Confirmed: Walden is Talking With Fox About Making The Magician’s Nephew
Dekkie attended NRB’s Sunday Super Session in Nashville today and has posted the following report which confirms that Walden is leaning toward making The Magician’s Nephew next.
Michael Flaherty just confirmed that Walden was talking with Fox about the Magician’s Nephew.
I just got back from attending NRB’s Sunday Super Session in Nashville, TN, where Flaherty and Simon Swart from Fox spoke about “Connecting with Audiences in an Age of Distraction.” And Narnia, of course. A few noteworthy tidbits:
When asked by Phil Cooke of Cooke Pictures and host of this session if Walden would make any more Narnia movies, Flaherty responded, without hesitation: “Yes. We are talking to Fox about making the Magician’s Nephew next.” The audience clapped. He then mentioned that there was some debate about whether SC or MN should be next, and asked the audience to clap for their favorite. A few (including myself, loudly) clapped for SC, but the majority cheered for MN.
Flaherty also referred to Gresham as “the CS Lewis Cop,” and talked about when the production team would wonder what Lewis thought of something, Gresham would say something like about how once he was having dinner with Jack and he said that if there ever was a movie made it would have to include such and such. Flaherty, laughingly, added that he wondered how many of those stories actually happened.
Phil Cooke talked about the time he was at the first screening of the VDT trailer, 20 minutes after the trailer was shown, he received a notification on his phone from Google about all these Narnia sites having detailed reports about the trailer. “These people are crazy.” I laughed – because we are.
Flaherty gave a “huge, heartfelt thank you” to the audience for their support of the film, saying that many thought the franchise was “dead” after PC. He seemed pleased and not worried that VDT made “only” $100 million domestically.
Swart also talked about how excited Fox was to be able to pick up the franchise: “We get a shot at Narnia?” and saying that they “jumped in with both feet in.”
Michael Flaherty just confirmed that Walden was talking with Fox about the Magician’s Nephew.Thanks to Dekkie for the report!
Is this a greenlight or is that now likely to be coming soon?
This is good and bad news for me. I was really hoping for SC next because of Eustace and the order C.S. Lewis wrote them in but this is deffinately better than nothing. I should be grateful for what I've got. After all, its my second favorite book and the most mysterious plotline of the entire series. Now if they can only make the script acurate to the book…
WOOHOO!!!!! I think. I hope this means they are making it for sure 8-D
This is bitter sweet…I am overly grateful, yet unless they make SC at the same time or right (very right) after, then it will probably not be made. Especially since SC is the first book I read out of the series…and the first book I ever read. But, non the less, it is good news. It will be interesting to see how they handle the creation of Narnia…hopefully they will be faithful to Jack (Lewis).
Interesting…
Yay Magicians Nephew next; but I'll hesitate to jump up and down until it's been officially green lit.
I can't believe it, but I'm actually mad right now. Like, REALLY mad. I can't believe they're even considering doing The Magician's Nephew! It's confusing, a lame marketing ploy. That and Will Poulter (who's already a bit too old, I think) will be an adult by the time they get to SC, if they get that far. I'm seriously losing my faith in Walden Media…
Who cares about the Will Poulter's age, look at Ben Barnes as Caspian is waaaay older and he was still good. I don't care what's the next movie i just want to see more Narnia's movies been made <3
GOOD THAT THEY ARE MAKING MAGICIANS NEPHEW BECAUSE ASLAN HAS MORE ROLE IN IT.
I am glad that Magician's Nephew is to be made, disappointed that SC is being put on hold yet again, and yes, worried about it never being made. At least Magician's Nephew has the advantage of never having been made beforehand.
I haven't been this exited about the movies in a long time!
This is so amazing, I love tat book.
Yet another chance for the White Witch to make it onto a Narnia movie poster! I would prefer SC next, but any more Narnia is good news to me!
I don't think I'll believe anything until they give an official once and for all announcement. I'm just sad Will won't be playing Eustace as soon as I'd hoped. I have a bad feeling about the future movies.
wow its a nice book as any others in the series…but I am just worried that they would end it there as LWW,VDT and MN are the 3 favourites of the narnia series…i heard it from Andrew Adamson…but this is great news…whoho another excitement for another narnia film 🙂
WOW! This is exciting that the franchise will continue but why MN and not SC? Is this because they want to replace Will Poulter? It screws up the ages but then again it could help blow over the mess up with VDT. Most likely they want to keep the WW story going as long as possible. Oh well. I am super excited.
At least another film may be made. Slightly off topic but I'm sure I read on a timeline that by the time of LB Eustace and Jill were supposed to be 16, a lot older than they were in SC. Plus considering how Ben Barnes was definitely a lot older than his character was supposed to be and given a certain tradition in films in general for casting actors older than their characters are supposed to be; I don't see any problem with Will playing Eustace in a the SC and LB, fingers crossed they'll make them too.
