Fox To Pick Up Dawn Treader

Twentieth Century Fox has agreed to partner with Walden Media for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader after Disney dropped the film in December.

The two companies are hoping to begin production over the summer in order to release the film holidays 2010. Although this is later than the film was originally planned to be released, many Narnia fans were eager for a holiday release after disappointments surrounding the box office sales generated by Prince Caspian.

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NarniaFans.com’s Paul Martin writes:

Twentieth Century Fox has agreed to take on the Chronicles of Narnia and agreed to do the Voyage of the Dawn Treader! Welcome aboard, Fox!

The film will be produced on the Fox 2000 label whose previous fantasy film effort was Eragon.

The agreement is pending approval of the script and the shooting budget, but it is expected to go through. According to the L.A. Times, Fox and Walden first have to hire a screenwriter to do another pass on the script that was last rewritten by Richard LaGravenese. His credits include “Freedom Writers” and “The Horse Whisperer.”

The movie companies are looking to make the film for about $140 million. Michael Apted, who made “Amazing Grace” and the 1999 Bond flick “The World Is Not Enough,” is still on board to direct.

The Times also revealed some details of the meetings that have been taking place over the last few weeks. Walden chief David Weil and “Narnia” producer Mark Johnson met a number of times with top Fox executives, including movie chiefs Tom Rothman and Jim Gianopulos, to discuss script revisions and the movie’s cost.

The goal is to get back to the magical aspects present in the first “Narnia” pic but mostly absent from “Prince Caspian.”

They’re also going to film the picture in Australia, instead of Mexico, as was originally planned.