Flaherty: “Multiple Opinions” On Fourth Narnia Film
This Monday will mark two years since Fox/Walden’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader hit theaters and ultimately performed below expectations in the United States, but pretty well internationally. At this point, most fans have accepted the fact that we should not expect to see another Narnia film made for some time (view our ‘Narnia 4’ summary page).
One of the reasons for the hold-up is disagreement about what the next step should be. Micheal Flaherty (Walden Media president) would like to make The Magician’s Nephew while Douglas Gresham (co-producer, Lewis’ stepson) favors The Silver Chair. Here is a clip from World Magazine‘s interview with Micheal Flaherty:
Q: So, with revenue going down and production costs remaining high, so what’s next for the Narnia movie series?
MF: There are multiple opinions on all this and a lot of different players: The C.S. Lewis estate, the studio, our company—and we’re not all of one mind. I would love to find a way where the economics work, acknowledging the decline. I’d like to do The Magician’s Nephew. Other people want to do The Silver Chair, and there’s disagreement about the economics and the overall vision of where the franchise should go next. My hope is that we may all become of one mind, but unless something providential happens there, I’m focusing on a number of other stories.Q: So, at this moment, no deal?
MF: Nope.
Flaherty talks more about Narnia in the full interview.
Back in May, Douglas Gresham indicated there is a seven-year moratorium on producing any Narnia films outside of Walden Media. He also wants to make The Silver Chair next as an independent film.
I fear that Walden is finished. The film making genuise at Walden was Cary Granat. He left in 2009 and will not be back. No insult meant, but M Flaherty does not know how to make films. Look at their crop since 2009. He's an educator and administrator, but not a film maker. The only hope for Walden is to find a great film maker and give him total power to make great film. I predict that unless Walden makes some huge changes they will end up being ruined and/or irrelevant. You can mark my words. They are just wasting a billionaires money. … I love Gresham but I'm not sure he knows how to make films either. Plus you can't make films by committee. They end up being a mess. The films also cannot be made one at a time. Nothing will come of that. The Narnia world needs to be looked at as a package and shared with our world in many different ways. (graphic novels, TV mini series, movies, books, games) It would take a creative genuise (like Weadon, Jackson, Abbrams) to adopt the entire world and work on a 20 year plan to bring Narnia to life. It would also require the production/writing of anxiliar products to fill in the blanks. Everyone is afraid to do what needs to be done, so there will be no success. The stories were not written to be movies. They were children's books. And often they are internally inconsistent and strange. It would take a lot of planning and work to create a cohesive whole that explains every element and makes sense of the whole thing. These factors all work against Narnia every being anything than a wish for us who live it and love CS Lewis.
Agreed.
I know there are 3 narnia films just in my world I pretend vdt never happened, I personally do think they should do vdt again and do it justice. I understand they were trying to tie vdt and sc together but the green mist was the worst villain ever in a movie. The plot doesn't make sense, they lay the 7 swords on the table and it doesn't even destroy the mist like its supposed to, it just makes Rhindon (Peters sword) glow blue (are orcs near?) and only if you stab a mist serpent with Rhindon is the mist destroyed. Now if they make sc next then I promise you they the green mist will not be in it especially if Gresham is involved. Its really weird saying this but I would have rather seen the leaked script version than the final film we got, even though they are both horrible. In fact I think ill just direct the next 4 films and remake vdt to make sure all of the books are done justice 😉
"Am I the only one who wants vdt made next?"
No, you are not the only one, if there's choice I would like them to remake VDT, but I think they won't do this.
If possible, I hope for a reboot.
The Doctor, while I like the current trilogy, I do agree with you! "it just makes Rhindon (Peters sword) glow blue (are orcs near?)" I laughed at that! Haha well, orcs aren't near. When I saw Rhindon glowing blue, I actually thought it looked like a light saber.
ERB, agreed.
That's not really a compromise. The main reason why they are arguing so much is that the films cost so much money to make, and the filmmakers are seeing less and less return on their investment. Your proposition would be the most expensive of all.
They don't even know if one Narnia film will make it's money back, even in the long term. They certainly won't gamble on two.
I also wondered if invisibility protects the dufflepuds, why doesn't the magician turn the dawn treader and her crew invisible so they can just sail right into dark island and get the last sword. Now I would agree with a reboot if the first 2 films weren't so good. I cant imagine somebody else playing lucy. Even with the changes to prince Caspian (except for the suspian romance) I thought it was a great film.
I'm guessing your talking about silver chair and there is no trailer for it. I suggest you try reading the book or paying more attention to the moveis if you want to know why Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy aren't in the silver chair. Anyways Peter and Susan aren't even in vdt, have you even seen the movie? If you haven't then I'd suggest you just read the book instead.
