Gresham Confident ‘Narnia 4´ (and other Lewis books) are coming

[Specter]

A brief update from William O’Flaherty, who was in attendance at Douglas Gresham and Dr. Devin Brown’s event: Douglas Gresham (Lewis’s step-son) spoke at Asbury University today. When the question of the future of the Narnia films came up he was confident there would be more (and...

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[BarbarianKing]

If the Narnia films continue, and in order to avoid casting new actors for the Pevensies, they would have to do Silver Chair. With SC, they would have to do only one change instead of 4 and that would be more manageable and more believable to the audiences.

 

[Aravis Kenobi]

If Gresham has anything to do with more films, you can already count me out. After the atrocity of 'Dawn Treader' (and I'm STILL incredibly angry over that piece of trash), I no longer wish to see any more Narnia books turned into films. Prince Caspian was excusable, albeit still atrocious in its own way. But 'Dawn Treader'? I have no idea where they even got the idea for the film, let alone what they thought they were adapting. It sure was not what Lewis wrote.

 

[AsbelMctalisker]

Why blame Gresham though since its fairly obvious from comments made by him since Dawn Treader was released that he, and presumably some of the other people from The Lewis Estate were less than happy about how the story was adapted.
The real blame for what happened is probably more the fault of Walden.

 

[CORIN THUNDERFIST II]

I agree and, just because the last two films have been disappointing to many people, it does not follow that the next one will continue that trend. In any case, no matter how hard one may try, it is impossible to please all the people all of the time!

 

[Aravis Kenobi]

Why blame Gresham though since its fairly obvious from comments made by him since Dawn Treader was released that he, and presumably some of the other people from The Lewis Estate were less than happy about how the story was adapted.
The real blame for what happened is probably more the fault of Walden.

Because Gresham was the executive producer of the films. By that right he has some power over the script, therefore, he IS responsible simply because he's involved and he was presumably on set at times. I guarantee you that Gresham was unhappy with box office numbers and NOT the quality of the film. The quality of the film as a film, just by itself, is terrible. It ranks lower than some of the worst films made today.

It is NOT the fault of Walden. Walden/Disney abandoned the idea because they most likely saw what I saw: it was a sinking ship and better to get off before it drags down your studio. If you want to blame a studio, blame Fox. Ultimately, they distributed the film. How they thought that such a piece of trash was worthy of distribution is beyond me.

Corin: how is that really true? Yes, it's possible that a 4th film could be better than the previous 2. However, Gresham has proven (through Dawn Treader) that he cannot be trusted with his stepfather's material. I don't care if he actually wrote the script or not; he was an executive producer which DOES make him at least partially responsible for allowing the piece of crap that is 'Dawn Treader' to be finished. If Gresham is involved with any more films, I WILL NOT be buying a ticket simply because I do not trust the man with Narnia any longer. why that is so hard to understand, I'll never know. I still don't see how people can call 'Dawn Treader' a 'good film' when it's explicitly obvious that it is not (box office numbers alone prove that).

 

[tirian_son_of_erlian]

If Gresham has anything to do with more films, you can already count me out. After the atrocity of 'Dawn Treader' (and I'm STILL incredibly angry over that piece of trash), I no longer wish to see any more Narnia books turned into films. Prince Caspian was excusable, albeit still atrocious in its own way. But 'Dawn Treader'? I have no idea where they even got the idea for the film, let alone what they thought they were adapting. It sure was not what Lewis wrote.

Agreed. I'm baffled as to how the boy to whom The Horse and His Boy was dedicated could, shall we say, betray his stepfather. He comes across passive and weak in the decision-making process.

Yes, it's possible that a 4th film could be better than the previous 2. However, Gresham has proven (through Dawn Treader) that he cannot be trusted with his stepfather's material. I don't care if he actually wrote the script or not; he was an executive producer which DOES make him at least partially responsible for allowing the piece of crap that is 'Dawn Treader' to be finished. If Gresham is involved with any more films, I WILL NOT be buying a ticket simply because I do not trust the man with Narnia any longer. why that is so hard to understand, I'll never know. I still don't see how people can call 'Dawn Treader' a 'good film' when it's explicitly obvious that it is not (box office numbers alone prove that).

I'll admit there were, shall we say, "patches" of The Voyage of the Dawn Treador that forced my lips to curl upward. But as a whole, I too do not see how anyone could call it a 'good film.' That's like a fan of Shakespeare calling the 1990's version of Romeo and Juliet a 'good film.'

