David Magee To Write the Fourth Narnia Film Silver Chair

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.

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 previously shared, “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.”

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.

‘Dawn Treader’ Nearing Caspian’s Box Office

Even though "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" is now out on Blu-ray and DVD, it has still not quite completed its box office run. This past week puts the film’s total at $415.6m worldwide. This is still slightly short of "Prince Caspian" ($420m) and well short of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" ($745m).

The film’s domestic total ($104m) is still well below the other two films ($291 for LWW, and $141 for PC). However, internationally, "Dawn Treader" has grossed $311m, which tops "Caspian’s" $278m, but falls short of "Wardrobe’s" $453m.

The most recent issue of Variety includes an ad touting the film's box office total.

The Lion, the Dawn Treader, and the Box Office

Just in time for the Blu-ray/DVD release of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Christianity Today has an interview with Micheal Flaherty, Walden Media co-founder and president.

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe opened in December 2005 to a massive audience, earning more than $1 billion in box office ($745 million) and DVD sales ($332 million) combined and critical reviews were good.

2008's "Prince Caspian" brought in less than half of the domestic box office that LWW had drawn, and 2010's "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" only about a third as much. Critical ratings have also dropped for each successive film.

"The Silver Chair" comes next in the sequence of books, but Flaherty said Walden and 20th Century Fox, which distributes the movies, have mostly decided on "The Magician's Nephew" — Narnia's "origins story"— for their next project. (Narnia scholar Devin Brown says Lewis himself would agree with that choice; see his reasons here.)

The producers think "The Magician's Nephew" has the best opportunity to draw the largest audience. The box office has pretty closely followed the sales pattern of the books. "Prince Caspian" sells about half of the books of "Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe," and it did about half of the box office. Caspian sells about a third more books than "Dawn Treader," and it did about a third more box office domestically. That pattern continues to decline with "Silver Chair" being the weakest book in the series in terms of consumer demand.

Flaherty states: "We just think the origin tale of 'The Magician's Nephew' is a great one, and it brings back the characters that have proven to be the most popular—a lot of Aslan and the White Witch. It explains the origin of the lamppost and the wardrobe."

While the domestic box office dipped significantly with each of the three films, the foreign has remained fairly strong. Domestic accounted for 39 percent of the earnings for Wardrobe, 33 percent for Caspian, and just 25 percent for Dawn Treader. In fact, because of overseas sales, "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" is approaching the same box office of Prince Caspian.

The films are obviously tied closely to the books and Flaherty makes an interesting point about the Narnia series in comparison to current book franchises. He notes most popular book franchises (e.g, Harry Potter and Twilight) are consistent in sales from book to book, but that's not the case for Narnia. Part of the problem may be that there is no character beyond Aslan that runs through the entire series.

"Lucy has the greatest run out of all the characters, but she only appears in three books. So there's something different in terms of the anticipation of not being able to follow one character from the first book to the last."

Secular critics aren't sticklers for whether the films stick to the books; they're mainly judging the movies as movies. But some reviews and opinions are from "Narnia police" types who nitpick every detail.

Flaherty has interesting insights to why they value comments from Narnia purists. You can read the full article here.

Next Narnia Film Will Be 'Magician's Nephew,' Not 'Silver Chair'

Walden Media has confirmed to The Christian Post that the Narnia 4 movie will be "The Magician's Nephew," not "The Silver Chair" as originally speculated by many fans.

"We are starting to talk to Fox and talk to the C.S. Lewis estate now about the Magician's Nephew being our next film," said Michael Flaherty, co-founder and president of Walden Media, during a recent interview with The Christian Post.

"If we can all agree to move forward, then what we would do is find someone to write the script. So, it could still be a couple of years."

For the past several months, many Narnia fans were worried whether "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" could muster the box office numbers needed for Walden to produce another movie installment based on the beloved Chronicles of Narnia series.

"Dawn Treader" had a weak start in the domestic markets, however, it has fared better overseas.

Flaherty attributed "Caspian's" dismal performance to a poorly timed summer release and the story's bent on deeper theological principles like waiting on God's timing. He said that Walden has since learned a Christmas release would probably work best with a Narnia film and not to neglect the faith market.

He also noted that box office performance for Narnia films appears to mimic the amount of people's interest in the books. Looking ahead, Walden Media believes "The Magician's Nephew" has the potential to be a blockbuster hit like "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" because it is the second most popular book in the Narnia series.

Fox Steps Up for 3rd Narnia Film

With Walt Disney Pictures no longer on board to help produce launch the third installment of the “Chronicles of Narnia” films, 20th Century Fox has reportedly stepped in to partner with Walden Media for the next title in the fantasy series.

As first reported by Variety magazine, Fox and Walden plan to split production and marketing costs for "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader," which is projected to go into production with a $140 million budget. Though the two companies are still working out budget and script issues, the hope is to shoot the film at the end of summer for a holiday 2010 release through the Fox Walden label.