Narnia rights optioned by producer of 'Spy Kids'
Posted by MelSkunk (Melissa Drake) on Tue 11 Dec 2001 - 14:00
In a recient update to my previous story, an option to produce the Chronicles of Narnia in movie form has been purchased by Walden Media, owned by Cary Granat, producer of many films like the Scream movies and Halloween.
The production will be overseen by Douglas Gresham, stepson of C.S. Lewis, to keep it on track. They seem eager to produce something true to the books, and also seem to want to produce the WHOLE SERIES, up to the Last Battle.
Whoa! Let's hope this comes true, eh?
Ain't it Cool News has the full press release and some other information.
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MelSkunk (Melissa Drake) — read stories — contact (login required)a student and Skunk from Toronto, ON, interested in writting, art, classic cars and animals
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Maybe explaining what the Chronicles of Narnia is to someone that never heard of it would make this bit of news more exciting?
I'm surprised that someone in this fandom doesn't know what the Chronicles of Narnia are... but here is a brief explanation for those of you who haven't yet been exposed to them:
C.S. Lewis wrote a series of Children's Books called "The Chronicles of Narnia" way back in the 50's or 60's, starting with "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" where three youngsters end up in a magical world with talking beasts by travelling through a portal in the back of a wardrobe.
The stories are wonderful as they stand alone, but there has been some criticism (as well as praise) for the religious associations of the characters in the book with modern christian icons. I've heard that C.S. Lewis was a very religious person, but I was in my late teens before I even heard of any religious association in his stories... and I first read them when I was only 7. I feel that they stand alone as fantastic works, and they are extremely anthropomorphic.
A group called Wonderworks, working with PBS and the BBC, produced a live-action version in the 1980's of all the stories up to "The Silver Chair" in 45-minute episodes... totalling about 9 hours of video. Some pretty good fursuit designs appear for the animal characters.
--Darrel.
ConFurence will again be at the Burbank Hilton, April 25-27, 2003. Visit http://confurence.net for more details on this and other events being hosted by The ConFurence Group.
"The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" was published in 1950. "The Last Battle" which is the final book in the series, was published in 1956.
Since the entire story is an allegorical retelling of the New Testament, itself written in the first and second century AD, I think describing the associations as being to "modern christian icons" is a very weird way to put it. Since it is an allegory, it can be read by those of us who aren't christian (just as the Lord of the Rings can) without feeling preached at or left out.
The Lord of the Rings is worth mentioning in this context on several levels. Both Tolkein and Lewis were christian authors who belonged to the came writer's group, and were reading drafts of these two epic works to each other at about the same time.
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