Narnia To Return To The Big Screen

The Chronicles of Narnia will receive new life on screen as TriStar Pictures, the literary-focused label, has teamed with The Mark Gordon Company, The C.S. Lewis Company, and Entertainment One (eOne) to continue the Narnia story in theaters with The Silver Chair. The picture will be financed by TriStar, eOne and The Mark Gordon Company with Sony and eOne distributing the picture.

The Mark Gordon Company and The C.S. Lewis Company are jointly developing and producing the film, adapted by David Magee, the two-time Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Life of Pi and Finding Neverland. Mark Gordon, C.S. Lewis’ stepson Douglas Gresham, Vincent Sieber, and Melvin Adams serve as producers.

With the move, the franchise, which has taken in nearly $1.6 billion at the worldwide box office, receives a new creative team that will tackle the continuing story with a fresh approach to capture a broad global audience.

A classic series of seven novels that have sold over 100 million copies worldwide, and published in more than 50 languages, C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia began with the publication of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe in 1950. Six more novels (including the prequel, The Magician’s Nephew, and the sequels, The Horse and His Boy, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair and The Last Battle) followed over the next six years. The final title in the series, The Last Battle, was awarded the highest mark of excellence in children’s literature, the prestigious Carnegie Award.

“Developing this project with The C.S. Lewis Company has been immensely exciting and a real joy. We are so pleased to team up with our good friends at TriStar and our partners at eOne to introduce this new, magical chapter of the Narnia franchise to fans around the world, both old and new,” said Gordon.

Commenting on the announcement, Minghella said, “Reading The Chronicles of Narnia was one of the formative experiences of my childhood, just as it has been for children around the world for generations.  So, to have the opportunity to bring new life to the Narnia films with a new creative team is a career highlight.  Our mission is to build TriStar Pictures as a home for filmmaker-driven literary and commercial movies, and this film represents a huge step forward for us.  We’re thrilled to be working with Mark, Doug, Melvin, Vincent, and David as we adapt The Silver Chair.”

“It’s been both fun and exciting to work with Mark Gordon and David Magee to develop the next Narnian movie, and now it’s a thrill to welcome Tristar to our Narnia family. I greatly look forward to plunging again into the joys and challenges of once more bringing Narnia to the screen, this time with the wonderful story of The Silver Chair,” said Gresham.

Nicole Brown will oversee the project for TriStar with Minghella, with Sara Smith overseeing the project for The Mark Gordon Company.

TriStar Pictures has made a strong commitment to commercial adaptations of literary projects, with upcoming films based on the acclaimed novel Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, from director Ang Lee; the bestseller The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah; Maestra, by L.S. Hilton, to be produced by Amy Pascal; and The Trap, by Melanie Raabe, to be adapted by Oscar nominee Phyllis Nagy (Carol).