Some have said that it was a pure business decision, and as it turns out, this isn’t true. Last week saw the release of a podcast called Inside Out. They interviewed Walden Media’s Micheal Flaherty about Narnia and more, and the discussion turned toward the dark nature of Prince Caspian as both a novel and a film.
Micheal Flaherty: “Yeah, and this is the paradox when you want to do faithful adaptations. That book is a dark war kind of novel. And we actually pulled back a little. In one scene, Peter beheads a couple of people. At the end they run into some Greek gods who give everybody wine and they get drunk. So it’s amazing because I think a lot of us, in our minds, have this perfect image of these Narnia books because we grew up with them. But there are some elements in there that are a little tough, and Caspian is the darkest, and Silver Chair is pretty dark too, physically and tonally. A lot of it takes place underground. That’s why, for the next one, we’re really hoping to go in the direction of The Magician’s Nephew.”
Flaherty goes on to talk about something he’s mentioned before. The film ticket sales very closely mirror the book sales for the Chronicles of Narnia. It’s another factor that I am sure goes into the decision to do Magician’s Nephew next.
Micheal Flaherty: “Yes – and pretty close – sort of nipping at the heels of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It’s amazing and it’s a great origin story. And I like the way that [Narnia author C.S.] Lewis did it and that’s what we’re trying to do with our film, which is: you actually start in the middle of the story. So then when you tell the origin it’s much more interesting. You can say to yourself “that’s where the lamp-post came from!”
But that’s not all. It seems that we’re bound to get another Narnia film, but the biggest question is still which way to go next. We know that Walden Media wants to move forward with The Magician’s Nephew, and now we know why. We also know that negotiations are also ongoing with both 20th Century Fox and the C.S. Lewis Estate. He is asked if they have a script yet for The Magician’s Nephew, and responds:
Micheal Flaherty: “No, we don’t. We’re still in our conversations right now with 20th Century Fox, and the C.S. Lewis Estate who own the rights to all the books. So, we’re all trying to come to an agreement about which film to do next and how to film it. So, we’re waiting to see where that goes.”
So, we continue to wait, patiently or impatiently, until more information is available. Now we know that nothing has been greenlit yet, and that discussions are still ongoing. We know the direction that Walden Media wants to take and why, and we’re not sure of who wants The Silver Chair to be next: Fox or the Estate (and let’s not guess). We did run a poll a while back that put Silver Chair far ahead of Magician’s Nephew, according to what fans would like to see.
The Silver Chair – 75%, 2,796 Votes
The Magician’s Nephew – 25%, 923 Votes
These results show that it wasn’t a landslide in favor of The Silver Chair, but it was extremely on that side. I’ve just created a new poll, though, that I think is a bit more fair. Now that we know the reasons that Walden Media has to do Magician’s Nephew, and we know why we’d love to see Silver Chair. There are three options instead of just the two.
