Narnia Super Trailer at the Biola Media Conference

Micheal Flaherty, President of Walden Media

This weekend Micheal Flaherty was a featured speaker at the Biola Media Conference in Los Angelas, CA and he had the opportunity to present the super-trailer to the audience. From the descriptions that we’ve seen, it seems that this was the same trailer that I and others were shown in February. It’s likely that the many of the rough CGI patches have been cleaned up, but it’s probably not a trailer that will be publicly released until very close to the film’s release. (It may not be released at all and might just be shown on the DVD release.)

Kristi from The Lion’s Call has a full run-down of the footage, but be careful of spoilers as there are quite a few. She relates a funny story about Micheal Flaherty:

He [Micheal] and Biola host Phil Cooke apparently intended to prank us excited audience members who had been waiting all day for a sight of the first trailer. Last night, we were told, Flaherty’s son and daughter appeared in a play of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe at their school, and Flaherty meant to catch them on video and show that as the trailer instead, to give us a shock. Unfortunately, his camera’s battery died and he was forced to relate his brilliant plan instead of actually executing it.

(For the curious, his son played Aslan’s Army #6 and had one line: “Shh! She’s coming.” and his daughter played a unicorn∧ forgot her horn when she went onstage.)

Flaherty also related his experience upon first meeting Douglas Gresham, C.S. Lewis’ stepson, to discuss film rights for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. When Doug asked him which illustration in the book was his favorite, Flaherty said it was the one of Aslan and the White Witch debating over the fate of Edmund. Doug asserted immediately that this was the worst picture in the series, and that the only person who hated it more than himself, was Jack (It is, from any perspective, a unique illustration. I believe it is the only one that depicts Aslan walking upright.). Flaherty jokingly stated that he (Flaherty) was removed from the proceedings thereafter.

Also of interest, NarniaFans points out a few tweets regarding the event including this one:

Another attendee, Wendy, tells us:

The Conference host made it quite clear that Fox had a presence there with infrared devices capable of catching anyone attempting to record the footage shown (either in still photographs, or video recording).  The footage had a “Biola Media Conference” stamp at the bottom of the screen.

And she finishes by writing:

Our overall first impression was extremely positive…if the little we saw is any indication, I think this will be the best movie of the three so far.  Dearheart and I both drove the two hours back home with silly geeky grins on our faces!

Thanks to everyone who sent in reports!

UPDATE: Here is another rundown of the footage shown. This was sent in by ‘subjectofthehighking’. Lots and lots of spoilers from this point on. You have been warned!

*The “trailer” starts with a sweeping view of a church with lion gargoyles, 20th century people exiting the doors below. Aslan’s voice speaks in the background about times changing.
*Edmund and Lucy in Eustace’s bedroom. Edmund asks Lucy if she has seen the ship in the picture before. Lucy smiles and says it’s very Narnian.
*Eustace, Edmund, and Lucy in Eustace’s bedroom, with water pouring out of the picture frame and filling the bedroom. They swim in the water and emerge at the surface with the Dawn Treader.
*Edmund and Lucy in Narnian clothes in Caspian’s cabin. Edmund wonders why they have been called to Narnia if there is no war or trouble.
*Lucy walks down the hall to the magician’s book. She opens it as Aslan’s voice speaks in the background. Snow falls as she gazes around in wonder. Another clip of the book includes Lucy looking on the page of the spell of beauty beyond the lot of mortals, and her image in the books morphs into an image of Susan.
*Coriaken unrolls a huge map, his voiceover telling them of the perils ahead. Apparently, the writers have combined some of the episodes in the book to create a goal to defeat the “darkness” that threatens Narnia. It seems that they have to land on the dark island and follow a “blue star” to Ramandu’s island.
*Footage of Gael and Lucy. Gael says to Lucy in a ship’s cabin, “When I grow up, I want to be just like you.” Lucy replies by putting her arm around Gael and saying, “When you grow up, I want you to be just like you.” Another scene includes Lucy comforting Gael as she misses her mother by telling her to trust in Aslan.
*Eustace sitting among some barrels, writing in his notebook. He asks an albatross on a barrel if he talks too, and a nearby minotaur laughs at him talking to animals.
*A dragon shadow swooping across a mountainside.
*Coriaken becoming visible again: a table of books begin to blur as his image moves, not blending in with his surroundings anymore.
*Reepicheep climbing a mast.
*Ramandu’s daughter emerging out of light. She welcomes the group to Aslan’s table.
*Lucy looking on a door that opens out of nowhere, with light beyond, presumably the door in the sky.
*Edmund, Eustance and Lucy on a beach with Aslan, presumably at the end of the world. Lucy asks if they will return. As more clips play, Aslan’s voiceover speaks the line of them knowing him by another name in their world.
*Coriaken with the crew of the DT. He throws some white stuff in Eustace’s direction and says something, maybe a spell. Lucy asks Coriaken what the white stuff was, and he replies, “Lint, but don’t tell him that.”
*The footage ends as other trailers have, the Narnia logo sweeping away, this time made of finished stone.