If some narnia fans could wait 55 years for a good LWW movie then we can wait 5 for a good SC movie
Then there will be no more Narnia movie, I don't think they will remake VDT, reboot wasn't the only way to remake VDT. I can accept a whole new Narnia cast, I can accept the new "Pevensies", sometime I think it was a good thing, something different.
Correction: "Reboot was the only way to remake VDT."
I know its just sad to think that this might be the only VDT movie we ever see
They screwed up the last 2? Correction they screwed up the last 1. Now I am a huge narnia book fan, I have serveral narnia book sets with both the publication order and chronological orders on their spines, and have read the series at least 9 time and I loved the prince Caspian movie more than the LWW film. While they do change a lot of stuff and got some things wrong (suspian) they still keep they spirit of the book. The movies don't have to be exactly like the book because if they were, why not just read the book? If you can ask somebody (who hasn't read the book), what was the main theme of that movie was and they say the same theme of the book then I think the filmmakers did their job. I don't go to a book adaptation film to see the book, I go to see a cinematic version of the book. With VDT I asked somebody who hasn't read the book what the main theme of the movie was, and they said a quest to save narnia from mist and temptation by collecting swords (he said nothing about aslans country 🙁 !!!) In which case proved the filmmakers got it wrong.
I think he could still play Eustace in a few years, well he would be 25 in 2018 but I think he could still pull it off. Andrew Garfield was around 25 playing a teenage Peter parker in ASM. Am I partially saying this because I love will poulter as Eustace and cant imagine anyone else as Eustace? YES
It would be awesome to see all the pevensies all grown up and together again with the beavers and Mr. Tumnus in HHB
Its times like these when I wonder how its fair that a horrible series like twilight gets all its books made into movies and are extremely successful while a AMAZING series of books like narnia barley gets 3 of its books made into movies. Sad what the world has come to 🙁
Maybe they could meet in the middle and do HHB. I know they wont but still id like to see what Andrew adamson would do with HHB. I bet they will make SC next without Walden.
I'm a Narnia fan but I haven't read the book that many times. (I'll be repeating them for the rest of my life, though.) For me, what went wrong with PC were: 1) Peter's blown-up pride and hot-headedness; & 2) Suspian. Do you agree with my first point? 😀
right you are. Only few teen-agers want movies that are Christian and have Bible themes in it. So sad for that fact. Nevertheless. Many of us still don't lose hope for Narnia's future. However, a reboot is not a good thing. And they must respect the real story of Narnia and not to make a new story behind the original….
It is sad that some movies get way more notice than the Narnia series. If only people could see Narnia through the eyes of us fans. They're truly missing out on an excellent story. I really hope that somehow, Walden Media will be able to carry on with the movies. And if it's God's will, it will bring in way more box office revenues than ever imagined! You never know what amazing things could happen when everything seems so hopeless. For Narnia!
Yes I do argree about Peters blown up pride issue, I think it was a interesting idea and could have been a good character arc if they did it more subtle, I don't think Peter and Caspian drawing swords at each other was needed. That did make Peter my least favorite character in the movie, so to see the same thing happen to Edmund and Caspian in VDT really disappointed me. I mean the exact same thing happened. Edmund has trouble with adjusting to having a normal life after being king, Edmund is annoyed that Caspian has power over him, they draw swords and yell and threaten each other, then they forgive each other and Caspian gives Rhindon to Edmund. Sounds pretty much the same as the Peter and caspian issue.
And it would be even more awesome to see the whole cast (except Susan) return for last battle. Grown up Lucy talking to Mr. Tummus looking over a balcony would be a great scene.
I don't think they will do I reboot considering Gresham wants to make all the movies before he deism, but since each narnia book is so different they could technically reboot the narnia films without having to do the first 3 over again. People could would understand SC fine without knowing anything about narnia. This type of reboot would work even better if they did MN next.
*before he dies
* I don't think they will do a reboot considering Gresham wants to make all the movies before he dies, but considering each narnia book is so different, technically they could do a reboot without remaking the first 3. People could understand sc without knowing anything about narnia.
See I have a friend who loves twilight and all those horrible teen fantasy romance novels, so I told her to read narnia, she read LWW and PC and told she doesn't think the author is very good because the writing is bad, the next she had mysteriously disappeared from the face of the planet
I'm also thinking about that for only Eustace's character will change(althoug I really love Poulter to play Eustace). However, all other cast can return as their respective roles specially the Pevensies. Also, Gresham wants all Narnia books to be a film and I really want it to. Just so, Walden Media needs to respect the true story of narnia or lose it's best movie franchise ever.
