BBC was involved with Walking with Dinosaurs, no? I don't believe the technical side would be an issue with them nowadays... though it still wouldn't be up to Avatar specs.

Indeed, BBC did do Walking With Dinosaurs. Now that you bring that up, it feel a little more comfortable with the idea of BBC doing it. In fact, it's made me downright curious as to what it would be like. (off-topic: Regarding WWD, I just read recently that BBC and 20th Century Fox are are working on a CGI/live-action film adaptation of the original series. Should be out sometime in 2013.)

I think my ideal choice would be for Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures to team up and make them.

That has potential... I think that would be my favorite "big" studio option.

Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures have teamed up for a good number of what I think are Great or decent films [...]

Huh. That, along with the Lions Gate idea, has a lot of potential. The real trick will be finding a script writer that can (and is allowed to) do their job properly, and a director/producer that understands the films.

I'm still not sold on the BBC idea... I can't make myself trust their CGI department enough for this task, nor do I trust their ideology. Also, if BBC did it, then the US probably wouldn't get it until after the UK. And that'd drive me batty (or fly me back across the pond!).

None of those films made with WB and LP are ones I'd want to see (Batman Begins is the closest), so no thanks. BBC might work, although if we're going to be doing tv shows instead of movies, then we should consider other studios who do that kind of work as well. I think that if Disney rebooted the series with Pixar or Disney Animated Studios, it would work out better, that's where the good films are coming out these days. I guess I'm one of those people who don't have enough knowledge of studios to pick a favorite, so I'll just go with those who say whatever so long as it produces a good result.

I had never thought of Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures teaming up. I haven't seen any of the movies that they have made together, but from the list that 7chronicles posted, and from what I've heard, those are all pretty well made movies. Of course, if they do it right and have the right director and so forth and so forth, it sounds like it might turn out well.

Here's a idea (probably not a good one )... what about BBC partnering with a bigger studio (say... I don't know Universal?). I can't really think of a precedent, and I don't even know myself if I'm serious or not, but what do you all think of a BBC/??? partnership?

Dinode, while none of those movies may be ones you want to see (and honestly, I'm ambivalent to some of them), it can't be denied that they were made quite well, Batman Begins in particular. So I wouldn't rule it out just yet.

AstroWolfD, it'd certainly be an unprecedented action, from what I can remember. Partnerships aren't rare at all, but one across two nations, one ocean, and even (to a certain extent) two different mediums* would be... interesting.

*BBC is radio, television, and online streaming; Universal and others are motion picture.

@Astro that is an interesting concept, but I'm not sure I can see BBC partnering up with someone as big and as different as Universal... maybe though they could parter up with a sub-company under a larger company. Like you know how Touchstone is a part of Disney, I could see BBC partnering with someone like them, though I'm not sure Touchstone would be good for a Narnia movie, but it was the only sub-company example that I could think of off the top of my head.

Sherwood doing Narnia, as much as I love their films, uh, no thanks. I'm not blind to their faults, and they have quite a few. In fact, the only upside I can see to their having something to do with Narnia would be how much they embrace Christianity. On the flip side of that, I'm not 100% convinced they would be able to handle the subtle, yet powerful themes in the story. I love Sherwood (faults and all), but they tend to whack people over the head with their message pretty hard. I've nothing against that, because if you're making a point, sometimes you've gotta be extremely direct. But that approach is not how Narnia works.

BBC is a very interesting idea. I honestly don't watch much BBC, but they have been branching out an awful lot into fantasy. The little bits of Merlin I saw looked pretty good.

You know... Narnia as a well done TV series might be interesting. The different books could easily be different seasons. I mean, look at the Avatar series (different company, but stay with me for a moment): The first story arc was 3 seasons, then it ended. Now they're doing the second story arc, same series, same world, all new characters, and it's doing very very well. Why couldn't the same be done by BBC with Narnia?

Just a thought, not 100% sure what I think of the idea myself.

Lady Courage, I honestly really like the idea. Maybe that way the people making them would have more time and be able to pay attention to details. I don't mean that every word would have to be exactly the same as the book (even though that wouldn't be half bad) but that perhaps more things would be done right. And, they wouldn't have to try to fit the whole book into an hour and a half movie. The Narnia books, in my opinion, would make a good television series.

but I'm not sure I can see BBC partnering up with someone as big and as different as Universal...

Universal was a poor example. But I think everyone agrees that BBC couldn't handle it by themselves (I dread even the thought of having to settle for TV movies), so yes, a sub-company sounds like a possibility. We'd have the (hopefully) faithful story adoption of BBC, plus the budget, special effects, and production crew of sub-company x. Sounds good to me. But is it a realistic thought? Probably not, but at this point, who knows anything about what will happen in 7 years?

I really like the idea of a TV series, but I don't think a book could be easily stretched over a full season. But then, I'm not much of a TV watcher, and what I do watch is mostly game/reality game shows, so I'm not an expert, but still, I think that would risk them adding new "episodes" that weren't in the book.

I really like the idea of a TV series, but I don't think a book could be easily stretched over a full season. But then, I'm not much of a TV watcher, and what I do watch is mostly game/reality game shows, so I'm not an expert, but still, I think that would risk them adding new "episodes" that weren't in the book.

Ah, that's a very good point... It might have to be a bunch of mini-series' then, all linked together. Adding new episodes would be bad. I don't think the necessary cliffhangers would be hard, because as I recall, almost every chapter naturally has some sort of cliffhanger at the end.

I actually don't watch much TV either, but BBC's Pride and Prejudice is still the best adaptation of the book that has ever been done, in the opinion of most of the Jane Austen fan-base. They took the time to really get into the characters, as the book did, and spent their own sweet time meandering about the story, just as the book did. You really got the flavor, the meaning, the intensity of emotion and the depth of character that you got out of the book. Even my ultra purist heart sang with joy over BBC's version of P&P. And in case you don't know, that's a pretty major accomplishment.

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea.

I agree that there could be a temptation to add 'new' adventures to stretch a book out over a season.

On the other hand, many TV series these days (especially the summer 'fill-ins') only run 13 episodes. Take away commercials and credits, hour-long shows are only about 42 minutes long. That's about 9 hours of material needed - less if there are 'previously on' recaps to open each episode.

That might be about the right amount of time to adapt 2 books per season. The trick might be getting the pacing right...that delicate balance between faithfulness to the book and adapting it to a visual medium, like TV, that we've discussed elsewhere over the years.

As for studios...I like Lionsgate if only for the name. BBC has adapted them before, and with the right budget the special effects should be passable or even quite good (consider Merlin, as others have noted, or the effects in the Doctor Who reboot compared to those in the older series, which ended about the same time the BBC Narnia episodes were aired).