I don't know if I will go to see another Narnia movie or not. I think it's a tragedy what's happened with the series. They should film The Silver Chair and for everyone of Puddleglum's lines, just replace the words with something relating to the outlook on the Narnia films.

 

[Captain Holly]

Aravis:

http://0-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/vp/image/1369/09/1369094536515.jpg

But as a whole, I too do not see how anyone could call it a 'good film.'

Right this way!

 

[Copperfox]

I used to correspond with Douglas Gresham, and I learned something of his Christian character. IN REAL-WORLD ACTIVITY, he throws himself into many honorable causes. Because of this, I hate to think any ill of him; and I will give a fair chance to ANY fourth Narnia film.

 

[Aravis Kenobi]

Aravis:

http://0-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/vp/image/1369/09/1369094536515.jpg

Right this way!

First of all, the image makes absolutely no sense.

Second of all, both tirian and I are being facetious. In other words, we know people out there think of 'Dawn Treader' as a 'good film', but we don't understand WHY anyone would call it such. Please do a better job next time, k? Frankly your post just reinforced my position that supporters of 'Dawn Treader' have no real grounding to justify their support. If it was such a good film, it wouldn't have tanked at the box office. Do some research on the numbers, compare them with other films that opened the SAME weekend, then compare those numbers to the first 2 films. You'll see a drastic difference in box office numbers. And I mean drastic. Or, if you can't be bothered to look up substantial facts, get back to me in a couple of days and I'll copy and paste exactly what I found a few months ago (the file has been moved off my computer because of computer problems, and I don't have the flash drive with me at the moment).

Copper: honorable causes are fine. But when it came to 'Dawn Treader's treatment of Aslan, Gresham should be absolutely ashamed of himself. The Aslan presented in the film was nothing more than a religious figure. The Aslan presented in the books was a much more powerful figure with a much more prominent and meaningful role. To me, the demeaning of Aslan in the film is one of THE most egregious things that happened in the film. To deny this is to blind yourself to the truth. Oh sure, it was nice to have that goodbye scene nearly word for word from the book. But in context, it really meant nothing. Aslan's "other name" could be referring to any number of religious figureheads (Jesus, Allah, or Buddha). I don't know how Gresham can look himself in the mirror and not be upset over what HE allowed to happen. And I won't even go into the character assassination of both Lucy and Reepicheep.

 

[Captain Holly]

First of all, the image makes absolutely no sense.

Sure it does. YOU DON'T LIKE THING!!!!. ok.

Just, repeat the first line over 113 times, and we have your posts.

Second of all, both tirian and I are being facetious. In other words, we know people out there think of 'Dawn Treader' as a 'good film', but we don't understand WHY anyone would call it such. Please do a better job next time, k? Frankly your post just reinforced my position that supporters of 'Dawn Treader' have no real grounding to justify their support.

This is really quite simple: People have different opinions then you. That doesn't mean they have some kind of problem or need to justify their enjoyment of a film. If you looked, I had indeed just linked a mini review of why I enjoyed the film so much. By the way, I don't think facetious means what you think it means, because there has been no humor here over your hatred for the film or of Gresham. I don't approve of the tone you set down for the discussion over these films because it discourages any sort of positive conversation, and that's especially important for a forum about Narnia content.

If it was such a good film, it wouldn't have tanked at the box office.

It's really quite a sad fact that great things don't sell.

Copper: honorable causes are fine. But when it came to 'Dawn Treader's treatment of Aslan, Gresham should be absolutely ashamed of himself.

I think there's something seriously wrong if movies come first before real life deeds for you.

I am very hopeful of a new Narnia film, BTW. I look forward to it!

 

[inkspot]

I agreed with Holly regarding VDT. I thought it was a good film. Could it have been better? Yes, of course -- it could have stayed more true to the book. Could it have been worse? Yes indeed, it could have perverted the characters and theme of the book as the PC film did.

As for the why I think VDT was a good film: the acting was very good; the Eustace character was perfectly cast. Caspian wasn't such an idiot as he was in PC. The relationship between Eustace and Reep was beautifully done. The dragon was wonderful -- the monster in the dark island was wonderful. The ending, with Aslan joining the adventurers at the wall of water -- it brings tears to my eyes every time I see it! It was wonderfully done. The Dufflepuds and the invisibility thing, very nicely done. The Dawn Treader itself was beautiful, and the ocean aspects of the voyage were cool. Lucy's beautifying spell, the way they worked that, was very nice I thought. The way the ocean roared into their bedroom at home, in the beginning, was exciting. I thought VDT had a lot of stuff to recommend it, from beginning to end.

