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Fantasy and Enchantment Come to the Big Screen Through Naria Adventures
Written by: Nailah Ellis Timberlake
In the midst of the emerging popularity of fantasy children's stories, comes the creation of 'The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe' as the next children's book made into a movie.
Following in the legacy of The Harry Potter series and Lord of the Rings trilogy, one of the C.S. Lewis' Narnia adventures is being made into a Disney movie. The movie is slated to hit theaters in December of 2005 and will chronicle the adventures of four young London children who enter into the magical world of Narnia, through the back of a wardrobe.
Walt Disney announced their plan to co-finance and distribute the film, along with Walden Media. The film will be a live-action film that will be directed by visual effects expert, Andrew Adamson, who previously directed Shrek and Shrek 2. Carey Granat and Michael Flaherty, co-founder of Walden Media said, "This is one of the most imaginative novels ever written and to bring it to the screen requires a director of equal inventiveness, ingenuity, and spirit. Andrew Adamson is just the guy - he knows better than anyone how to create magic on-screen and tell a story that touches the audience's hearts. His expertise in visual effects, animation, and live action will be critical to a fantasy work of this magnitude."
The story surrounds four siblings, Edmund, Lucy, Peter and Susan, who are sent to a professor's country home to avoid the backlash of WW II, and discover the world of Narnia. They team up with a mystical lion, Aslan, who needs their help defeating the White Witch, who has cast Narnia into a winter that has lasted 100 years. Dick Cook, Chairman of Disney Studios stated at the announcement of the movie, "With an exciting and meaningful plot and well-drawn, emotional characters, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe has the potential to be just the start of an extraordinary series of films; the exceptional imagination present in the novel follows in the best Disney tradition. We're pleased to be partnered once again with Walden Media - I think this is just the kind of movie audiences are looking for and we're thrilled to be able to bring it to the screen."
C.S. Lewis was born in Belfast in 1898 and worked as a professor at Oxford University. The Narnia series began in 1950 with 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,' and has seven books in total including a prequel, 'The Magician's Nephew,' and five other subsequent sequels, 'The Horse and His Boy,' 'Prince Caspian,' 'The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,' 'The Silver Chair' and 'The Last Battle.' The last novel in the series, 'The Last Battle' received The Carnegie Award, which is the most prestigious award in children's literature. If this first movie does well, there is a possibility for the rest of Lewis' novels to also be made into movies. The agreement between Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media will allow for the continuation of the partnership for possible future films in the Narnia series.
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