Report: Perry Moore Had Secured Funding for The Magician’s Nephew
WKTR.com is reporting that in a conversation with his mother on Wednesday night, Perry Moore told her that he had secured funding for The Magician’s Nephew.
“The night before he died, he had an hour-long conversation with his mom,” father Bill Moore said as he waited at the airport for a flight to New York. “He had gotten all the good news he could possibly get.”
Perry Moore told his family he’d secured financing for another Narnia movie, “The Magician’s Nephew.” He was also working with Starz, a cable-movie company, to adapt his novel, “Hero,” and he was preparing to meet with actress Julianne Moore on another project.
“He had everything in the world going for him,” his father said. “He was very upbeat.”
While it’s unclear how this will all play out, it appears that there may have been some negotiations going on for another Narnia film and that, rather than doing Silver Chair next, the production could have been looking forward to The Magician’s Nephew. This may also turn out to be speculation or the very early stages of a deal. What is certain is that we’ll need to show patience and restraint while we wait for more details to appear.
Thanks to ‘Louloudi the Centaur’ for the link.
It is strange to see a story like this (even an unofficial one) break out of such a tragedy.
wow, all this time we are 99% sure Silver Chair is next. What a shocker. All this time they were having Magician's Nephew on their mind. Ok, now it's time for a complete turnaround in my mind….if they make another movie…it's Magician's Nephew. I wonder if this means they are really serious about another movie or not. And poor Will Poulter, he's most likely out of the running for Eustace in Silver Chair if they do it in years to come….RATS!
Wow. thoguht they would have considered SC next.. *wail!* Eustace will be too old for SC then!
Really had my heart set on sc next as it is one of my favs. Loved will poulter and was hoping we would see him as eustace before he got too old.
Will Poulter is NOT out of the running Eustace in Silver Chair.. if anything, this turn of events is rather practical. Had Silver Chair been the next movie (late 2012?), then Will would not reprise his role as Eustace again until potentially Last Battle, which (IF) it came out will be around 2018! Thats a 6 year gap. How wierd would that look?
Not necessarily, and even if he was too old for SC, we'd still have problems for LB… infact even with Will P MN first maybe the better decision, because he will grow more evenly through out the films… But I wouldn't worry, after all they made Ben Barnes look younger than he was in PC 馃槈
Telmarine, you're right. That makes a lot of sense to even out the gaps between VDT/SC and SC/LB.
AND, from a marketing perspective, I think it makes a lot of sense–MN and HHB (assuming they make both) are sort of outside the flow of the other books. It makes sense to sandwich them between the others to keep the franchise from losing its appeal.
An order of:
1. LLW
2. PC
3. VDT
4. MN
5. SC
6. HHB
7. LB
makes perfect sense.
Is the average movie go-er going to stick with the story when it jumps around in the time line like that? I doubt it. Then again, so few people even saw VODT (only made $100 million domestically) it may not even matter.
I'm thinking the only way this makes sense to me is if they do MN next, then TLB will follow directly after. They may call it good after that, or they may do more, not sure.
The sad reality is that they probably chose do to MN next because it was the cheapest of the films to do. Welcome to Hollywood in 2011.
I really had my heart set on The Silver Chair next. But if this was what Moore wanted… let's go with it. With luck Will will still be able to get into SC.
If this is true, I feel like I want to jump for joy and cry all at the same time. I also like Will P, and I want to see him again (and I'm not worried about his age yet), but at the same time, I love MN! It'll be very interesting to find out more about this soon (I hope)…
That's certainly interesting. I don't know if you can accept this at face value. Securing financing for a film doesn't automatically mean that that particular film had been green-lit, nor that it's necessarily the next one in the queue. It may be a case of "When we make 'The Magician's Nephew', I've got an investor." That said, if I had to choose one of the remaining books to adapt as the potential last Narnia film, it would definitely be 'The Magician's Nephew'. It's a beautiful story, it's got Jadis at her genocidal prime (and we all know how much the producers love her), and I think that it's got the most potential to attract a significant audience. If it fails to extend the series, it would be an acceptably logical narrative ending. If it's a success, they could revert back to (with some minor difficulties, I expect) the remaining books.
Undesirable, but there's a lot of logic to it.
Try to contain your disappointment people. An amazing guy has died … seems like which movie is made when shouldn't be a concern at this moment. You should take a minute and appreciate what Perry was able to accomplish and think about what his family and friends are going through. I'm sure there's plenty of time to worry about really important things like which movie gets made and which actors are too old another day.
How about shooting TMN and SC at the same time? It may stretch the budget, but Will will (Ha ha) be the same age. If this is what Perry wanted, then it needs to be done. In honor of him.