Yeah, I agree with you. I hate their pride issues. Peter was completely in control of himself and of situations in the book (PC). Edmund's actually the cool, calm one in VDT (book), giving jokes sometimes; and about the gold issue it was Caspian who fell for it (in the book), not Ed.
I pity your friend, The Doctor. She doesn't see the true skill of writing and the true message of profound fantasies such as Narnia. Twilight is nonsense. I heard the author's writing style was awful, is that true?
And for Aslan!
I would hope everyone finds a way to work together to get a new Narnia film before the public before everyone forgets the Narnia saga. I vote for The Magician's Nephew quickly followed by the The Silver Chair and then the following two remaining books made into movies. People are seeking the complete series in film format.
I would like to comment on my above comment. I didn't mean to make word by word movie adaptations sound bad, I would love to see the next four movies word by word but if they have to change things to make them more cinematic but keeping the spirit of the book then I'm fine with it.
Oh she said c.s. Lewis's writing style is bad (ya she's clearly not to bright) and she could write narnia better. I gave her a huge speech and like a 14 page long text telling her how wrong she was. And of of course twilight has a bad writing style, its a whole series about a teen girl falling in love with a 100 year old vampire and a shirtless man dog (yep he isn't even a real werewolf) not that ive read it, I'm not really into that stuff.
I Agree!
Way to go with your speech for her! 😛 Yeah; no.1 she (Meyer) has no storyline, no.2 she has no style. Unlike Rowling, I've heard Rowling is a great writer, though not everyone approves of her books' content. Am I right? I haven't read any Harry Potter (nor watched it) but I'd credit her for having a good writing style.
I not sure about rowling, Im not really into HP or any of those teen fantasy series. Id much rather read children's books (narnia) or classics. Not many good original fantasy series these days, thats one thing I don't like about HP, it caused dozens of unoriginal knockoffs.
Another thing I hate is when people call narnia a HP wannabe. That drives me insane
Wait, I realized just now. Did she just say she could Write Narnia better?! HOW DARE SHE!
They DO? Why on earth do they call Narnia an HP wannabe? Narnia existed Way before HP.
1 word: REBOOT
@Doc: I kind of agree with your friend. On the one hand, the best of the Narnia books are brilliant. On the other hand, Lewis didn't really hit his stride as a children's author until VDT.
When he wrote LWW, his only prior experience with children's media was telling stories in person. Now, the humorous asides that come from this background are a part of the Narnia series' charm, but it also means that the first two books were severely lacking in psychological depth. There are a lot of things that you can convey through gesture and tone of voice in storytelling, that have to be spelled out in the narrative if you are writing a novel. LWW functions much better as a film script than a book (probably why it's been translated to film so many times), and PC is just downright bad. In VDT, he finally realized that you can make a children's book as deep as a an book for adults, and the result is one of the most beautiful novels I have ever read.
If I wanted to introduce the Narnia series to someone who was adolescent or older, this is how I would do it: Watch the Walden version of LWW, read the book HHB, Watch Walden PC, and read the books VDT, SC and MN in that order.
It's been a while since I read VDT in book format, but I didn't think the movie was all that bad. It was connecting with me emotionally, and each main character faced certain temptations or struggles. The worst part had to be getting into Narnia (is the ocean even considered "Narnia"?). The "star" wasn't supposed to be that woman, but I guess they were showing how Caspian eventually marries her. Didn't they visit every island from the book, even if it was in a different order? When I saw either the special features, or heard the commentary, they explained the green mist as linking to the underworld from SC, so at least that made sense, even if it met with disapproval from fans.
Wasn't Dumbledore "recast" because the original actor passed away? I don't know if/how Harris would've adapted to the later movies and how Gambon played them (kind of like a senile old man or slightly aloof).
So what are we waiting for? Bring on the THE SILVER CHAIR, if we don't want to reboot, then move faster, wait more few years, reboot was the only fate we have to face, let's face it.
J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series of 7 books was inspired by the 7 books of Narnia. @mixedfiction, did she really said that she can write HP or other books better than Narnia? I say that her books must be 50 years old or even older to meet the GREAT success of Narnia Chronicles. Remember that the first Narnia book was written about 52 years ago. HP series was only written in 90's.
As for the movies, too many disagreements are brewing as we all know. If they'll reboot the series, we have to wait until 2025-2030 for The Last Battle to be released. They should continue the series. Only Eustace have now the age problem but all other characters are fit for their roles now. 2 years had passed since VDT was released and they should remember that the next Narnia film should be made for young adult audiences and not just for kids. They should do their best for the 4th one.
