The Fourth Narnia Film

Yes, I just typed that. Wow. This morning I woke up to a post in our old facebook group, "Aslan'sCountry.com Staff."

Aaaaaahhhhhh!!!! I can't stop smiling! Why? First, I'm just glad they're making another Narnia film. I'm also glad they've finally allowed a production company to get the rights, and they've finally told their fans the great news! I'm very glad they're doing "The Silver Chair" because it's the next one Lewis wrote, and it would do very well as a film. (I should know... My sister directed a homemade version of it that turned out pretty epic!)

Also I'm really looking forward to being a part of the news-posting team on Aslan's Country.com! Dawn Treader was so fun in 2010! I'm happy I'll hopefully get to work with those people again and go on that adventure all over again. :)

I have some doubts about the production company, The Mark Gordon Company, who I've never heard of. Mostly they've made T.V. shows. Will they do a good job on The Silver Chair? This quote from Mark Gordon makes me think so:

"Like many readers, both young and old, I am a huge fan of C.S. Lewis's beautiful and allegorical world of Narnia. These fantasy stories inspire real-world passion among millions of devoted fans around the world. As we prepare to bring the next book to life, we are humbled and excited to contribute to the outstanding legacy of Narnia."

They'll also have the C.S. Lewis company as co-producers with them. I think joining with a smaller company (as opposed to Disney) will allow Douglas Gresham and the Lewis estate to have more control over the script and how true this film is to the book.  Yay! Douglas Gresham says,

"I have a great deal of respect for Mark Gordon’s work and am confident that together we can bring the beauty and magical delight that Narnia engenders in the hearts of those who read the books to the screen in ‘The Silver Chair.” I am very much looking forward to diving once more into Narnia, this time with Mark Gordon and his team."

Now for some hopes....

I really hope they can get some of their old design team involved. Weta has done countless hours of work creating the land of Narnia. Also the animation company who created Aslan and all of the other talking animals and mythical creatures. I hope that detailed, hard work goes into this film to make it magical.

I also hope they can get a few of the same actors involved. Liam Neeson (please!), Shane Rangi, maybe even Will Poulter (because he was so good, but he is probably too old now). We don't need Tilda Swinton again though! (Come on, she died in the first movie!)

I really hope they stay true to the book too. But even if it turns out like VDT, I'll probably still love it. ;)

Get ready for more posts! Just yesterday I changed AC on my Facebook work section to ending July 2011, but now I get to change it to "present." :)

More info:
    http://www.aslanscountry.com/2013/10/breaking-the-silver-chair-greenlit-to-be-produced-by-mark-gordon-company/
    http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=109641

    http://imdb.com/title/tt1223947/news

Permit me to freak out...... AAH!

Yesterday I was very upset by some news......

Walden Media Pulls Out of Narnia

Bear with me as I tell my tale.

I first saw it on Facebook on friends' news feeds...

the future of Narnia is in the balance.

WALDEN MEDIA JUST PULLED OUT OF THE NARNIA FRANCHISE. MY LIFE IS OVER

So Walden Media just pulled out of the Narnia franchise. For those of you that don't understand what this means, it's like if Warner Brothers dropped out of the Harry Potter movies. Yes, it's kind of a big deal.

After I told my friend that Walden dropped out of the Narnia franchise, he sent an e-mail to Walden Media. "Hello, Would you sell me the Narnia franchise? ...Thanks!"

my first thought:

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!??!?!?!

I checked with my co-workers at Aslan's Country. They were all freaking out like me. By the time I found out about it yesterday, the news was pretty old, and there was an update that the report wasn't true. It was still very unsure, with nothing settled.

I was freaking out anyway. I hate reading comments on NarniaWeb because half of the people say such horrible things that I totally don't agree with, and I'd love to just give them a talking to! For example, the first comment on the NarniaWeb story is,

Not a surprise really. Great efforts, Walden Media! But I agree it is just not meant to be right now.

AAAAAAAA! What are you thinking? Narnia has a huge fanbase, and the last movie made over 400 million! You can't stop now! You have to make the whole series!

My hope that I always held on to when talking about the future of the Narnia franchise, was that Walden Media wants to make all seven. Perry Moore was quoted as wanting to produce all seven. But then he died. I thought they would make at least one more, in honor of him! And I still held on to my opinion that Walden wanted to produce the whole series! My belief has never wavered.

Until now. Now it is shattered.

People are not surprised at all that Walden would drop Narnia. Even the slight possibility of that makes me upset!

I am content that the rumor has been contradicted by the officials at Walden Media. Our admin contacted Walden and got an official statement, which you can see in our story. This makes me happy. But why did they have to go and scare us like that? NarniaWeb didn't cite their source, and it's not April Fools Day. Who came up with this rumor? We may never know. Maybe it does have grounds. I'm not sure. I'm just glad that it has been refuted for now.