This is actually somewhat exciting because Magician's Nephew has never been adapted for any medium. Possibly the biggest risk for the series; they had better make it faithful because us fans are going to get extremely annoyed if they don't.
that means they would have to replace eutace…….
I don't really care which movie they make next.I'm just glad they're still continuing the series!
I don't see how they could make SC will Will still if they make MN first. Will will still look too old in 4 years for SC (this is assuming they're not going to greenlight MN and SC at the same time). I wonder if they do make SC later and replace Will but then bring Will back later (if they even get as far as Last Battle, then maybe we will see him again). I hope all of this MN stuff is untrue!
heyy i know wat u mean but i dnt think replacing will poulter is such a good idea…he is much too praised to be eustrace….i'd rather have him older than eustrace age in SC than another actor replacing him…who agrees ????…and hmm what do you guys think of maybe having eustrace and jill as love interests…will afterall they are classmates…but who knows wat will happen 🙂
Very grateful indeed. BTW, is it the first time for a film (not animated) to have creation scenes? And I don't think Will's age is a problem. In SC film, I can accept an Eustace as old as the Peter in PC film. It worked and it'll work, I suppose.
Perhaps they are trying to make Narnia even more a "christian" franchise? It would involve some sort of creation, and more Aslan (yey!!) and maybe they want to get more audience from the christian demographic in US to see it? Who knows… 🙂
Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ben Barnes was in his twenties in PC, I believe.
Aw, I want SC next!
But I'll take what I can get.
Definitely mixed feelings. I think it has such wonderful potential to be an absolutely beautiful, moving film. But, at the same time, this reeks of sheer desperation, and to use a very appropriate analogy, I wonder if they're picking this fruit before it's ripe. It just feels… inappropriate… to be expecting it right now.
As for those rejoicing at the thought of increased Aslan content, remember: if they COULD have used Aslan more at this point, they surely WOULD have. What limits his screen time more than anything is money. Mr. Gresham has repeatedly stated as much. I really hope they can economize anywhere else necessary, to avoid compromising Aslan's presence in this film. If it is, indeed, time to gamble, they better go "all in".
Boy, I love this book. It's playful, moving, fun, exciting, and it ties everything together in such a wonderfully organic fashion. I don't want to see it 'Dawn Treader'ized with another "Aptedation". 🙁
It has been adapted for the medium of radio.
okay-auditioning for polly plummer instead of jill pole!
Meh. I likely won't bother with this one. MN is my least favourite book and I have no interest in paying a small fortune to see it in theatres. I think that if they planned on making another movie after this, they would have tried to make SC next. I think they are planning for this to be the last movie. I hope I'm wrong, but it just has that kind of a feel to me.
I didn't know that was why Aslan appears only rarely, but it makes sense. Better to have only a few scenes with Aslan if they're extraordinarily well done, than several with poor animation. I love MN, I'm so excited at the prospect of actually seeing it. I rather thought the movies would quit being made before ever they got to it.
its so wrong! i want silver chair to be first! the chronicles must follow the corect order. though i love the magician's nephew, i want it to be the 6th installment and silver chair to be the 4th
Well, if I'm interpreting this correctly, we now have a yellow light. They're definitely making another Narnia film, but they can't move forward with pre-production because they haven't decided which film. I have to say this is good news on two counts: the film series is not dead, and SC isn't completely out of the running for the next film! 🙂
Actually, Lewis wrote HHB before he wrote SC. There's nothing sacred about the order of the books, he wrote most of them one at a time. They only need to consider the audience's need for back story. LB has to be last, but, the other three remaining books can be filmed in any order.
I feel the same way, Musgrave. I'm thankful we might get any movie at all, and I love The Magician's Nephew, but it will break off the continuity and we could lose Will Poulter. 🙁 Silver Chair could be great movie if they didn't mess it up. I was really looking forward to Puddleglum too. 🙁 At the same time, I just finished reading MN (for the hundredth time) and I would be thrilled if it was made into a movie–though only if it was done right. Ideally I think they should make SC next, and start filming MN right after it (or at the same time as SC) so we won't have to wait so long. But I know that won't happen. Right now I'm torn–I want SC next, but MN is so good and could help the series. I guess I have to just be glad for what we have–there could be no new movie at all.
That's good news! I'd love to see MN next… It's all fine for me, as long as they make HHB!!
Yeah, I love the Focus on the Family ones. They're how I was introduced to Narnia. 🙂
Though I love, MN, SC really needs to be made next Do they think they can magically stop Will Poulter's growth or something? :p
Plus, I really wanted to see him again. I didn't enjoy quite all off VTD, but I loved every scene with him in it.
I'm guessing it's a likely to be coming soon due to the comment that they were still debating which one next.
I wonder if we could make a contract with the production peoples not to drop Will P.
Yay! So we have confirmation about another Narnia movie! I don't really see why people are all ticked off about MN being made next instead of SC. Will's growth will not be a problem. Take Lord of the Rings for example. All the actors are tall but they were able to look short like Hobbits are supposed to be by using different camera angles. And with regards to his face and such, look at him in VoDT and in real life. Look how much younger he looks in the movie. There is a little thing called prosthetics, people. if they do those two things, we have nothing to worry about.