Thank you subjectofthehighking!!

160 Responses

  1. Savber100 says:

    haha… the trailer sounds almost too good to be true! 😛

  2. Waleed Sajjad Khan says:

    O……. MMMMMMMMM…….. GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!
    i thought the words would be made of wooden planks!!!

  3. Anna's Sister says:

    That would be kind of weird if Coriakin pretended to throw some sort of spell on Eustace but it makes you wonder how long Eustace stays being a Dragon and what sort of spell Coriakin would want to undo or do.

  4. Anna's Sister says:

    Ramandu's daughter glowing blue?? Interesting. I hope this movie will be the best out of all of them so they can keep making them!! When do we get a trailer??!!!!

  5. Sean M says:

    If Lewis hated it so much, why'd he allow it in the book…? Ah well, Prince Caspian was the book that really set the tone for the world of Narnia. LWW had a lot of anachronistic elements that the rest of series didn't have: umbrellas, sewing machines, Santa Claus, stuff like that. And please, no one tell me that it was actually Father Christmas. I'm just trying to make a point.

  6. Anna's Sister says:

    They have to have the slave trade Island cause they did all that filming, although it's kind of weird that they didn't put any of that in the super trailer (that shows how little we actually know about the movie). There could be tons of stuff we don't know about but I still think it will be awesome!!!

  7. Anna's Sister says:

    I second, third,and fourth that!!

  8. Beren says:

    I don't think it's a Christian/non-Christian thing. It's just that, as glumPuddle has said so many times, the story doesn't need a huge, overarching, end-of-Narnia quest. They have a quest: to find the lords and avenge them if need be. But that's not the crux of the storyline. The story is about "the longing for one's true home and ultimately the joy of finding it." (Thanks, glumPuddle for the awesome quote.)

  9. The Archenlander says:

    literally!

  10. The Archenlander says:

    and i fifth, sixth, and seventh that!

  11. iLiveInNarnia says:

    That is the worst illustration in my opinion… But oh well. Thanks for the spoilers ;]

  12. Tumnus the Faun says:

    Thanks for the run down of the new trailer. It sounds fantastic. The thought of the water pouring out of the picture into Eustance's room gave me chills! I wonder what the church scene is about. I hope we can see this trailer online soon. Thanks again.

  13. Lucy says:

    That is so ironic. When I heard about it being called, "the book of incantations", I instantly started worrying about MY dad not wanting me to see this movie. Now, regardless of what he thinks, I'll probably get to see it anyway. I don't go to see R-rated films, but I'm old enough to get in them if I wanted to so I totally can see a harmless Narnia flick if I feel like it, it would just be nice not to have the hassle of a parent going, "well that's no good, don't go see that" in the back of my head the whole time. I'm hoping he'll be cool about it. But seeing as he got a bit worked up about me reading "Fairiest" by gail carson levine…I dunno. But hey, that book is on my self now, and he just acts indifferent to it, hopefully if worse comes to worse, he'll do the same with VDT. I hope yours lets you see it too!

  14. Reepicheep775 says:

    Point taken with the umbrellas and sewing machines, but I don't view Father Christmas (yes, I will say it that way 😉 ) as a farcry from the rest of the series. If it has creatures from mixed mythologies why can't it have him?

  15. NarniaNut says:

    HAHA!!! Yep Chief thats what they sound like!! For sure!!! lol
    FINALLLLLYYYY Trailer SPOILER it was very detialed felt like i knew what it looked like already!!!!

  16. wolfloversk says:

    I'm glad you'll be content with the trailer 🙂 I won't be until I see the movie. This is so exciting!!!!!!!

  17. Watziznehm says:

    Okay, now I'm stoked!

  18. The Batman says:

    8th 9th and 10th right here!!! 😉

  19. Eustace says:

    Wow! What am I supose to say? I don't even know what to think of most of this.

  20. Eustace says:

    Thank you so much to Urnus for telling me about this!

  21. Aslan's my homeboy says:

    Oh my goodness sooooo excited now! AAHH!

