The Future of the Narnia Series

From Variety.com:

Hopes are highest for “Prince Caspian,” which will cost at least $100 million. Granat promises that the battle-filled sequel is easily distinguishable from its predecessor and the third pic on the sked, “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.”

Walden and Disney recently shifted the release date for “Dawn Treader” from 2009 to 2010 due to the schedules of the young actors. The shift will also avoid a conflict of having to promote the second film and shoot the third at the same time.

Producers had announced at Comic-Con in July that auds could expect one “Narnia” installment each May for the next few years. Granat is committing publicly to only four or five, saying that “Silver Chair” might be the best bet for the fourth, followed by “Magician’s Nephew,” but he admits that there are a multitude of possibilities.

“There are a lot of stories to be taken from the seven books,” he notes.

This seems to go hand-in-hand with what Granat told Entertainment Weekly back in April 2006 (see our report here).

Caspian will be followed by Treader, in which Edmund and Lucy help King Caspian locate the seven banished Lords of Narnia. Walden plans to use Caspian, Treader, and The Silver Chair as an interlocking trilogy that will be shot in that order.
[On the three remaining Chronicles] Chronologically speaking, Nephew comes before Wardrobe, and Horse comes after, while the apocalyptic Aslan — vs. — anti-Christian Aslan Battle caps the series. The most likely to be made first is Nephew, which explains how the Professor came to own that wardrobe.

Presumably the reason behind switching The Magician’s Nephew and The Horse and His Boy around from the original publication order is for the purpose of allowing the actors to age (or not age) more appropriately. If Henley, Keynes, Popplewell and perhaps even Moseley return for Horse, this would give them a year or two more to age; whereas if Swinton returns for Nephew, it will be one to two years earlier.

One last interesting bit to note from the Variety article, Jeffery Godsick, marketing president for Fox Walden, stated “And we’re sending a message by having only G and PG films — that the whole family can go.” Whether this affects the Narnia series or not, we’re not sure as Narnia is being done by Walden and Disney, but it may be that the whole Narnia series will be aiming for a PG rating.

Thanks to KnightofGondor for sending this in.