RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Media Narnia Movies

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WALDEN MEDIA TO PRODUCE C.S. LEWIS'
"THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE"

First Live-Action Feature of Children's Classic To Be Faithful Adaptation

New York, NY ( December 6, 2001) - Walden Media has partnered with The C.S. Lewis Company to produce the first live-action feature adaptation of the best-selling children’s classic The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Finding resonance between its educational mission and the book’s universal themes of truthfulness, loyalty and courage, Walden has optioned the seven-part fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia, and intends to develop it into a franchise. The project will be overseen by Douglas Gresham, stepson of C.S. Lewis.

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, published in 1950, is the second and best-known novel in the seven-part Narnia series, which also includes The Magician’s Nephew, The Horse and His Boy, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair and The Last Battle. The Chronicles of Narnia series has established itself as a worldwide brand and is currently published by HarperCollins. As a child, born in Belfast, Ireland in 1898, Clive Staples Lewis was fascinated by the fairy tales, myths and ancient legends recounted to him by his Irish nurse. The image of a faun carrying parcels and an umbrella in a snowy wood came to him when he was sixteen. Many years later an evil queen and a magnificent lion joined the faun, and their story became The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe. The book tells the story of Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, who step through a magic wardrobe into Narnia, once the peaceful land of Talking Beasts, Dwarfs, Giants and Fauns, but now frozen into winter by the evil White Witch. Other Chronicles of Narnia followed and the final title, The Last Battle, was awarded the UK’s prestigious Carnegie Award. Lewis, who was also distinguished as a professor at Oxford and Cambridge, died on November 22, 1963.

Stated Gresham, “It has been our dream for many years not simply to make a live-action version of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, but to do so while remaining faithful to the novel. We are delighted to make this film with Walden Media, which we are confident will create the adaptation that my stepfather would have wanted.”

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is one of the best-selling children’s novels of all time, full of richly detailed characters faced with choices that all of us, as human beings, must make in our own lives,” offered Cary Granat, co-founder and chief executive officer of Walden Media. “Through fantasy C.S. Lewis has held up a mirror to the lessons of the real world, and we are honored to partner with The C.S. Lewis Company to bring Narnia to life.”

About Walden Media

Founded by Cary Granat, former president of Miramax Films' Dimension label, and educator Michael Flaherty, Walden Media creates films, television shows, books and interactive media that inspire, engage, enlighten and entertain. Walden believes that quality entertainment is inherently educational and can capture the audience's imagination, rekindle curiosity and demonstrate the rewards of learning.

Walden Media is a subsidiary of The Anschutz Company. The Denver-based company is one of the largest privately owned and operated ventures in the U.S. Its affiliated companies are principally engaged in telecommunications and media, natural resources, transportation, real estate, sports and entertainment.

Media contacts:

Alison Lehrer, Walden Media
press@walden.com

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"SHREK" DIRECTOR ANDREW ADAMSON TO HELM "THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE" FOR WALDEN

New York, NY (July 31, 2002) - Walden Media has engaged highly acclaimed director Andrew Adamson, the visionary behind last year's box office smash and Academy-Award winner "Shrek," to helm the first live action feature film adaptation of "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe." Adamson joins award-winning writer Ann Peacock ("A Lesson Before Dying"), who recently signed on to adapt the novel for the screenplay. Walden partnered with The C.S. Lewis Company last December to option the entire seven-part fantasy book series The Chronicles of Narnia, of which The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is best-known.

"As we've seen with Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, bringing to the screen a literary fantasy classic, beloved by millions of readers, requires both a reverence for the original material and a rich imagination to create a realistic fictional world," offered Cary Granat, chief executive officer of Walden Media. "Andrew Adamson knows better than anyone how to create magic on-screen and tell a story which touches the heart of an audience. His expertise in visual effects, animation and live action will be critical to a fantasy work of this magnitude."