I like the story below because we're the good guys. :) No offense to NarniaWeb, I'm just proud of Aslan's Country.

http://live.hollywoodjesus.com/?p=8101
Walden Out Of Narnia? ...Not So Fast

Narnia News Blog Update

Mark Sommer | 06/22/11 | News, Blogs, Narnia News

Early this morning, NarniaWeb.com reported that a source “close to the production” told them that Walden Media has pulled out of the Narnia franchise. As of this writing, they had been unable to confirm this.

However, AslansCountry.com was able to reach a Walden Media representative, who confirmed “Walden has not pulled out of the franchise. Walden and Fox and the Lewis Estate are continuing in their discussions about the next Narnia film.”

In conclusion, I am extremely glad the danger has passed, at least for now. We have still not heard the "yes" or "no" on the next film, but I hope there will be another one. Right now they're still at the stage they have been for months: negotiating about doing another film. I had a lot of emotions running through me when I heard the news, and I had to write a blog post! Thanks for reading!

Magician's Nephew?!?!

I have two stories to share with you today. First, Perry Moore, the Executive Producer of Walden Media and for all three Narnia Films, died suddenly two days ago. Dad told me, and I ran to check it out online. I posted this about him on Aslan's Country:

Perry Moore, the executive producer at Walden Media and of the three Narnia movies died yesterday at age 39. He was found dead in his apartment in New York, probably due to an overdose of OxyContin. You can read more here.

His site, PerryMooreStories.com, says this about his involvement in Narnia:

Perry Moore is a best-selling author, film producer, screenwriter, and director, best known as the executive producer of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

A longtime production executive for Walden Media, Moore was instrumental in bringing The Chronicles of Narnia series to the company. After landing the rights to the C. S. Lewis series, he moved into a production deal with the company. The film represents his first as a motion picture executive producer.

In addition to his work in production and development, The CS Lewis Company appointed Moore to write The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe: The Official Illustrated Movie Companion, a New York Times Bestseller.

I have read the LWW Movie Companion. It is one of my favorite books! I’d encourage you to read it also. Perry Moore did a great job.

He continues his role as executive producer of Prince Caspian, due to be released in 2008, and will continue with the third in the Narnia franchise, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. He is such a rabid fan of the Chronicles of Narnia, he hopes to see all seven books in the series adapted into films.

Perry Moore was instrumental in bringing the Narnia books to film, and he hoped to see all seven made. I pray they will all be made, in honor of him. Thanks, Perry, for all you did to make Narnia come to life.

Now the question is... What will happen to the Narnia series? Surely, as I reported recently, talks of greenlighting Silver Chair were happening. Now will they be put on hold? I always held on to the hope that Walden Media wanted to make the whole series, because they continued even when Disney dropped out. Was Perry the only person at Walden that wanted to do all seven? Maybe this is the end. More likely, they will make another Narnia film dedicated to him. Mark Johnson, the Producer of all three films, was reported as wanting to make Silver Chair next. Liam Neeson said he wanted to see all seven films made.

We just waited for a day... then this showed up in our news feed:

"Magician's Nephew Greenlit?"


Why? Here's what started the whole thing: an article from wtkr.com about Perry Moore's death which talks about his last conversation with his mother.

Moore's death came as he was poised for even greater successes, his family said.

"The night before he died, he had an hour-long conversation with his mom," father Bill Moore said as he waited at the airport for a flight to New York. "He had gotten all the good news he could possibly get."

Perry Moore told his family he'd secured financing for another Narnia movie, "The Magician's Nephew." He was also working with Starz, a cable-movie company, to adapt his novel, "Hero," and he was preparing to meet with actress Julianne Moore on another project.

"He had everything in the world going for him," his father said. "He was very upbeat."

Magician's Nephew????

I'll give you three good reasons why they should make The Silver Chair first. Then three comforting thoughts.

1. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader leads up to The Silver Chair so well! (In my VDT review, I list some of the ways: The green mist, the reference to Jill Pole, etc.) I think the producers were expecting SC would come next.
   
2. If they do Magician's Nephew now, when they do Silver Chair, Will Poulter (our Eustace) will be too old! He's already pushing the age he's supposed to be in SC. And they cannot recast Eustace. Will Poulter is perfect, and he deserves to play Eustace Scrubb in The Silver Chair! Tilda Swinton (our Jadis) was quoted as saying she really wanted to do Magician's Nephew next. (Of course! She's a main character, and she's not in SC. Maybe that would be good though. Get Jadis over with, and do the last three books without her.) But Will is growing up! Tilda Swinton can wait. Will Poulter can't.
3. The story continuity keeps going if SC is next. It has the same characters (Eustace, Caspian, Trumpkin, Liliandil) and starts where VDT left off! It is the logical one, story-wise, to do next.

