quote: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, and Walden Media’s Joel Stillerman, executive vice president of film & television, and Perry Moore, vice president of production and development.
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
With a distinctive mission to recapture imagination and rekindle curiosity by marrying popular entertainment and education, Walden Media is a multimedia entertainment company led by Cary Granat, former president of Miramax Films’ Dimension label and executive at Universal Pictures. The New York-based venture, launched in May 2001, focuses on educational subject matter presented through the mediums of film, television, publishing, music and media ventures.
Walden Media is a wholly-owned 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.
Not to be nitpicky, but wasn't The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe the first of the series? I know there was a pre-quel story written later, but still.
And I think PBS made a series of live-action TV films, didn't they?
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Yes, TLtWatW was the first one. The Magician's Nephew is definitely a prequel, though. I'm not sure, but I think The Horse and His Boy might have been, also.
And, yes, there has been a live-action version of the movie since... 1988, apparently. I've seen part of it. It's really really really really bad.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Uh...I don't know whereof you speak, but the BBC production, which featured Warwick Davis in a few installments, was great.
Posted by Spike (Member # 322) on :
quote:Originally posted by Sol System: Uh...I don't know whereof you speak, but the BBC production, which featured Warwick Davis in a few installments, was great.
Yeah, loved it when I was a child.
Posted by Veers (Member # 661) on :
Interesting. Someone else important died on November 22, 1963...
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
The *BBC* created THE BEST production of TLTWATW, PC, TVOTDT and TSC back in 1998. It was a FANTASTIC series. You can't beat them. *sigh* WHY are they doing this movie - the series was JUST right. It was so amazing. I watched again not long ago (I have them on video). FUCK they were amazing!Barbra Kellerman as the White Witch (and later as Jadis) Was Fantastic. I had a crush on Jill Pole! Oh SUCH a great show... so many memories! No movie, No movie, No movie! (They are JUST trying to go all Harry Potter and it'll probably be all Hollywood-ised. Bah!
"Once a King in Narnia, Always a King in Narnia; Once a Queen in Narnia, Always a Queen in Narnia".
Andrew
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
OK, I've got some older copies of the books, and it goes "Lion", "Prince", "Voyage", "Chair", "Horse", "Nephew", "Battle". However, the series I've seen at the library moves "Horse" and "Nephew" back to the beginning of the series, because "Horse" takes place cocurrantly with "Lion".
I also have the BBC production of "Lion" on tape. Youre right, it's quite good.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Aside for The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe, Voyage of the Dawntreader was my favorite book. I didn't really like a lot of the others.
I also wouldn't count on this coming to the big screen any time soon. Paramount had the rights for ten years and finally let them lapse 'cuz they couldn't come up with a good enough script (go figure).
What I would really like to see is Lloyd Alexander's Pyrdain series, not a crappy movie version like Disney's The Black Cauldron, but a really good series of movies.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Yes, I was talking about the BBC movie. I saw the first fifteen or twenty minutes of TLtWatW (up to where the girl was talking to the weeping faun (I really ought to know the names, but they aren't coming to mind, and I can't be bothered to look them up).
Anyway, I turned it off because it was completely unwatchable.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Having watched the BBC version again only last year, I certainly think that if you didn't see it as a youngster, you probably wouldn't sit through it as an adult. Then again, you might. I was in 4th grade when it came out ... anyone remember the animated movie?
Posted by Dr Phlox (Member # 680) on :
Yes and I thought it was pretty good. This may be because I was young when I saw it.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
Ahhhh, I was in Grade 4 in 1988 too! It was the year of Australia's Bicentenery and World Expo '88 was here in Brisbane! I was captivated with the BBC SERIES (It wasn't a movie) from the first scene at the railway station.
The Chronicles of Prydain would be GREAT too... actually a Televsion series of them wouldn't be bad either... Say 6 episodes to a book. Gurgy! LOL! Munchings and Crunchings!
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Tim also doesn't like the Powerpuff Girls, so his taste is in question.
He does have a Pokey tagline though, which causes confusion.
My selection of books all have numbers on the side. "The Magician's Nephew" says 1, TLWATW says 2, "The Horse and His Boy" says 3 (although is occurs during the second book, kinda.
It doesn't work too well in reading though, as in TLTWATW, there's a line that says "Now, they had no more idea who Aslan was than you or I do", which, if you've read the first book, has you saying "er, I know who he is. Big Lion chap. Not a parallel of Jesus in any way, shape or form. No."