Wow . . . Magician's Nephew??! The franchise has already suffered immeasurably from dealing with two hard-to-adapt books in a row, and they want to go with Magician's Nephew, which is the hardest to adapt of them all? PC and VDT could be the basis of pretty-good movies, although they would be difficult if not impossible to translate into truly great movies. PC had a plot, but not a lot of drama or depth. VDT had depth, but it was a series of small plots, so it lacked overall coherence.
MN, with it's focus on emotional impressions over observable movement and action; and it's lack of any semblance of a plot, would be hard to make into even a half-way decent movie. The characters just carom about from place to place, watching loosely related events happen. If there's one thing the film industry learned from Tron: Legacy, it's that baffo special effects do not compensate for the lack of a story.
Not my choice, but as long as their making movies, i'm good 馃檪
what?? are you kidding me? asking if they are serious about more narnia movies because of making MN first?if anything, this shows that they understand the story of creation is more important to get out there than a silly (but enjoyable) story about another witch lady and goofy eustace. (although i was looking forward to meeting jill pole.) I don't know how they can make eustace be young for SC now- maybe put him in high school?
and i will miss the ever luscious ben barnes. luckily he is doing lots of other movies.
Thanks, Louloudi the Centaur. Not sure what this will mean, yet…
I'm praying for Mr. Moore's family, this must be a very hard time for them.
no way dude, it will be MORE expensive to do , with more cgi of narnia creation, taliking animals, the cabbie's horses, lots of aslan scenes, etc. If they do this one, they can more easliy do christian outreach because it's a more biblical story. plus Tilda is itching to do it. (yes , i am suffering from WWitch fatigue too.) It was a very savvy move, and will further protect the narnia franchise from being dropped.
you can't do last battle without the characters of MN BEING INTRODUCED first.
in the Bible, the story of Genesis packs a pretty good punch. more so than a "let's battle some giants" tale you can see anywhere. or evil green witch plots. the whole SC plot is really MEH. fairy tale retreads.
I'm really hoping for The Magician's Nephew and The Silver Chair being filmed at the same time. Especially since The Magician's Nephew would be cheap (no battles!), and I really want to see more Eustace.
I hope to Aslan this is true, It will be gorgeous, thrillling, epic!! like the Ten
commandments, if they do it right. Then if they do outreach EARLY to the churches like disney organized, they'll have a built in fan base who willl see it over and over again. If anything, it's the hardcore purists who will shoot themselves (and the franchise) in the foot by demanding SC should have been first , and then boycott. probably the hardest people for the producers to deal with are the sticklers who don't understand their business decisions to keep the franchise alive in " Hell-ywood."
@Snicket: SC introduces the character of Jill, and HHB introduces Tashism and Calormene politics. If they make LB at all, it will have to come after SC and HHB. Otherwise, they'll have to introduce multiple, major unrelated themes coming seemingly out of left field. It'll be a train wreck . . . well, okay, it'll be a train wreck anyway 馃槈 , but you know what I mean.
Not so much the characters. They could easily cut Polly, Frank and Helen out of LB. And the Professor was introduced in LWW. They, would, however, need MN to explain how the rings work. Basically, LB has to come last, if at all. It relies on all of the other books in the series for back story.
MN would however, provide a tidier finish to the series than HHB or SC, neither of which have a feeling of finality to them. MN would at least create a "full circle" effect. Then again, given the distinctive nature of almost all of the books in the series, and the lack of narrative flow from one book to the next, is it necessary to have a "grand finale" at the end?
this is great MN is just what I wanted!
I would like MN, HBB, SC, LB if they're able to do it in that order.
Magician's Nephew? They should have done SC first!
"which is the hardest to adapt of them all"
Right. As opposed to the other three remaining books. Almost half of 'The Silver Chair' takes place in the dark, 'The Horse and His Boy' is *guaranteed* to spark accusations of racism (I am not saying such accusations would be valid鈥搄ust inevitable), and 'The Last Battle' is a blood-soaked, apocalyptic nightmare, that somehow has to be translated for a PG audience. But 'The Magician's Nephew' is the hardest.
OK.
Anyway, I know which one I'm picking if I only have one shot left.
"…it lacked overall coherence."
I guess if you keep saying that enough (and you have, over and over and over), you're bound to accept it as fact. I accept it as 'wrong'.
"MN, with it鈥檚 focus on emotional impressions over observable movement and action; and it鈥檚 lack of any semblance of a plot, would be hard to make into even a half-way decent movie. The characters just carom about from place to place, watching loosely related events happen."
This is just more defeatist nonsense. Seriously, with that attitude, why bother even trying to adapt ANY of these books? I mean, you can spin any content in a negative fashion, if you want to. After all, this IS a children's series that features Jesus as a talking lion getting ritualistically sacrificed in the middle of the woods, and a psychopath who murders her entire civilization out of pure spite. See how easy it is to emphasize the negative? Work WITH the material. Do NOT be DISMISSIVE of it. It's the Creation Story BEAUTIFULLY rewritten as an endearing love letter to the fans. The narrative is simple. If anything, it's the settings that are complex. COMPETENT filmmakers can overcome any of the inherent constraints of this story.
