Re: Narnia Chat

by Forest Shepherd Wed Nov 06, 2013 10:36 pm

Well this is not the most the pleasant of places to stumble across. Here I was searching for some kind of discussion about The Chronicles of Narnia, and their film versions, and instead all I find is strangely misdirected praise of the horror that was Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Jesus-Freak bashing. Sad

by Pettytyrant101 Wed Nov 06, 2013 10:40 pm

I have very fond memories of reading the Narnia books as a child, but I have to admit to finding them hard to stomach as an adult.
I still really like the Magicians Nephew though, always wished they would do it as a film or better a tv series.

by Eldorion Thu Nov 07, 2013 12:52 am

Unfortunately, GB (the biggest Narnia fan on the board) doesn't come here much anymore. Although when he does, his opinions about Christianity and politics are part of the deal. Razz

I enjoyed reading the first few Narnia books when I was about 11, but I was only able to find the first three (internal chronological order, since that's how they're published now) at my local library. Several years later I bought an omnibus of all seven books (again in chronological order) and started reading through. The Horse and His Boy is my favorite. I made it through Prince Caspian, but I found the religious moralizing (finally) crossed my tolerance point and I never finished the first chapter of Dawn Treader.

As for the movies, it was actually the original Lion, Witch, Wardrobe movie that introduced me to the series (courtesy of an old D&D friend who I went to see it with). I've only seen it once or twice, but I enjoyed it and I still remember quite a bit of it. I never saw either of the sequels; I've got nothing against the idea but it's never been high enough on my (quite lengthy) list of movies I want to see for me to actually follow through on watching them. My understanding of the legal wrangling between production companies post-Dawn Treader is that the movies are probably not coming back, and if they do it will be in a drastically reduced scale.

by Eldorion Thu Nov 07, 2013 12:55 am

Hmm, reading through the first couple pages of this thread, I seem to have expressed some of my opinions on Narnia here before, but in my defense it's been almost three years. Razz

by bungobaggins Thu Nov 07, 2013 5:34 am

Oh man, Narnia. I was introduced to the story through the BBC adaptation of LWW when I was a wee little one. I think I either read the book (or the book was read to me) shortly after.

Fast forward to 2005: I really liked the LWW movie, I enjoyed it so much that I purchased all of the books in one volume. I think the books are pretty good, but they get...weird towards the end. For me, The Last Battle seemed like a bad acid trip half the time. I would consider myself an agnostic-atheist, but I guess the overt religious overtones didn't really bother me.

As for Caspian and Dawn Treader as movies: Caspian is okay. For me, Dawn Treader is...

Spoiler:

I really don't see there being any more Narnia films until they eventually reboot the series in the distant future, and frankly I don't have any interest in seeing anymore. Down with franchises!

by Pettytyrant101 Thu Nov 07, 2013 4:18 pm

I still want someone do make the Magicians Nephew though, they always do bloody Wardrobe, every time Mad

by bungobaggins Thu Nov 07, 2013 5:39 pm

I think it's because that's the most popular one, or it was the one that was published first, or both.

by Pettytyrant101 Thu Nov 07, 2013 5:44 pm

It was published later but its a prequel and is set before all the rest.

by bungobaggins Thu Nov 07, 2013 6:04 pm

Oh, I was talking about why LWW would be chosen as the first film over Magician's Nephew.

by Pettytyrant101 Thu Nov 07, 2013 6:09 pm

LWW is first in terms of published first but MN is first in the chronology- you could start with it (indeed the boxset I had as a kid had MN (wrongly) as the first book in the set)- and LWW has been made and remade in film and tv.
Would be nice to see a different 'opening' as it were to the world of Narnia and MN is the best choice for that.

by Eldorion Thu Nov 07, 2013 6:11 pm

If the box office returns of the Narnia movie series are anything to go by, though, LWW is the only one that most people have heard of and/or will shell out money to go see.

by malickfan Thu Nov 07, 2013 6:18 pm

I have very very vague memories of reading LWATW when I was ten or so, and I've seen and enjoyed parts of the first two films, but I can't claim to be a fan, though as my user icon indicates I'm rather a fan of the whimsy silliness of the hobbit so I guess I'll like Narnia just fine.

I know the books are going very cheap on Amazon, but unfortunately I have roughly 16 books by Tolkien to read (The H.O.M.E isn't exactly light reading!) first...

by bungobaggins Tue Jan 07, 2014 3:50 am

Uh...apparently this is happening.

DAVID MAGEE TO WRITE THE FOURTH NARNIA FILM: THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE SILVER CHAIR FOR THE MARK GORDON COMPANY AND THE C.S. LEWIS COMPANY

THE ADVENTURE BEGINS ON THE NEXT CHAPTER OF THE NARNIA JOURNEY

LOS ANGELES, CA (December 5, 2013) – The C.S. Lewis Company and The Mark Gordon Company announced today that two time Academy Award nominee David Magee (FINDING NEVERLAND and LIFE OF PI) has signed on to write THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE SILVER CHAIR, the fourth book published in C.S. Lewis’ famed fantasy series.

Magee’s critically acclaimed work includes his 2012 screen adaptation of the novel “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and a Satellite Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. In 2004, Magee was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for his work on FINDING NEVERLAND starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet.

Douglas Gresham, stepson of C.S. Lewis stated, “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.”

David Magee stated, “I have always loved The Chronicles of Narnia and I endlessly imagined myself finding my own passage into Narnia someday. All these years later, I'm getting to fulfill that wish just a little bit by writing the film adaptation of 'The Silver Chair' and could not be more excited about it.”