"Narnia was such a vivid and real world to me as a child, as it is to millions of other fans. I share Walden's excitement in giving those fans an epic theatrical experience worthy of their imaginations, and driving a new generation toward the works of C.S. Lewis," offered Adamson. "Making a film that crosses generations is a far easier task when the source material resonates such themes as truth, loyalty and belief in something greater than yourself."

Adamson achieved overnight acclaim with his first directing job on the DreamWorks animated fantasy "Shrek," featuring the vocal talents of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz. The film, which earned $470 million worldwide, was the first to win the new Academy Awards category Best Animated Feature, alongside a raft of other international awards and nominations. Adamson previously worked for PDI as visual effects supervisor for "Batman and Robin" and "Batman Forever" as well as "A Time To Kill," "Angels in the Outfield" and "Double Dragon." He also served as a visual effects artist on James Cameron's action hit "True Lies."

Peacock's adaptation of the beloved novel "A Lesson Before Dying," the story of a black man wrongly convicted of murder during the 1940s, earned her an Emmy Award (Outstanding Writing for A Miniseries Or Movie) and a Humanitas Prize. Her upcoming projects include "Country of My Skull," with John Boorman attached to direct and Sam Jackson, Juliette Binoche and Jon Voight to star; "On the Ropes" for director Brad Silberling; "Marines of Autumn" for Irwin Winkler; and "Star Time," with Joel Schumacher directing Will Smith.

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, published in 1950, is the second and best-known novel in the seven-part Narnia series, which also includes The Magician's Nephew, The Horse and His Boy, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader', The Silver Chair and The Last Battle. The Chronicles of Narnia series has sold over 60 million copies and is currently published by HarperCollins. Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland in 1898. As a child he was fascinated by the fairy tales, myths and ancient legends recounted to him by his Irish nurse. The image of a faun carrying parcels and an umbrella in a snowy wood came to him when he was sixteen. Many years later an evil queen and a magnificent lion joined the faun, and their story became The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe. The book tells the story of Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, separated from their parents in London during the German Air Raids of World War 2. They are sent to the country for safety and it is here that they step into the magic wardrobe and discover the mystical world of Narnia. C.S. Lewis, a distinguished professor of English, died in 1963 at his home in Oxford.

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THE WALT DISNEY STUDIOS ENTERS INTO AGREEMENT WITH WALDEN MEDIA TO PRODUCE "THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE"

BURBANK, CA ( March 1, 2004) - The Walt Disney Studios has entered into an agreement with Walden Media to co-finance and distribute the long-awaited motion picture The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the first book published in C.S. Lewis' famed series, it was announced today (3/1) by Dick Cook, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, and Cary Granat, chief executive officer of Walden Media. The live-action film will be directed by Andrew Adamson (Shrek, Shrek 2) and is scheduled to be released Christmas, 2005, by Walt Disney Pictures. The agreement allows for the continuation of the partnership for future films in the series.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, the first in an exciting series of films in the making and based on the phenomenal bestselling novels, concerns a war between good and evil, pitting the magnificent lion Aslan against the forces of darkness in the magical world of Narnia. A White Witch has used her dark powers to keep Narnia in winter for 100 years, but it is foretold that four humans will be able to help Aslan break the spell. When the Pevensie siblings - Lucy, Susan, Edmund, and Peter - discover the magic of Narnia by entering the enchanted world through a wardrobe, the stage is set for a classic battle of epic proportions.

Commenting on the announcement, Cook said, "With an exciting and meaningful plot and well-drawn, emotional characters, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe has the potential to be just the start of an extraordinary series of films; the exceptional imagination present in the novels follows in the best Disney tradition. We're pleased to be partnered once again with Walden Media - I think this is just the kind of movie audiences are looking for, and we're thrilled to be able to bring it to the screen."