It had some extraneous stuff they added in, to make it into a quest, but that was OK; it didn't, to me, materially damage the book's themes. The extra little girl, her part was just silly, but whatever, they wanted another cute kid in it. So, these are the reasons I say it was a good film. Not a great film, not an Oscar nominee, but certainly no reason to stop making Narnia films. The PC film was, to my mind, much worse as a Narnia film. It was more like a Narnia fan-fic film. But VDT, not half bad.

I'm happy to see more Narnia films, as long as they will try to stay true to the books.

 

[Aravis Kenobi]

I'm just going to be nice here and not even comment on inkspot's "the acting was very good".


Okay. I will say this: the cast would not have won any award for acting but the Razzies. In case you don't know what that is, the Razzie Awards are for the worst anything in film/pop culture. Even Kristen Stewart outshined the cast of Dawn Treader.

But, I've stopped trying to understand why people blindly defend the movie when it was plain awful.

Ta-ta.

 

[Sir Cabbage]

I'm primarily in agreement with Inkspot here -- Dawn Treader was an okay film. I'll keep watching it every now and again and will keep getting some satisfaction from it, regardless of how close it was and wasn't to the book. I'd really need to see both films again to decide whether Prince Caspian is worse - certainly at the moment I'm thinking that took more away from its respective book with the filmmakers trying to make it more of an action film or whatever.

I don't think it follows quite so sure as you say that a film that doesn't do brilliant at the box office is suddenly a bad film. Lack of advertising and all sorts can affect this and there are examples out there of good films that didn't do so well at the cinemas. (And vice versa that box office high scorers aren't always great films.)

You might not like the film - that's fine, that's your opinion - but if there's people out there who do get something out of it then it must be doing something right for some people, and they're not all going to be less wordly informed children!

As to Douglas, maybe he's not cut out truly as producer material. Also ideas can still change through the line, even if it's the producer's say so. Well I don't know, I don't know him enough to speculate his thinking too much.

I would like to see more film outings for Narnia. Films as The Silver Chair have a lot of potential, and The Magician's Nephew I've never seen any adaptation of. I will be hoping they will have learned to follow the idea from the books better. Eitherway I will still watch it.

(Oh yes, and I will say the acting in Treader isn't brilliant by all. Will was great as Eustace, though. Part of the reason was the awkward script in parts, like Lucy and Gale's cringy moments!)

 

[Cryfion]

I think you hit the nail on the head Sir Cabbage. Just because some of us enjoyed the film doesn't mean we are wrong to enjoy it, the same goes for not liking the film as well, everyone has differing tastes. I don't think looking at the numbers is that good of an idea, for as far as I know, and I could very well be wrong, most Christian based films don't do nearly as well as other "normal" films do, especially looking at series types. Now a film like Passion of the Christ I think is an exception but there was a lot of hype surrounding/leading up to its release...

Frankly in VoDT the scene I don't forget and cry at every time I watch it is the final one where Reep goes to Aslan's country etc.

Yes some acting moments, as have been previously stated, were rough and could have been better. Yes the story wasn't spot on, but in truth what book to film adaptation ever is? Albeit this adaptation was on the lower end, in my opinion, as far as adaptations go and there were some stretches I saw; however producers have to find a way to try and grab the non-readers as well. You can see this type of thing in Stuart Little and very well in Harry Potter if you've read those books.

VoDT was an okay film it wasn't fantastic, and in the film industry okay seems to correlate to crappy returns in terms of box office numbers, as far as I can tell.

Eh, just my two cents/opinions take 'em for what they're worth.

 

[inkspot]

I agree with you Cryfion -- and welcome. I don't remember if I saw you post before.

And I completely agree with you about the scene of Reep's departure in VDT, it is beautiful and makes me cry every time. I was watching VDT on my Kindle on a plane not all that long ago -- this year some time -- and I was all hunched over it at the end so no one would see me crying over a children's film!

Did everyone see the announcement that The Silver Chair will be made next? Very exciting! I hope that little boy who played Eustace in VDT will not be too old to play him in this new film; he was great.