Hmmmmmm, interesting….
Well, with VDT out now, we get to start aaaaall over again with speculation, controversy, and worry about the next film. Let's just hope it doesn't take as long for the next film to come out, if there is to be another one.
Just to be clear, what I'm saying is, it's very possible that 'The Last Battle' will never be made, and that 'The Magician's Nephew' would be a viable option to conclude the film series at THIS point.
Oh, you don't need to thank me. Narnia Fans reported the story first, and since NarniaWeb hadn't posted such a major news story yet, I decided to send it in. If either The Silver Chair or Magician's Nephew is filmed next, I hope it's dedicated to Perry, who helped bring the beautiful books to life.
I like to have the Silver Chair next, but Magician's Nephew is okay. Thanks to Perry Moore for working on getting Narnia to the screen. It was one of his great achievements. Keep his vision alive Fox and Walden Media!
If they make "The Magician's Nephew" next, it will be the answer to my prayers.
I have hoped and dreamed of a "The Magician's Nephew" film, with Tilda Swinton as Jadis OF COURSE, ever since I saw "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" in 2005.
"Magician's Nephew" would make a beautiful film.
We'll have to wait and see what happens. 馃槈
I could stomach the MN being made as it could visually be a beautiful film, but I would never watch any adaption of that awful Last Battle. Badly written, badly executed, and it would need some heavy adaptation to work on the big screen. And yes it also wouldn't work without MN being done first.
Well, let's face it, HHB was racist and we all know Calormen is a thinly veiled play on Coloured men. That is unfortunate as the actual story and setting I think could be interesting, but the movie would have to be made for contemporary times. Times where racism is viewed for the narrow mindedness that it is. It could be a sweeping epic, and admittedly one I'm very hopeful to see one day. I do think that MN would be easier to do than SC which really is just a meh story like The Last Battle. MN and HHB I think are the two of real value left in Narnia.
Lol you hit it right on the nail! I agree with you wholeheartedly. Well said!
A movie about Tashism and Calormene politics!?!?!?! SNORE!! People outside this forum could care less, they cared little about an adventure story, a movie that introduces politics in Narnia would even put me to sleep.
Based on the fact that he had to go "looking" for funding doesn't bode well for the franchise, that means Fox is really interested in cutting its losses and doing the movies for as little as possible. VODT was made for $155 (not counting the advertising) The general rule of thumb is to make a profit on a film you have to make back your budget plus x2 (some say x3) VODT made $376 so expect all remaining movies to be made for less. In this regard we are very lucky to have Fox paying the bills because they are not afraid to take some very questionable risks, it it was Disney we would be seeing the rest of Narnia straight to DVD.
I don't think people realize what a driving force Perry Moore [and Mark Johnson] were in trying to get Narnia to the big screen. The fact it has seen three iterations make it is a testament to that effort. I feel somewhat sadly [though admit I'm happy that my three fav books were adapted] that this might be a sign of the times and that Narnia's day is over on the big screen. I think making the Magician's Nephew next would have been a master stroke really. Narnia was feeling stale and SC wouldn't have changed that formula any. MN is creatively unique and would have been a challenge but could have been epic. I say the smae for the obviously racist Colouredmen in HHB. With the Pevensies now absent, they need a strong draw of a character to bring people in. Eustace is not it. Jadis is still associated with LWW and instantly recognizable. They needed to make the next project one that will save the franchise and give the next movies a chance at happening. I'm sure it could still happen without him, but Lord knows Narnia just last a mighty warrior for its future. RIP Mr. Moore. Genuinely lovely and thoughtful man.
I know, I worry here, too… I was really looking forward to meeting Rilian, to seeing Caspian again (my ultimate favorite from books and movies alike), and also am worried about Eustace – with how much Will Poulter grew between finishing VoDT and premiere of it, I hope it was just a typical sprout and he won't grow so fast… But wolfloversk is right, there are plenty of ways to make him look young, from camera angling through make-up/costume to lighting. And Ben Barns is a strange case, he has some odd strengthened Dorian Gray (yes, lame pun intended) effect, not only stays young but actually gets younger still XD
Also, the more even pace of growth for Will Poulter is a good idea, too, wolfloversk! 馃檪 And besides, nothing is yet certain, who knows, maybe the WILL make SC first *hopes* Nothing is certain yet, from what it seems to me, everything is at a very early stage still. And even if SC is pushed for later (I don't think HHB will jump before it though, then Will's age would really be a problem), MN is so very enjoyable, too 馃檪
BTW, typo in my post above, Barnes not Barns, obviously. Darn 'e' key, I hit it too light.