Cary Granat and Micheal Flaherty, co-founders of Walden Media, added, "Disney has been a great friend and partner, with our company, on Holes, Ghosts of the Abyss, and this summer's Around the World in 80 Days. The combination of C.S. Lewis' visionary Chronicles of Narnia with the incredible strength and uniqueness of the Walt Disney brand and organization makes this a true dream project for us. This is one of the most imaginative novels ever written, and to bring it to the screen requires a director of equal inventiveness, ingenuity, and spirit. Andrew Adamson is just the guy - he knows better than anyone how to create magic on-screen and tell a story that touches the audience's hearts. His expertise in visual effects, animation, and live-action will be critical to a fantasy work of this magnitude."

Adamson added, "The Chronicles of Narnia were an important part of my childhood just as they are to millions of fans around the world. I hope to bring to the screen a movie that is as real to the audience as Narnia was to me as a child. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe tells an epic story of great heart, of a family torn apart by a war in our world, who are united in their struggle to save the magical land of Narnia. It's been a long time dream of mine to bring these classic stories to a new generation of moviegoers and readers."

Douglas Gresham, stepson of C.S. Lewis, said, "Fans of the series have been waiting for generations for a film that faithfully adapts the Narnia books for the screen. Disney and Walden are a perfect match for the magical world that C.S. Lewis created, and we're as excited to see the movie as everyone else is."

A classic series of seven novels that have sold over 85 million copies worldwide, C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia began with the publication of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe in 1950. Six more novels (including the prequel, The Magician's Nephew , and the sequels, The Horse and His Boy, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair and The Last Battle ) would follow in the next six years. The final title in the series, The Last Battle, was awarded the highest mark of excellence in children's literature, the prestigious Carnegie Award.

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Cowgirl Jack said:
I think I shelled out twenty bucks to get a book with all the stories in it.

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Ironically enough, I recently did the same with The Lord of the Rings...

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Cowgirl Jack said:
Brian Cox has been casted as the voice of Aslan the Lion. Most of us recognize him from X2, Troy, and The Ring. (He was also the funny Irish engineer Hogan in the Richard Sharpe series, and should have been in the entire series).

The rest of the cast is listed on www.imdb.com

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Kaz said:
I remember him most fondly as Captain O'Hagan from Super Troopers, actually.

"I'll believe ya when me shit turns purple and smells like rainbow sherbet."

Did you know he was the first actor to portray Hannibal Lector on the big screen?

FYI... there.

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Cowgirl Jack said:
I didn't read all of them until I was nineteen. At least when you are older you can appriciate the metaphors in the book better. I recommend it. I think I shelled out twenty bucks to get a book with all the stories in it.

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Kaz said:
I remember him most fondly as Captain O'Hagan from Super Troopers, actually.

"I'll believe ya when me shit turns purple and smells like rainbow sherbet."

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Did you know he was the first actor to portray Hannibal Lector on the big screen?

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thedoctor said:
WETA F/X for the movie.

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Kaz said:
I remember him most fondly as Captain O'Hagan from Super Troopers, actually.

"I'll believe ya when me shit turns purple and smells like rainbow sherbet."


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People tell me that movie's pretty funny. If it's on TV I'll probably check it out.

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I recommend that you go rent the movie immediately. It has been out long enough now that you can probably rent it for like a dollar. If it comes out on TV they will need to cut ALOT out of the film to make it censor friendly. Trust me it will be money well spent.... unless you don't like/watch R-rated movies.

As Disney’s holiday blockbuster "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" roars into movie theaters on Friday, so does a lot of debate about the movie's Christian backstory and marketing.

After all, the book — a thinly veiled take on Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection by C.S. Lewis, one of the 20th century’s foremost defenders of Christianity — comes nearly on the heels of "The Passion of the Christ," 2004's blood-drenched Mel Gibson film that proved deeply religious moviegoers could be a force to be reckoned with at the box office.

And Disney’s dual-track marketing scheme — selling the movie to both Christian and mainstream audiences — certainly means that the House of Mouse is taking the subgroup seriously.

But people connected with the film, experts and observers seem to agree that when it comes to the religious aspect of the movie, the lion that roared is really just a paper tiger — especially Disney, which risks its film becoming labeled a niche, “Christian” movie and losing the mainstream audience.