I would have like to see the Silver Chair next, but I can live with the Magician's Nephew. As for Will Poulter they have make-up in Hollywood. He'll be fine.
*almost passes out* WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sure, i want another movie, but this is crazy. no Will Poultler for, like, another 4 years? i hope they know what they're doing. this is just insane, Ben Barnes is gonna be in his 40s by the time they get to SC, but that's not the worst part, since they might need an actor for "old" Caspian.
*deep breath* Well, at least we know Narnia still has a future, and if making MN is going to make the future even brighter, then i guess i can deal with it. still, it's a pretty huge shock….
It sounds like it "might" be a green light but although they are still talking it over. No worries! I have a good feeling about this one, They would be stupid not to do this one next just because "Voyage" did really bad in the box office, I thought "Voyage" was a great movie but audiences are going to be more interested in on how Narnia began and the background on Professor Kirke and Jadis, Just hope they get Tilda again to play Jadis in which it would only make sense.
what????????????????????????????????????????????
if they wait, Will Poulter will be too old!
remember, they almost made HHB after LWW but didn't because the kids were getting older. so they did PC. they should do SC!
oh please do SC!
Don't get too mad, as in don't get mad enough that IF they do make that story next you won't go to the theater. After all he did say “We get a shot at Narnia?” and saying that they “jumped in with both feet in.” That sounds like they're still pretty excited at doing the whole series. Marketing, a different story order, might be what's needed to keep the non-book fans coming back for more, coming back for me=money, money=budget for next movie. You have to remember that with traditional "trilogies" it's often intensely hard to make the third movie successful, I can't imagine how hard it will be to make the 5, 6, and 7 movies successful, especially out of a non-continuous storyline, unlike harry potter, which is a recent book series that is extremely popular, fresh in peoples minds, and always leaves you wondering "what's going to happen in the next movie?" or "how will this storyline finish?"
I agree! this is crazy! I mean, maybe they know something we don't but why MN next? isn't this going to confuse people who have not read the books and only read the movies?
Oh, exciting! I cannot wait to see if they will actually film MN before SC… it would be interesting…
I think this ia good idea for a few reasons:
1. It concludes(and introduces) the Jadis story, and would allow them to show audience that the next film's villian isn't Jadis.
2. They can give Emerald Lady back story.
I think they should do MN then SC, then HHB followed by TLB. because HHB introduces the audience to the Calormen, their culture and religion, in preparation for the epic finale.
alright, this sounds nice, but im worried about William as Eustace. what if he gets too old to do Eustace in Silver Chair? i would be devestated if they got a new Eustace. they just cant do that. if Magician's Nephew is made next, Silver Chair should be greenlit ASAP. they must must must keep Will Poulter. no exceptions
I think all Narnia fan websites should have polls on which movie they want (MN or SC) and they can see what the fans want.
And by "they" I ment "Producers"
I have prayed and hoped for "Magician's Nephew" since I saw "LWW." 😉
Tilda Swinton MUST play Jadis in this. If not, I would be devastated.
I can't remember the movie, but no it's not the first time creation would be depicted in film, I think it was in one of the old cecil b demil type movies… Also 2001 Space Odyssey had their own evolution scene…
well they figured out how to get tilda in every movie after LWW, so I don't think you have much to worry about… *insert sarcasm* unless they get a younger actress to play the WW and then right in the middle of the movie they have a time portal open up, where tilda the older white witch visits her younger self in about a 30 second vision! *end sarcasm* LOL
Boo! They should do SC and that way giving Walden and Fox the liberty to do whatever story they want to do next.
However, I think MN could be a good and bad thing.
The good: It's a unique story, and it's Fox and Walden's chance to use more Marketing strategies that keep reminding audiences of LWW and Tilda Swinton. Maybe this will get the White Witch out of their systems once and for all!
The bad: Not much action in the story. I realize they've tried to get away from the whole "epic battle movie" label, but they still have failed to do that. Whatever movie is next they NEED and MUST make the next movie a slower paced adventure film that focuses on the characters. Most of the stories they yet have to make aren't going to have much action in them, so they shouldn't rely of big epic climaxes to keep this series alive.
Oh… I think this news means that "The Magician's Nephew" will hit the theaters very soon! But I hope they finalize this as soon as they can so that they can finish the movie earlier and made it to cinemas in an earlier date. And we know that J.R.R.Tolkien's "The Hobbit" will soon hit the theaters. Hope that they can make "The Magician's Nephew" better than the preceeded "Narnia" films. And they can find a better director. C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia is epic in books and they can make it too in the cinemas.
I agree!
how do you participate in the auditions for the cast???
I've never read a movie. 😉
If they replace Poulter for one film, they'll replace him for both of them. Using him in LB but not SC would be incredibly dumb.