Sure, occasional innovative ideas reach the big screen (yet when you think of all the major films released each year, not very many). But my point was that the movie industry is not in the position these days to go out on a limb very much for the sake of art.

Football coaches don't call risky plays for the sake of calling a cool play. They do it because they suspect a risky call will gain more yards. Obviously that doesn't always work. That's what makes it risky. If everyone was calling risky plays all the time, they would stop catching teams off guard and lose their effectiveness.

Big studios don't take risks for the sake of art. They do it when someone comes along and explains how a more artful approach could be more profitable than playing it safe. Obviously that doesn't always work. If everyone was being "different," it would defeat the financial purpose of doing something different. And if risky moves always paid off, they wouldn't be risky. "Why don't they teach logic at these schools?"

Thank you for the lecture, but I think you misunderstood me. I was simply saying that the movie industry is not going to be interested, especially these days, to embrace very many fresh, artistic risks. And we can see this based upon the majority of more cautious films being released (sequels, prequels and reboots). That's why we shouldn't really expect authentic adaptations of our favorite books when such large budgets loom over the productions to pay back.

The book they're trying to attempt next isn't exactly blockbuster material. It makes me nervous thinking of all the possible liberties Fox/Walden are going to take with MN to sell more tickets. After seeing VDT, I believe anything is possible...unfortunately.

The book they're trying to attempt next isn't exactly blockbuster material. It makes me nervous thinking of all the possible liberties Fox/Walden are going to take with MN to sell more tickets. After seeing VDT, I believe anything is possible...unfortunately.

I think you're right...I can already hear the Rebecca Black end-of-credits song for MN.

After reading Michael Flaherty's latest interview, I truly think that he and the other filmmakers at Walden Media are looking at the track records of the previous films, as they complete the process of making the next ones. I have confidence that they will work hard to get the Magician's Nephew as great as they can, or at least, better than previous installments.

One can only hope. I'll believe him when I see the final product. VDT was supposed to be the film that got the series back on track and it didn't really do that.

Flaherty's comments did get me to thinking though. He mentioned it was a positive thing to have two popular characters, Jadis and Aslan, play such prominent roles in this story. But what does that mean for the budget? We've heard Gresham comment in the past that they would love to do more of Aslan in each movie but cannot because the budget won't allow it. How are they going to limit showing Aslan in MN? They'll have to increase the budget somehow or find a way to compromise on other things. And I think I know what they'll do.

I bet we won't see very many real location shoots in MN. VDT had limited locations and more studio work compared to LWW and PC, because it fits with the storyline but probably more because they wanted to keep the budget down. And MN is the easiest one to get away with that because several of the scenes they'd have to create need to be surreal and otherworldly which could be done best if they create sets and have green screen to fill in the gaps. Just some thoughts...

It took easily up to ten million or maybe a lot more, just to construct the Dawn Treader, itself, assemble it, disassemble it, put it on a gimbal, transport it to a couple of different places such as the Whitsundays and to rearrange it for the last scenes of the film. There was also the hire of the water tank in the Gold Coast Studios, plus training Will Poulter, Georgie Henley and Skandar Keynes in scuba diving techniques.

Then there was hiring and paying for actors, extras etc It would be great to see how the expenses were laid out in VDT, which had a lot of special effects. In VDT Aslan had to share a lot of time and space with other CGI characters such as Reepicheep and Eustace the Dragon.

Whereas in Magician's Nephew, apart from coming through pools, there is no need for ships, water tanks, or transporting the ships. Extras are minimal, and Aslan as a CGI character responsible for creating the others, will be the most costly item. Maybe Fledge as well. Narnia is the location which needs most careful management, especially the garden at the top of the hill where Digory has to get the apple.

Anhun has already found a suitable London street, for Digory's and Polly's places of residence, complete with lamppost, and I agree that Charn could be recreated in studio sets.

I hope they don't mess up Aslan's singing! And I hope Liam Neeson is a good singer.

I hope they don't mess up Aslan's singing! And I hope Liam Neeson is a good singer.

Trouble is, he never uses any words, at least not English ones. It's one of those things where it's really impossible to show it like in the book. How should they handle this?

Surely they can use another voice to do the singing? One that has the same sort of timbre and tone as Liam's.

We don't actually need to hear words of a different language (although that would be neat). Even just simple singing without any words or anything would be nice. But it would be cool if they could figure out how to do so without it sounding weird or funny.

And I agree, coracle, that someone else should sing for Aslan. Just out of curiousity, does Liam Neeson know how to sing, or has done so in movies?

We don't actually need to hear words of a different language (although that would be neat). Even just simple singing without any words or anything would be nice. But it would be cool if they could figure out how to do so without it sounding weird or funny.

And I agree, coracle, that someone else should sing for Aslan. Just out of curiousity, does Liam Neeson know how to sing, or has done so in movies?

Not that I've heard. Liam Neeson has been around a fair bit in the acting world, but not to sing. I expect that any words in the singing will be in indecipherable Latin, which is often the case when such mystical and portentous singing is needed. It will be similar to the sort of singing extensively used in LOTR, or by Enya, who, I think, uses Irish in some of her songs.

To get the idea of what Aslan's song might look like in the film, take a look at the original Fantasia, which has a sort of musical creation sequence. Though I think the MN one could be a distinct and more joyous improvement on this.

Even while reading the book, despite it saying that Aslan sang Narnia into existance, I personally, always pictured it as more of him humming. I think that would end up working a lot better on film too, to have Aslan hum as opposed to sing.

I think that Walden Media and Fox are making a wise decision. If it were to end with only one more movie (God forbid ) then they might as well end it with a film that will draw our attention some more. The Silver Chair will take time to adapt into a movie story since it is a walk and talk story. And there is also this. Remember that part in the end of the Dawn Treader where Eustace was narrating and said something like, "Edmund and Lucy stayed at my house until the end of the war..." well according to the timeline, the Voyage of the Dawn Treader is in 1943 and WWII doesn't end until 1945. And it wouldn't be reasonable to have Eustace and Jill go into Narnia while Lucy and Edmund are still present in the area! That will also provide an excuse for Will Poulter's aging! Also, I think the idea of having Tilda Swinton be in PC and VDT is only so that the audience will remember who she is and with filming MN next (where Jadis will appear obviously) could then save us from fearing her appearance in SC, and HHB. I think they'll find some way to bring into LB.

Tirian_the_Excellent

Trufflehunter is right, I think Aslan will be fine just humming. In fact, I wouldn't even mind is Aslan didn't sing at all. Yes, I said it.

I think that Walden Media and Fox are making a wise decision. If it were to end with only one more movie (God forbid ) then they might as well end it with a film that will draw our attention some more. The Silver Chair will take time to adapt into a movie story since it is a walk and talk story. And there is also this. Remember that part in the end of the Dawn Treader where Eustace was narrating and said something like, "Edmund and Lucy stayed at my house until the end of the war..." well according to the timeline, the Voyage of the Dawn Treader is in 1943 and WWII doesn't end until 1945. And it wouldn't be reasonable to have Eustace and Jill go into Narnia while Lucy and Edmund are still present in the area! That will also provide an excuse for Will Poulter's aging!......
Tirian_the_Excellent

Nice first post! I never thought of it like that. Did he really say until the end of the war? I have to watch my DVD again.