Mark Gordon and Douglas Gresham along with Vincent Sieber, the LA based Director of The C.S. Lewis Company, will serve as producers. Michele Wolkoff and Sara Smith will oversee for The Mark Gordon Company.
The first three Narnia films combined have grossed over $1.6 billion at the worldwide box office.

A classic series of seven novels that have sold over 100 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.

To keep updated with movie developments follow THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/TheChroniclesofNarnia

About The Mark Gordon Company

The Mark Gordon Company is a film and television production company whose film credits include SOURCE CODE, THE MESSENGER, 2012, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, DAY AFTER TOMORROW, THE PATRIOT, TALK TO ME, THE PAINTED VEIL, THE HOAX, WONDER BOYS and SPEED. Television credits include "Grey's Anatomy" (ABC), “Ray Donovan (Showtime),” "Private Practice" (ABC), "Criminal Minds" (CBS), and "Army Wives" (Lifetime/ABC).

Gordon is a five-time Emmy Award nominee with two wins and has been nominated for multiple Golden Globe Awards with two wins. He earned Academy Award and BAFTA nominations and won a Golden Globe for Best Picture as producer of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.

Gordon is the President of the Producers Guild of America and serves on the boards of The Archer School for Girls and the Virginia Film Festival. He is the former chairman of Teach for America Los Angeles and has served on the boards of The UCLA Lab School, Chrysalis, and The Motion Picture and Television Fund. Gordon is the founder of Citizens of the World Charter Schools. Gordon is a co-founder of Intern Sushi, an innovative online resource that reinvents the internship application and hiring process.

https://www.narnia.com/us/news-extras/narnia-news

I will say that I did like Life of Pi, so if this guy stays on board through to production, it could be good news.

by Pettytyrant101 Tue Jan 07, 2014 5:00 am

I hope its a success- if only because I might finally get to see an adaptation of my favourite Narnia book- The Magicians Nephew.

by Ringdrotten Tue Jan 07, 2014 7:13 am

Purist Narnia edit coming up Very Happy

by bungobaggins Wed Jan 08, 2014 3:23 am

I tried re-watching Prince Caspian last night. So much artificial drama, kind of like DOS.

by Eldorion Wed Jan 08, 2014 3:43 am

I'm pretty sure they can't release any new Narnia movies until like 2017 or 2018 since the Lewis Estate has ditched the studios they were working with. So they're going to have to recast most of the roles even if The Silver Chair gets off the ground.

by bungobaggins Wed Jan 08, 2014 3:46 am

The only returning character for TSC would be Eustace, I think. Question

The Pevensies don't return until TLB when they are adults. Although I think they make an apperance in THAHB, but then again I think they were older here as well.

Frankly, if the next Narnia film is like the last two I won't really give a rat's arse about it.

by Pettytyrant101 Wed Jan 08, 2014 8:26 am

It will be interesting to see which route they go down- will the PJ effect hit in and we will get another fantasy book 'adapted' as a series of over the top spectacle and no plot or characters only loosely connected to the original, or will the DOS effect push them the other way towards trying to capture and genuinely adapt the books? (One can but hope- bad enough PJ and the Coven have pissed all over Tolkiens' work and memory, it would be tragic for someone to do the same to his friend Lewis too)

by Eldorion Wed Jan 08, 2014 5:15 pm

I'm pretty sure a lot of people would claim that has already occurred with the Narnia movies over the past several years, Petty. :lol:And those movies were pretty clearly made to cash-in on the fantasy craze briefly sparked by LOTR (and Harry Potter, but they really pushed the Lewis-Tolkien connection for all it was worth and also filmed in New Zealand with Weta's heavy involvement).

Although I don't think Tolkien himself would shed many tears over the fate of Narnia, given his well-known dislike for it. Laughing

by Pettytyrant101 Wed Jan 08, 2014 7:19 pm

I thought the battle scene in the first film were better than RotK's Shrugging

by Eldorion Wed Jan 08, 2014 8:10 pm

by Pettytyrant101 Wed Jan 08, 2014 8:16 pm

Seriously. I liked how it was recognisably a battle, with lines drawn up, tactics deployed- I remember wishing PJ had paid as much attention to making the Battle of Pelennor like an actual battle- you know like in the book, with fire trenches, and the use of actual tactics.

by Radaghast Sun Jan 12, 2014 8:59 pm

The Silver Chair and The Magician's Nephew are my favorites of the Narnia series, but I don't think I'd be interested in an adaptation. I thought the first two movies were awful (haven't seen the third).

by Radaghast Sun May 29, 2016 1:27 am

I'm reading these books again and I find they seem to hold up for me less each time I read them. One thing that really kind of annoys me is the arbitrary and unexplained "age rule". We discover that, after Prince Caspian, Peter and Susan are too old to further visit Narnia. In the next book, which I believe we're told is a year after PC (and two years after LWW), Edmund and Lucy are then told they can no longer visit Narnia because they are "too old." Yet, Edmund is at least two years younger than Peter, which means he no older than Peter was in LWW, who was allowed to go to Narnia for one more year. And this is to say nothing of Lucy, who is younger still. We're never told how hold the Pevensie children are, so we can only kind of guess. And they all seem to speak with the same sort of voice; Peter doesn't particularly sound any older than the others, only more authoritative. And what about when they actually grew up to be kings and queens? Why weren't they considered too old then?

Then there are the other people in Narnia, in PC, we learn that the Telmarines are descended from some pirates who found a portal to Narnia on a tropical island. Weren't they too old to go to and then stay in Narnia, as were their descendants? Question

I know the end game of this rule is that Lewis wanted to have different characters go to Narnia, but if it was that important, I think he should have thought things through a bit more.