After three films, most recent being 2010’s THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER, C.S. Lewis’ beloved fantasy series is preparing a fourth chapter. It was previously announced that The Mark Gordon Company would be taking over the series from Walden Media, who previously released the first films through Disney and 20th Century Fox. There is no distributor at this time but a screenwriter has been selected to take over the new film.
David Magee, writer of last year’s LIFE OF PI as well as the Johnny Depp film FINDING NEVERLAND, will script THE SILVER CHAIR. Magee was nominated for an Oscar for both of those films. THE SILVER CHAIR is the first NARNIA book not to feature the Pevensie children who were the main characters in the first three films. Chronologically, THE SILVER CHAIR is the sixth book in the Narnia series.
The novel is set primarily in the Narnia world, decades after The Voyage of the Dawn Treader there but less than a year later in England. King Caspian X is now an old man but his son and only heir Prince Rilian is missing. Aslan the lion sends two children from England to Narnia on a mission to resolve the mystery: Eustace Scrubb, from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and Jill Pole. In the frame story Eustace and Jill are students at a horrible boarding school.
Eustace was played by Will Poulter in THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER. Poulter was recently seen in WE’RE THE MILLERS as Kenny, the guy who gets a spider-bite on his junk. At age 20, the role would need to be recast. It remains to be seen if Liam Neeson, Ben Barnes, or Tilda Swinton will be returning in any capacity.
The first three CHRONICLES OF NARNIA films were decent fantasy movies appropriate for kids and families, but they never reached the grand scale worthy of the novels themselves. Magee is a good writer so hopefully he crafts something that brings the series back to where it should be. The first two films were directed by Andrew Adamson with THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER helmed by Michael Apted. Hopefully the producers find a director willing to take on the challenge of kickstarting a franchise after a four year layoff. After all, the series does rank as the 25th highest grossing series of all time.
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