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the The Chronicles of Narnia is a seven-book series written by CS Lewis that built an expansive mythology with a richly defined world and characters that could rival those of his friend and JRR Tolkien’s Middle-earth series. At the center of the series is Narnia, a mysterious fantasy world full of strange creatures, which is being explored by four children more curious than Pevensie: Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter. Their adventures take them all over Narnia as more of the otherworld’s unusual world is revealed to them.
While many have strongly speculated that the series is a metaphor for the teaching of the Catholic Church, Slate published an article saying: Narnia It was more of a Christian allegory, and Lewis later clarified that there was no intention for the series to appear as religious discourse as classified in the fantasy genre, but he welcomed any speculation made by his readers.
A series of discontinued films have been adapted from Lewis’ collection of novels and are intended to run chronologically through each book. in 2005, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe debuted in theaters and followed Prince Caspian in 2008. Journey of the Dawn Toucher It was the third and final novel to be adapted for cinematic retelling before the ongoing series was discontinued. fourth movie trailer, The Chronicles of Narnia: silver chairwas canceled after the film series collapsed.
Updated July 6, 2023: This article has been updated by Valerie Parker with new information regarding The Chronicles of Narnia and series status since it was acquired by Netflix.
It was announced in 2018 that Netflix would take charge of rebooting the series for the streaming service, but little information has emerged about the status of the franchise in the five years since. After years of rumors, a recent profile with The New Yorker seems to confirm that writer-director Greta Gerwig will be following up on the series of hit adaptations including Lady BirdAnd little WomenAnd Barbie, With at least two movies in The Chronicles of Narnia franchise.
Speculation is rife as to which stories in the series Gerwig will take up, and if she’ll focus on her next project, but at this time, Netflix is keeping quiet and refusing to even acknowledge that Gerwig is attached to the project. As the streaming giant continues to craft its next approach to The Chronicles of NarniaHere’s a look back at why silver chair The film adaptation has not happened.
What happens in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair?
silver chair Eustace follows Scrubb and his friend, Jill Paul, as they are introduced to Narnia for the first time. The pair are sent on a journey by Aslan to rescue Caspian’s son, Prince Rillian, whom they find captive and bound to the same Silver Chair. Before the pair can free the Prince, they are captured by the Lady of the Green Cyrtle, who reveals herself to be the Green Witch. Her ability allows her to transform into a green, snake-like creature, and she is later killed by Rilian. Eventually, Caspian is reunited with his estranged son shortly before Caspian’s death, by which time Rilian is named the new King of Narnia.
After the coronation, Scrubb and Pole return to Aslan’s country where they are greeted by a renewed and lively Caspian Sea. The novel ends with the pair returning to England. silver chair It was the fourth novel in The Chronicles of Narnia The published series is however the sixth story in the franchise chronology.
Why didn’t the silver chair happen?
Significant drop in box office revenue between each film in The Chronicles of Narnia The franchise forced the studio to change its plans. rather than adapting silver chairwhich is the next book published in the series, the studio chose instead to consider a prequel with an edit The magician’s nephewan idea that was eventually abandoned when Walden Media lost the rights to it The Chronicles of Narnia in 2011.
In 2013, a new version of silver chair It has been announced. during production silver chair It looked promising at first after captain America Director Joe Johnston signed on to direct the project in 2017, and development was ultimately delayed. The cast who were expected to reprise their roles had outgrown their characters’ age ranges, which would require an entirely new cast to step in where the others left off. for this reason, silver chair It was intended as a reboot of the Narnia franchise and likely wouldn’t include any members from the original film series, including Liam Neeson as Aslan.
Johnston’s adaptation never saw the light of day, and in 2018 it was announced that Netflix would be taking over. The Chronicles of Narnia Franchising and looking to develop films and TV series around the property. This development seems to be the nail in the coffin silver chair A movie, where there was no explicit desire to be cured silver chair After complications arose when trying to plan the fourth film.
Why did the Narnia movies fail?
althoug The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Good performance in theaters, fate The Chronicles of Narnia The film series was slowly going downhill. The film series has struggled with consistency when looking for a studio to carry the weight of its fledgling cinematic universe before. The saga lost its footing when trying to navigate the third film, Journey of the Dawn Toucher After Disney dropped out of the project, it was later passed on to 20th Century Fox (although Disney now owns the rights to the entire trilogy after its acquisition of 20th Century Fox).
when The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe In 2005, the movie became a huge hit for Disney. The film was the second highest-grossing film at the domestic box office in 2005, beating even heavyweights Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. With a strong box office and six more books to adapt, Disney seems to have found a new franchise that the studio can rely on for years to come.
However, unlike Harry Potter or later as MLM twilight And hunger GamesDisney didn’t quite strike while the iron was hot and instead of having a sequel ready for the following year, there was a three-year gap between the release of the first and second films, 2008 Prince Caspian. This extended hiatus between sequels and series goes from a holiday release to a summer release date as it has faced fierce competition from the likes Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull And the unexpected Marvel Studios hit, Iron ManAnd Prince Caspian Struggle to find an audience. by the time The Journey of the Dawn Toucher When it was released, the public seemed to have jumped ship.
It’s also possible that the studios simply overestimated the Narnia property. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe It was a hit movie because it was based on a beloved book that many people read when they were kids, but for many, it was the only entry in the franchise they knew of. unlike Harry PotterAnd Lord of the ringsor twilight, Not that many in the audience were aware that this was only the first in an interconnected series of novels. the The Chronicles of Narnia Movies are set up to compete directly against it Lord of the rings And Harry Potterboth of which featured higher budgets and more dedicated fan bases.
The Chronicles of Narnia They were unable to identify a dedicated following who would passionately commit to the franchise as intensely as other fantasy series. Adding to this challenge was the fact of poor marketing and little hype around the sequel films. The lack of fan demand resulted in a fiasco The Chronicles of Narnia movie franchise, and audiences can only hope that with this acquisition by Netflix, the series can find new life as a TV series the way it has. A series of bad events an act.
Greta Gerwig’s take on Narnia
While Netflix has been sitting on the rights to Narnia for some time, it seems like progress is being made now with Greta Gerwig directing not just one but two movies in the franchise. Gerwig has been an on-call manager since 2017 Lady Bird She has since followed it up with 2019 little Women And the next 2023 Barbie. Barbie It became one of the most anticipated films of 2023, so everyone was wondering how Gerwig would follow it up, and Narnia seems to be the franchise for it.
It is unclear which of the two books Gerwig will adapt. Does not seem to silver chair It will be because it is a book with a lot of lore and established characters. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe seems likely, but the second could be either a direct introduction, sorcerer’s nephew, or another wandering in the direct sequel, Prince Caspian. No release date has been set or even a production start date, but it’s unlikely the movie will arrive until 2025 at the earliest. If it happens in the year 2025, it will be twenty years after Dinsey’s was released the lion, the witch and the wardrobe, And this could be the perfect time for audiences to return to Narnia.
