

Interesting new article from The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog ... hises-skip

Yes, it was a very interesting article. On the surface I thought it was the usual media crack at the Narnia books then found it quite good. On the other hand I got a bit upset at all the anti-Horse and his boy comments following the article. HHB is my favourite of the series.

When rereading the part in Magician's Nephew where Jadis grabs on to Diggory as he and Polly jump into the pools, and the way the "pool travel" is described as quick and confusing, I always come back to thinking of the scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows where Yaxley grabs on to Hermione as they escape the Ministry of Magic.

Do you know that might not be co-incidence? JKR has been quite open about her admiration for most of C.S.Lewis' Narnia series. Especially as before the last volume was written, I distinctly remember that JKR referred to MN's Wood between the Worlds in a Library Week speech. Apparently she saw this wood as an analogy to a library. Furthermore, have you ever wondered why she has someone called Jimmy Kirk on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, not to mention a good, fair and noble Hufflepuff team player called Cedric Diggory? }-]

But back to Magician's Nephew. And the Guardian article whose respondents also bag Twilight, HP, and James Bond. Maybe it isn't a good idea to pay attention to other people's opinions too much?