  22. Violamom says:

    Musgrave, keep in mind that the purpose of a trailer is to whet your appetite to see the movie–not to be a comprehensive synopsis of everything that's going to be in it. As far as what's going to be in and what's going to be out, we won't know any of that until we actually see the movie. Plus the whole thing was only about 3-4 minutes long, so how much could they cram into it? What is in there looks really good, and everything I've read indicates that they've learned their lesson with PC and wanted to return to the spirit of LWW. Time will tell! 😉 <><

  23. Violamom says:

    I will confess right off the bat that I don't know the book as well as you, and I know YOU know that a successful movie adaptation is usually not just a slavish reproduction of the the book onto the screen. But I can't imagine them making a feature film following the pattern of the book: sail to an island, find a lord, sail to the next island, find the next lord, etc. It would get really boring really fast. So I think, from what little we saw on Saturday, that they are doing some condensing of the quest under a larger idea, which–for a feature length film–is probably a wise thing to do. But it's all conjecture at this point. Dearheart, who is probably the biggest stickler of the three of us (her, me and Kristi), was entranced by the trailer, and even later as we were discussing what we saw, she said there was nothing in there that disturbed or worried her. I stick by what I said: I really think this will be the best one of the three. 🙂 <><

  24. skandargirl_95 says:

    AGH!I'm ALREADY palpitating without even SEEING it!
    I CANNOT imagine the whole thing while I was reading this article because I CAN'T believe people have already seen the rough cut…agh!?!?

  25. skandargirl_95 says:

    probably next month or the one after that…no doubt, they're editing this movie pretty fast for a 3D animated, CGI movie…wow…all the effort…

  26. reinier says:

    I guess the first shot is a shot of Cambridge. For there does Eustace live, doesn´t he?

  27. jeditrojan says:

    I've always thought it was kind of strange

  28. Aslan's Meadow says:

    AncientEgyptFan….love your name! I can never get enough Egypt info.

  29. narniafan4ever ♥ says:

    hahaha! yup! Wow, I read the update….it is gonna be awesome! Just like I imagined it! Only, I'm a little nervous about the whole "following the blue star" thingy….I like the explanation of Gael and Lucy. 🙂 So cute! I am really excited!!!!!!! Wahoo! *does backflips*

  30. narniafan4ever ♥ says:

    Me too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😀 😀 😀

  31. LOTRFREAK says:

    i'm guessing the trailer will be out for the public in june and it probably won't be this one.

  32. Tarwe, the Narnian Elf says:

    Oh that would be awesome! I've been hoping for a cameo appearance of Peter and Susan all along! I'm also really excited because it seems likely that Eustace's journal made it into the movie! Sail on!

  33. Kristi says:

    Well, I didn't mean that Coriakin would be pretending to undragon him. I meant that by the time he meets Coriakin, he's a reformed character (mostly), so why is he still being picked on?

  34. NarniaNerd says:

    AHHHHHH!!!!! I am SOOOOOOO JEALOUS!!!!!!! WHEN WILL THE TRAILER COME OUT?!?!
    For my birthday, I would LLLLOOOOOVE to see a VDT trailer. PLEEEEEASE, Walden/Fox?
    I'm hoping REALLY hard for one this month!

  35. QueenLucy12 says:

    I 11th, 12th, and 13th that!!!

  36. QueenLucy12 says:

    mine is the 11th (of dec.)and we are so going for my birthday! *Being Happy!*

  37. AslanJudah says:

    I guess you could call this a teaser teaser.

  38. Beth says:

    I'm immensely happy reading the descriptions of the teaser trailer. It sounds just like I imagined it. And I don't mind the whole "darkness thing." Like others have mentioned, they do experience this darkness in the dark island. And I've accepted that they would change up some of the book. To me, this doesn't seem to implausible and doesn't ruin the movie for me.

  39. King_Cor_the_Great says:

    i have a great feeling that this will be an excellent film. what i do hate is that they had infrared cameras to detect other cameras. I want to see the trailer!

  40. NarnianElf says:

    Wow, I am spellbound by the description of the trailer. I feel like I've watched it already! Now I think I'll die if I don't see this movie soon! All the spoilers are almost making it worse 😀 (No, that's impossible. I love spoilers)

  41. Narniafan says:

    THAT illustration! I've always thought it looked pretty strange, and was definitely a departure from the entire story. Aslan walking on two feet??

    Although I do wonder why Lewis allowed the picture to be in the book.

  42. Narniafan says:

    Such as having a sceptre.

  43. kate Achey says:

    it will come out in june

  44. KingofKings'Daughter says:

    AHHH!!! I love spoilers!!! Cannot wait for the trailer to come out!

  45. LOTRFREAK says:

    thats what i think!