“I’m anxious for when people talk about how great the movie is,” Disney’s senior vice president of marketing, Dennis Rice, said. “It’s going to be one of the greatest movies of the year, and I’m dying for people to write about that because that’s far more exciting and relevant to people.”

Is it any good? Yes, the movie is very good — a solid piece of entertainment in its own right, and fans of C. S. Lewis will regard it as faithful to his book in every important respect. A few plot elements are dropped and several others are added, but each decision makes sense for a movie that's trying to tell a story in two hours.

What's new, pt. 1: In the book, Lewis says that the Pevensie kids "were sent away from London during the war because of the air-raids." That's why they wind up in a big house with a strange wardrobe. When Lewis wrote, the evacuations were fresh in many minds and he didn't need to say much else. That's not true today, and so the film adds some helpful historical context. The first image is of a German bomber as it flies over Britain.

What's new, pt. 2: Edmund is the bad egg, of course, and in the book there are indications of this even before he becomes a Turkish Delight junkie. The movie relies far more on Edmund's sibling rivalry with older brother Peter as a factor in his treachery, and far less on Turkish Delight.

What's new, pt. 3: There's a chase scene through a tunnel, an attempted crossing of an icy river, and an encounter with Father Christmas that initially reminded me of how the hobbits first came into contact with the ringwraiths in The Lord of the Rings — it's a sleight of hand, of course, but an effective treatment and not in the book. Also, after Father Christmas gives presents to the Pevensies and sleds off, Lucy turns to Susan and says, "Told you he was real!" It's a wonderful line — not in the book, but a clever addition that advances the book's theme of faith. Another new line comes from Tumnus, imprisoned in the witch's castle — he says something that recalls Braveheart.

What's new, pt. 4: J. R. R. Tolkien famously didn't like The Chronicles of Narnia. "It really won't do, you know," he told a friend. One of his main objections was the way in which Lewis mixed different mythological traditions into a Narnian stew. The moviemakers revel in this, fleshing out creatures described only briefly in the book and adding new ones entirely. This may have required their greatest feat of imagination. Think of it as multiculturalism, in the best sense of the word. Personally, I liked it. When I watch the movie again, one of my priorities will be to notice more of these details. Also, the climactic battle scene includes griffins that drop boulders on the witch's army — they are the mirror image of those German bombers at the start of the film.

What's new, pt. 5: We get our first glimpse of Aslan early on, in the fireplace of Tumnus's lair. In the book, we don't hear about Aslan until the Pevensies get to the beaver dam (and we don't see him until after that). The passage introducing him is one of the most memorable in the whole Chronicles ("None of the children knew who Aslan was any more than you do..."). It really can't be rendered on film and our moviemakers don't even attempt it here. That's a wise decision.

It's funny: The movie has a lot of humor — much more than the book, in fact. "You're a Daughter of Eve?" asks Tumnus when he meets Lucy. "My mom's name is Helen!" she replies. (Also new: In the books, we don't see the mother, as we do in the film, and Lewis never names her.) And I can't tell you how pleasant it was to sit through a film aimed largely at kids and not hear a single burp or fart joke.

The acting: The four actors who play the Pevensie kids are excellent, especially the girls. (But will they grow up too fast for Narnia sequels?) Tilda Swinton is brilliant as the White Witch; James McAvoy is outstanding as Tumnus. Kiran Shah, as the witch's dwarf sidekick, kept reminding me of Deep Roy as the Oompa Loompa in the recent Charlie and the Chocolate Factory remake.

Cool tribute: In Professor Kirke's house, we overhear a news report on the radio. The voice belongs to Douglas Gresham, who is Lewis's stepson. It is a fitting family tribute to Lewis, who delivered radio addresses over the BBC during the Second World War. These were later collected as one of his most popular books, Mere Christianity.

