The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)
| Chronicles of Narnia series | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Andrew Adamson and Michael Apted |
| Written by | Novels: C.S. Lewis |
| Produced by | Mark Johnson |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Pictures Walden Media |
Release date | 2005 – present |
Running time | 279 minutes (theatrical) 150 minutes (extended edition) (as of 2007) |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $819,883,957 (as of May 2008) |
The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of fantasy films from Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media based on the series of novels, The Chronicles of Narnia written by C.S. Lewis in the 1950s. The first installment, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, was released on December 9, 2005, while the second, Prince Caspian, was released on May 16, 2008;[1] this first pair of films was directed by Andrew Adamson and produced by Mark Johnson. The third installment, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, will be directed by Michael Apted and is scheduled to be released on May 7, 2010.[2]
Plot(s)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was directed by New Zealander Andrew Adamson and was shot mainly in New Zealand, though locations were used in Poland, the Czech Republic and England.
The story follows four British children who are evacuated during the Blitz to the countryside and find a wardrobe that leads to the fantasy world of Narnia; there, they must ally with the Lion Aslan against the forces of the White Witch, who has the world under an eternal winter.
The film was released theatrically starting on December 7, 2005. As of April 2006, the film has grossed over US$700 million worldwide, making it the 20th highest grossing movie worldwide of all time.[3]
The DVD was released on April 3, 2006 in the UK and April 4, 2006 in North America and Europe.
| Actor/actress | Role |
|---|---|
| Anna Popplewell | Susan Pevensie |
| Georgie Henley | Lucy Pevensie |
| William Moseley | Peter Pevensie |
| Skandar Keynes | Edmund Pevensie |
| Liam Neeson | voice of Aslan |
| Tilda Swinton | The White Witch |
| James McAvoy | Mr Tumnus |
| Ray Winstone | voice of Mr Beaver |
| Dawn French | voice of Mrs Beaver |
Prince Caspian
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, based on Prince Caspian was once again directed by Andrew Adamson. The story follows the same four children as they are summoned back into Narnia. They help Prince Caspian, the rightful heir to the throne of Narnia, reclaim the crown from his evil uncle, King Miraz. The film was released on May 16, 2008.[1]
| Actor/actress | Role |
|---|---|
| Georgie Henley | Lucy Pevensie |
| Skandar Keynes | Edmund Pevensie |
| Anna Popplewell | Susan Pevensie |
| William Moseley | Peter Pevensie |
| Ben Barnes | Prince/King Caspian |
| Liam Neeson | voice of Aslan |
| Sergio Castellitto | King Miraz |
| Peter Dinklage | Trumpkin |
| Vincent Grass | Doctor Cornelius |
| Ken Stott | voice of Trufflehunter |
| Eddie Izzard | voice of Reepicheep |
| Warwick Davis | Nikabrik |
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, based on the book of the same name, will be the third film in the series. Based on its scheduled release date of May 2010, Dawn Treader began filming while Andrew Adamson was still working on Prince Caspian, so Michael Apted was hired to direct.[4] Films two through four (Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and The Silver Chair) are scheduled to be produced together in quick succession.[5]
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader follows Lucy Pevensie, Edmund Pevensie and Eustace Scrubb as they are pulled into Narnia and board a ship which has set out from Narnia to find seven missing Lords. While there, the Pevensies and Eustace come across such nasty things as Dragons, an island where nightmares come true, and a sea serpent. But with the help of Caspian, Lord Drinian and a familiar talking mouse named Reepicheep, the Dawn Treader will sail to the end of the world!
| Actor/actress | Role |
|---|---|
| Georgie Henley | Lucy Pevensie |
| Skandar Keynes | Edmund Pevensie |
| Ben Barnes | King Caspian |
| Eddie Izzard | voice of Reepicheep |
| Liam Neeson | voice of Aslan |
| Peter Dinklage | Trumpkin |
The Silver Chair
The Silver Chair will be the fourth film in the series. Andrew Adamson, the director of the first two movies in the series, has indicated that he wants films two through four to be released closely together, which implies that The Silver Chair will probably be made.[5] Judging by the spacing between Prince Caspian and Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and the stated desire to release the "Caspian trilogy" films a year apart, the movie will probably be released in 2012. However, pre-production has not yet started.
As noted above, Ben Barnes is expected to reprise the role of Caspian X due to the terms of his contract; no other word on casting has been announced.
Other films
As there are seven books in The Chronicles of Narnia, each book could potentially become a movie.[6] The film adaptation of the third book, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, has been confirmed; the next likely film is The Silver Chair. The production of further films will largely depend on the success of previous films; following the "Caspian trilogy," the books remaining to be adapted will be The Horse and His Boy, The Magician's Nephew and The Last Battle.