@Farsight-messenger, Quoting The Doctor, "Oh she said c.s. Lewis’s writing style is bad (ya she’s clearly not to bright) and she could write narnia better." so yes, she said that. 🙁
IF there would be SC at present, who would you want to play Pole?
I love the Harry Potter series. as for what she said, no author can say and prove that he/she can write better books than those before him/her. He/she must first write about at least 50 books and he/she must be still known even he/she passed away. Leis and Tolkien are still known and famous up to this generation even if they lived over 50 years ago.
for the Jill Pole thing, not really sure. anna sophia-robb can, but at this point she cant for her age will not fit (only if Poulter will still play Eustace then she can). but I love her portrayal in Bridge to Terabithia. and who's your pick @mixedfiction? I'm still hoping for Narnia 4 this year (to start the filming)…. 😉
Will, I would suggest you reread the vdt book, you might just change your mind about the movie. I liked the movie then I reread the book and changed my mind. They got so many things wrong, I could probly write a book about it. While adding the green mist in to add struggles to each character, they mist so many bigger and more inportant messages. The even got the aslans country scene wrong. If SC is made next the green mist
Not be in the movie, gresham was very upset with the green mist and the vdt movie as a whole for it showed exactly why Lewis didn't want the chronicles on film. So there goes the green mist/SC tie in. And if the movie is going to dissapoint fans of the book, why make it. I don't think people would have minded if there was no Gillian.
Not be in the movie, gresham was very upset with the green mist and the vdt movie as a whole for it showed exactly why Lewis didn't want the chronicles on film. So there goes the green mist/SC tie in. And if the movie is going to dissapoint fans of the book, why make it. I don't think people would have minded if there was no great danger in narnia. I would suggest you listen to the narniaweb podcast VDT commentary if you want know all the problems with this movie. 🙂
Pc downright bad?!?!? I don't want to end up writing a huge comment about that so I will just say that while Pc is my least fav narnia book it is still in my top 7 fav books of all time (can you guessed what the other 6 are). I'm really tempted to wtite a huge comment about that but ill spare you my narnia pc rage rant. 😉
I think if all the book fans can wash the filth of VDT out of their mouth and see the movies, the then they could make all four.
Anhun, I would suggest you listen to the narniaweb PC podcast book commentary for a greater understanding of PC.
Okay, look the three films were done perfect
Think of it this way, if a movie was made exactly like the movie, would you really want to watch it? It would be boring wouldn't it?
Personally, they need to go on with Silver Chair. They picked a perfect Eustace and they need to get the Silver Chair done quickly before they lose the actor.
Are you suggesting that the first 3 films were perfect?!? If so you might need to reread the books. They got several things wrong With LWW and PC and don't even mention VDT. The first two are great but not perfect. The movies dont have to be exactly the same as the book but they need to keep the spirit, themes, and messages of the book. Do you think c.s. Lewis would like how they changed VDT? I don't think a narnia movie would be boring if it was exactly like the book either, I think Lewis knew how to tell a good story. Didn't mean to rant, but that's what i love about narniaweb, you get discuss stuff like this with other fans. 🙂
I totally agree with you! "The movies dont have to be exactly the same as the book but they need to keep the spirit, themes, and messages of the book." also they did a mess in VDT. green mist and seven swords must be removed and the island transition must be kept. however, Will Poulter is a great actor for Eustace. In LWW, they should made a much bigger focus in Aslan's sacrifice, his reurrection and the coronation in cair paravel scenes.
I can see what your saying. No movie is perfect. Based on a book or no. But LWW was actually pretty close. (I'm not standing up for the last two).
But I can't see how they could have drawn out Stone Table sequence, or the scenes just before. If I remember rightly they cut out like maybe a page or two from the book. I just can't see how they could make it any better.
I can see another movie remake be just AS good. But I just can't see how it could be "better". I guess I could be wrong but I have a hard time seeing it. 😉
Totally Agree. I've been saying that myself.
Someone needs to look at the series as "one" package. And have the passion to see it through.
@Farsight-messenger, I don't really know. Maybe Hailee Steinfeld? She's my first choice (of those I know), and I like her and her performance; she's a talented kid! Have you seen her in True Grit? I haven't watched Anna Sophia-Robb (except in Charlie And The Chocolate Factory). Other choices might be Dakota Fanning? (Not that she's my choice.) I think they should cast someone I haven't heard of, same as Eustace (I never heard of Poulter before).
Forgot to add: Sorry my reply is late. Wasn't able to check and answer recently.