The music: Not immediately memorable. And did they have to include a song by Alanis Morrisette? The last time I heard what she liked to do in movie theaters, I wanted to turn off the radio.

The credits: When the credits start to roll at the end of the movie, stay in your seats. There's a final scene worth watching.

Will your kids like it? The movie is rated PG, appropriately. A few scenes are meant to startle. There is combat and violence, much of it fast and loud. The film is by no means gory — we don't see the witch actually kill Aslan, for instance, though we do know exactly what she did with her knife. I took my entire brood to a screening last weekend. My eight-year-old boy, who has had the book read to him three times, said the other day, "it was so good, I can't stop thinking about it." My six-year-old daughter, who has had the book read to her twice, called it "perfect" as we were walking out of the theater, although later she added that she didn't like it when Aslan was killed. Of course, she's not supposed to like that part. It may be worth noting that the scene is like a Star Wars cantina set in the netherworld — full of scary monsters and vicious animals up to no good. A susceptible kid might suffer nightmares. My four-year-old son, who is a budding monster-movie aficionado, squirmed a lot during the film and said he wanted to go home. Later, he said he liked it, especially "when the lion roared really, really loud." In truth, he was probably too young for the movie, but only because he's kind of young for movies generally. The biggest problem was keeping him quiet, as it was during last summer's March of the Penguins.

The best part: We can hope, realistically, that the movie will inspire a whole new generation of children to devour The Chronicles of Narnia.

There has for several days been a tremendous fluttering in the dovecotes of the liberal intelligentsia; this twittering and squawking has been caused by the dramatic appearance of Aslan, the Christ-like lion in CS Lewis’s children’s story The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; the multi-million-dollar Disney film of the book was released here last week to huge publicity.

Several prominent members of the commentariat have felt moved to express their contempt and indignation at something that will give huge pleasure to millions of children. If it were not so repressive and censorious, this would be comic.

The problem for liberal intellectuals is that The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, like the whole Narnia series, is overtly Christian, for those that have ears to hear, and therefore religious propaganda and therefore a bad thing. Young minds might be perverted by this insidious stuff. The flames of this indignation have been fanned by the fact that the film has been eagerly taken up by the American Christian right.

To a child’s mind, however, the world of Narnia is a subtle, magical creation enhanced by his or her own imagination. I have never forgotten the intensity of the moment when I first read about Lucy going through the fur coats in the wardrobe out into the snow of Narnia, as if I were Lucy myself. I must have been exactly the right age and I was entranced. I could not understand why my agnostic mother was so dismissive of it.

Now as an adult I understand what she meant; like her I now think the Narnia stories crude, cobbled together in a clumsy pastiche and sometimes distasteful or sententious (a view to which Lewis’s Catholic friend, JRR Tolkien, was also inclined). I rather agree with some of Philip Pullman’s furious blasts against them. But then The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe seemed and was magical.

Children are surprisingly indifferent to quality and they are usually impervious to message as well. As a child I did not see that Aslan was Christ, or that he sacrificed himself for wicked Edmund, even though I had had a strong Christian education. Aslan might be Christ crucified in a doctrine you might dislike, in a religion you might reject, but at another obvious level he is just a magic lion in a fairy story.

Given all this, I cannot understand why there is so much antagonism to this film. Why should anyone mind about it one way or another? After all, Disney regularly produces a great deal that is infinitely worse, infinitely more manipulative, sentimental and saccharine. Nobody has to go and see it and most of those children who do will miss any evangelical point, given how ignorant children today are of basic Christian teaching.

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Son of Mxy said:
I want to fuck Tilda Swinton many times

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the G-man said:
The thing I find most interesting about this right now is that this film almost beat King Kong at the Xmas box office.

Given that Narnia's been out at least a week more than Kong, that's pretty amazing box office.

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Son of Mxy said:
I want to fuck Tilda Swinton many times

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Wednesday said:

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Son of Mxy said:
I want to fuck Tilda Swinton many times

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She looks like a boy in that movie.

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