The Disney film productions are following the original publication order of the Narnia novels, rather than the order in which they have been published since 1994. Prior to that, publication order followed the order in which the novels were written, with the exception of The Silver Chair, which was written after Horse and His Boy but published before it. However, after the publication of all the books in the series, Lewis suggested in a letter to a fan that his preferred reading order for the series was by the chronology of the narrative, and not necessarily by publication date.[7] In 1994, the Lewis estate authorized a decision to reorder the series according to the in-universe chronology, making The Magician's Nephew the first book. All editions of the Narnia novels published since that time have followed this order. Despite the reordering of the series, fans still provide reasons for reading and filming the books in their original publication order, a position supported by the film producers.[8] See The Chronicles of Narnia for further debate and discussion on reading order.
Another reason for creating the films in this order is the need to film the books featuring the Pevensie children (Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy) before the actors portraying them mature too greatly; in the continuity of the book series, only about one year each passes between each of the first three books. In addition, it is likely that the producers filmed the The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe first as it is the most famous of the seven books.
C. S. Lewis never sold the film rights to the Narnia series, being skeptical that any cinematic adaptation could render the more fantastical elements and characters of the story realistically.[9] Only after seeing a demo reel of CGI animals did Lewis's stepson and co-producer Douglas Gresham give approval for a film adaptation.[citation needed]
Films
Cast and characters
List indicator(s)
- A dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film.
Box office
| Title | Release date | Director | Time Length | Total worldwide box office |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe | December 9, 2005 | Andrew Adamson | 135 min. | $744,783,957 |
| Prince Caspian | May 16, 2008 | 140 min. | $118,863,996 | |
| The Voyage of the Dawn Treader | May 7, 2010 | Michael Apted | n/a | n/a |
| The Silver Chair | n/a | n/a | ||
| The Horse and His Boy | n/a | n/a | ||
| The Magician's Nephew | n/a | n/a | ||
| The Last Battle | n/a | n/a | ||
| Total films: 2 (as of May 22, 2008) | 275 min. | $863,647,953 | ||
Reception
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | Yahoo! Movies | |
| Overall | Top Critics | |||
| The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe | 75% (199 reviews)[10] | 78% (37 reviews)[11] | 75/100 (39 reviews)[12] | B (13 reviews)[13] |
| Prince Caspian | 67% (127 reviews)[14] | 62% (34 reviews)[15] | 64/100 (20 reviews)[16] | B- (14 reviews)[17] |
| The Voyage of the Dawn Treader | ||||
| The Silver Chair | ||||
| The Magician's Nephew | ||||
| The Horse and His Boy | ||||
| The Last Battle | ||||
See also
- Chronicles of Narnia novels:
References
- ^ a b Box Office Mojo
- ^ "Third "Narnia" delayed until 2010". Reuters/Hollywood Reporter. 2007-09-20. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Worldwide Grosses Box Office Mojo
- ^ "AICN Breaking Exclusive: Mrs Beaver feels the director of THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER is very Apted!". Ain't it Cool News. 2007-04-17. Retrieved 2007-04-17.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b Matt Conner (2007-01-31). "Bob Beltz". Infuze Magazine. Retrieved 2007-07-01.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "NarniaWeb - Walden Media Outlines Narnia Series".
- ^ C. S. Lewis: Letters to Children. Edited by Lyle W. Dorsett and Marjorie Lamp Mead. Letter to Laurence Krieg, dated April 23, 1957, page 68.
- ^ C. N. Manlove, The Chronicles of Narnia, 124, Peter Schakel, "Reading with the Heart", pp. 143-5; chapter 3 of Imagination and the Arts in C. S. Lewis), Paul Ford (Companion to Narnia, xix-xx), Evan K. Gibson, C. S. Lewis, Spinner of Tales, 194-95, Margaret Patterson Hannay, C. S. Lewis, 23-71), Doris T. Myers, C. S. Lewis in Context, 227, Leland Ryken and Marjorie Lamp Mead, A Reader’s Guide Through the Wardrobe, pp. 171-174.
- ^ A general dislike of cinema can be seen in Collected Letters, Vol. 2, a letter to his brother Warren on March 3, 1940, p. 361; see also All My Road Before Me, June 1, 1926, p. 405
- ^ "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved ?.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Top Critics)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved ?.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved ?.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - Critics Reviews". Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved ?.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved ?.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Top Critics)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved ?.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved ?.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - Critics Reviews". Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved ?.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help)
External links
- Official movie site
- The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at IMDb
- The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian at IMDb
