“In my nearly 25 years at Disney, I’ve never seen the company so energised so early about a film,” Mark Zoradi, the president of Buena Vista International told them. “The film will be visually stunning and emotionally breathtaking.”
Buena Vista is the arm of Disney responsible for foreign distribution. Walden Media, an independent and relatively new studio, is actually making the movie, with production beginning shortly in New Zealand.
With CS Lewis’s Narnia books continuing to sell 6 million per year – more than The Lord of the Rings before the films came out – the Mouse has every reason to be optimistic. In fact, Disney is already looking ahead to the next one. Zoradi said they’ve begun work on a second script – Prince Caspian, perhaps. Now is a good time to get working on screenplays, since if the first Narnia movie is a hit, Disney may want the next two filmed at the same time.