Comforting thoughts:

1. Magician's Nephew may be more popular than Silver Chair. Would people rather see a sequel to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader or a prequel to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe? It's the book that tells how Narnia began. How the Lion created Narnia, how the Witch got to Narnia, and how the Wardrobe got in the Spareoom. It will be a great movie! (like Silver Chair, Horse and His Boy, and the Last Battle...)
   
2. Perry Moore's mother may have messed up. Maybe he really meant Silver Chair? Ok it sounds far-stretched, but wouldn't it be funny if all of this fuss was for nothing? Over a typo?
   
3. They're almost definitely going to continue the series!! We want to see all seven made, and if Magician's Nephew is greenlit, that will be the fourth out of seven. I think if they get one more made, they will make them all. No more worry about the next film being greenlit.

And we wait. I'll let you know when anything is announced officially. :)

Images: Aslan's Country, RJ.

Hopeful, Encouraging, Promising, Wonderful!

This is the first good news we've heard on The Silver Chair in a long time!!

It's not the official announcement or anything.... then I'd be too excited to type straight! Plus I'd be too busy planning a celebration party and telling all my friends and reporting things on Aslan's Country! :)

Anyway....

I have to say I was more than pleased to read the following in a Box Office Report by Thompson on Hollywood:

Dawn Treader quietly sailed past $100 million at the domestic box office on Jan. 23rd—a remarkable feat considering that many pronounced the threequel dead in the water after its $24.3 million bow, an all-time low for the franchise. But that’s not all: Dawn Treader sped past Disney’s Tron: Legacy at the global B.O., $373 million vs. $363 million, and is poised to whip the foreign take of the previous Narnia chapter, Prince Caspian ($278 million).

It might have appeared that Dawn Treader was just another 3-D title (repping 58% of its U.S. total) in a crowded PG season, but moviegoers told their friends otherwise. To date, Dawn Treader has made $102 million at the domestic B.O. – a number that Warner Bros.’ pop toon Yogi Bear ($93 million) has yet to hit. Such good news has spurred talks between Fox and Walden Media about bringing the fourth C.S. Lewis book The Silver Chair to the screen. Clearly, audiences burnt by a weak second Narnia entry were brought back to the cinemas by upbeat word-of-mouth.

YAY!!!! We haven't heard something like this in a while, so it's very encouraging. Because of people telling their friends to go see it (me! me!), it has made $102 million in the USA, and (as of today) has made $372 million worldwide! This is what has got Fox and Walden talking about another movie. Yes! Go get 'em! Keep seeing the movie! Keep buying the DVD and Blu-ray! Rah Rah! Ok, enough cheerleading....

I'd encourage you to read the whole article. Well, the parts about The Dawn Treader, anyway. It tells about Fox and Walden's studying of Prince Caspian to see what they could do better. It also describes their marketing and promotion plans. I talked about their interesting marketing scheme in my post, The Fate of Narnia depends on You. Some of my post:

They marketed the film as a “Return to Magic. Return to Hope. Return to Narnia.” I loved that. I wanted the movie to have more of the fun, magic, wonderment feel the first film had. I had hope that it would be a fabulous movie. We also heard that they were trying hard to keep the spiritual themes of the Dawn Treader book alive in the movie. They claimed to have a "renewed commitment to the message of the books" and admitted that they made some mistakes with Prince Caspian. I thought was very promising, since a lot of us Narnia fans care deeply about the spiritual and Christian symbolisms C.S. Lewis put in the books.

It also is very popular in international theatres (You wouldn’t guess how much international promotion the movie received!). So in the long run it will probably do very well. And we're hoping that a future "Silver Chair" movie is announced soon!

This is echoed in the Box Office story! I've quoted some of it below:

“The second [Narnia] film left a less-than-satisfied flavor in the audiences, and Treader marked a return to the spirit of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” observed Fox senior VP of distribution Chris Aronson, about the masses’ desire to climb aboard. “Dawn Treader provided more heart and a whimsical sense of adventure.”

“We did a lot of research before releasing this film and learned that audiences didn’t like the second film because it lacked the magic, mystery and adventure of the first film,” says Fox International co-president Paul Hanneman, “When it came to marketing Dawn Treader, it was these qualities that we emphasized.”

Rather than capitalize on the Narnia brand in a universal campaign, Fox International tailored a country-by-country secular promotion, unlike the U.S.‘s Christian focus. Fox tapped the Chirstian niche where appropriate, hosting screenings for Evangelical Christians in South Africa and conducted grassroots efforts in Latin America. “Voyage” became the central message in Dawn Treader’s ads; a character action collage à la Lord of the Rings repped the key outdoor/print images in many territories over Aslan the Lion, which was the signature U.S. hook.

Well, just had to share this cool story with you! To read the Aslan's Country post, click here: Fox and Walden "talking about Silver Chair"?