  46. ~Lava~ says:

    Or, Coriaken, is annoyed with Eustace and wants him to shut up or just to scare him a bit so he utters something that sounds like an incantation and throws white stuff at him. The thing doesn't say that Eustace was a dragon at the time and we all know how annoying Eustace is/was, mayhaps they changed the order of the islands around. At any rate, I cannot see the Duffers jumping a group of people and a dragon. They are not that dumb and besides, Eustace would have been able to get away without going through the Duffers and evacute everyone else too if he were still a dragon.

  47. coracle says:

    Not quite, Fr George! In this story, Caspian is seeking seven lost lords who sailed east to explore beyond the Lone Islands when Miraz was king. Reepicheep the mouse is going to fulfil a prophecy made when he was a baby.
    It's in Silver Chair that the ageing Caspian sails east once more because he has heard that Aslan has been seen in the islands.
    I recommend you treat yourself to reading these books again!

  48. JadistarkilleR says:

    sounds really good!

    maybe its just how this trailer was transcribed, but it seems like they're putting the focus back on the children again. it doesnt sound like they're showing much of King Caspian this time around, at least in this trailer.

  49. Aunt Letty says:

    It's unlikely that he had any say in the matter. At the time that the Narnia books were published, Lewis hadn't yet become the cult-superstar author that he is to his fans now. He may have carried some clout in the rarified world of academia, but in the publishing domain he was merely a lowly author, and therefore of a lower caste than the editors and publishers of his work. I doubt he was consulted in the matter of illustrations.

  50. Aunt Letty says:

    Checkers,

    the person who advised you not to say, "it's not that bad", was right on the money. If one of my kids approached me with that lead-in, I'd have my guard up and probably be prejudiced against whatever they were asking permission for. It's parent-reflex. I know I'm doing it, and I know it's irrational, and I still can't help it.

    On the other hand, if you get on the same side of the discussion table with your dad, by agreeing that you find "those kinds of things" distasteful, but also affirm your pleasure in the uplifting content of the majority of the films, you're much more likely to get a fair hearing. You could even tell him how much you'd like him to see it with you, to enjoy the message of faith in the film together.

    Parents aren't always as sure as they sound, about what they should or should not let their kids do. What your dad probably really wants is to feel that his son is safe from bad influences. Your reassuring him that you're appreciative of his protectiveness and that you agree with the reasons for it, can give him some leeway to consider your request with a more open mind. And, if you actually want him to come to see it with you, that dispels any lingering worry that you're tying to "get away with something" potentially harmful to you. If he is there with you, and sees anything that makes him uneasy, he can bail you both out of the situation by walking.

    Good for him for sticking to his standards for his son. Good for you if you respect him for it.

  51. Aunt Letty says:

    huh. The impression I got from the text-version of the trailer was that it was a kind of "magic feather" thing. You know, like with Dumbo being afraid that he can't do what he is obvioulsy made to do. Dunno why it came across that way to me, but it did. Maybe it could be a nice moment, though, if it was that kind of thing. Maybe something to do with Eustace not being able to believe he can be brave, or change for the better, or… ok, I'm just speculating with no ground to stand on, really.

  52. Aunt Letty says:

    Thanks for posting the transcription/description

  53. Aunt Letty says:

    Aggh-it posted before I was done.

    I meant to say Thanks for posting the transcription/description!!!!!

    Can only afford timewise to check-in here every couple of weeks. Hasn't been much to discuss in the past few months, so I don't bother to post. Is this what the more net-savvy refer to as "lurking"? I understand that is a bad thing, so I don't want to be a "lurker". Not sure just what it is, to be honest.

    Thanks again for the trailer. How did anyone get such a detailed description from just one viewing, anyway? Someone's got a fantastic memory.

  54. So what about costumes??? What was Ramandu's daughter wearing? What about Lucy? I want details!!
    So exciting!!!

  55. Narniamiss says:

    Viola; thanks for your input, I really appreciate it. It makes me feel a lot better even though I am hearing that there may be quite a few changes from the story. I'm excited. 🙂

  56. Doug says:

    Does anyone know what big summer movies Fox has coming out that the VDT trailer would possibly be previewed in?

  57. I_LiVe_iN_NarNia:P says:

    I'm glad they've put in the bit about them knowing Aslan by another name in their world 🙂 That bit's important i think. Sounding good!

  58. QueenLucy12 says:

    oh sry I thought that you put movie! I am going to see the movie for me and my brothers birthday!

  1. May 3, 2010

    […] NarniaWeb | Tradução e adaptação: Narnianos.com AKPC_IDS += &quot;2728,&quot;;Popularity: unranked [?] […]