His father mentioned the Magician's Nephew to imply how things were going great for his son – to settle any rumors of suicide.
I say bravo for Perry's dad for diverging the media's attention onto the wonderful things Perry did, and wanted to do, than to feed speculation about suicidal motivations.
I feel, however, that we should be reminded of what matters most: who we want to be (not what movies we want to see).
I would love to MN, to see how it all began.
@Sub: No it isn't. Calor means "heat", so Calormen would be like "hot land," a reference to the warm climate. Also, Aravis is supposed to have a dark complexion and she is the courageous heroine of the book. I would say the prejudice is more Anglocentric cultural prejudice, rather than racial. Given that the Calormenes have elements of Etruscan and Carthaginian culture, I think it might work best if they focus on the Etruscan elements in visualizing the Calormenes. Fewer people are likely to take it personally.
btw, I'm not saying that Anglocentric chauvinism is okay. I dislike that aspect of the book myself, but it's not the same thing as racism.
@Anhun LOL your comments always make me laugh….witty too.
"Train wreck"….yes… 馃槈
Wonder now if they should now forget about the movies and make the rest updated TV versions instead and work with the BBC. Makes sense to me. Forget Hollywood.
There's nothing racist about the Calormene empire other than people's own farfetched implications.
I don't think I like the idea of having this one next. It would be confusing to have the MN and then go on to the SC. I get the feeling that they are doing this one just because they like it better and are not looking at which one would be better for the public.
It really would be cool if they could do these simultaneously, in might be a good idea for cross promotion, the continuation of the story and the prequel, then do the same with LB and HHB, continuation and a "prequel." Though I know that's a big commitment that Fox probably doesn't want to make, it would be possible to tie the storylines together, old digory telling the story of MN and then being in LB, and then having shasta (introduced in LB) then narrating the story of HHB
don't make the magician's nephew next,make the silver chair next
"Undesirable, but there's a lot of logic to it."
I agree with you there. I really believe SC should be made next, but if MN will work, I guess it's better to make it next. I'm so torn, though. 馃檨 I wish the movies could be made at the same time. I don't want Will Poulter to get any older. 馃檨
NOOOO. This is probably really early speculation, though. Like the early leaked VDT script. My guess is they really will go for SC first, though, ESPECIALLY because WILL POULTER IS 18 already.
Plus, people will already recognize him. It's not necessarily smart to jump to MN with all new people (excluding Jadis) to carry the story when Eustace has already had a good setup. Also, HHB and MN sandwiched together isn't TOO problematic because HHB features the Pevensies again and I feel like the team will probably try to feature them more heavily in the film than they were in the book.
Excellent idea, faunforaslan! They could shoot the films back to back… like I heard Disney is planning to do with Pirates of the Caribbean 5&6!
I wish they would instead of waiting so long in between each film. :-S
Skipping "Silver Chair" is a ridicoulous concept. They should definitely do "Silver Chair" first. There is still plently of people who will see it, provided it's done on a 110 million dollar budget or something. "The Magician's Nephew" following would bring in a different audience, but the idea of it being "wider" is kind of silly. Both have individual appeal. As long as one makes like 300mil (which can be an underestimate) they'll make another.
Fox takes forever to do anything; we should know this. DVD releases, announcements of sequels, marketing-they never announce anything quickly.
Oh I actually meant to respond to the idea of the "The Last Battle." That was a terrible story and should never be done before last (at best). Not only does it destroy Narnia and remove the point of caring at all, but it essentially follows the same formula as the 1st two, and isn't Prince Caspian one of the least favorites as it is. Doing The Last Battle would be a disaster. "Silver Chair" and "Magician's Nephew" are the straight-out winners here.
Magicians Nephew is one of my least favorite, but if that's the one that will keep it going. I'm all for it. I will force myself to like it if i have to. There is no way, the trilogy can end right now. It seems like they just got started. I would really prefer Silver Chair. But i'm flexible…lol
*crosses fingers*
I know right? I was like TOTALLY dead set for The Silver Chair!!!not that I hate The Magician's Nephew:it was totally fun…but I was thinking it come AFTER they release SC, so that we can end Caspian's trilogy:it seemed right to me
but case in point, he's OLDER than me…and I'm,like, 16…it's a bit hard to put him in if he's older:but then again, they DID use the actors even though they're older than what their age should be…
That's good news no matter what they're going to make next. I don't think Will Poulter's age is a problem because they can change the setting of the characters' age in SC to the similar age of Peter in PC film. What is different is that Aslan doesn't tell Eustace and Jill that they are not coming back because they are already dead in their last visit to the Old Narnia. So we can just enjoy the prequel first and wait for the grown-up version of Eustace and Jill in SC. Personally, in SC, I prefer that they are MORE THAN good friends. Some subtle affection between them could be added and presented in a touching way in the dancing at the end of SC.