Posted on 12/07/2001 12:12:22 PM PST by GraniteStateConservative
Friday December 7 3:35 AM ET
By Matthew M. Ross and Charles Lyons
NEW YORK (Variety) - Billionaire investor Philip Anschutz is backing a feature version of ``The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,'' hoping that it will yield a fantasy franchise rivaling ``Harry Potter (news - web sites)'' and ``The Lord of the Rings.''
The project is being developed by Walden Media, which Anschutz unveiled in May with the mandate of ``marrying popular entertainment and education.'' The New York-based company is run by former Dimension Films president Cary Granat.
``The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,'' published in 1950, is the best known book in British author C.S. Lewis' popular seven-part children's series ``The Chronicles of Narnia,'' which Walden optioned for an unspecified sum. Walden plans to develop the collection into a live-action theatrical franchise, with ''Lion'' roaring into theaters in mid-2004.
HarperCollins retains publishing rights to the collection and had no involvement in the film pact.
``The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' tells the story of siblings Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, who step through a magic wardrobe into the fantasy world of Narnia, which has been frozen into winter by the evil White Witch.
Other books in the series are ``The Magician's Nephew,'' ``The Horse and His Boy,'' ``Prince Caspian,'' ``The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,'' ``The Silver Chair'' and ``The Last Battle.'' Lewis, a classics professor at Oxford and Cambridge, died in 1963.
The books' spiritual themes mesh with Anschutz' own firmly held Christian beliefs.
The ``Narnia'' collection had been under option to Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall's Kennedy/Marshall Co. (''The Sixth Sense'') until late November, when the shingle allowed the option to lapse and the rights reverted to the C.S. Lewis Co. John Boorman (The Tailor of Panama'') and Rob Minkoff (''Stuart Little'') were among the directors attached along the way. Reps for Kennedy/Marshall were unavailable for comment.
``We have been relentlessly pursuing this project since the formation of Walden Media in May,'' said Granat. ``We were very fortunate in that the C.S. Lewis Co. saw eye-to-eye with us on exactly how to make this film.'' Lewis' stepson, Douglas Gresham, will help oversee the film.
Granat said no decisions regarding cast or crew have been made. He plans on meeting with distributors within the next several months.
Denver-based Anschutz, noted for his very low public profile, shouldn't have a problem finding movie theaters to play his films: he is in the process of taking over bankrupt No. 1 chain Regal Cinemas and already owns United Artists Theater Co. and Edwards Theatres Circuit Inc.
Reuters/Variety
I was thinking that too. They will probably use Bobcat Golweight as the voice of Aslan too.....
The characters were all between 10 and 13 I think? That provides some limitations. I also hope that they don't totally secularize the stories.
Aslan was a picture of Jesus, and it needs to be told that way.
But if they do decide to do it right, I can see John Lithgow doing the voice of Aslan. He's good.
I would agree except for the fact that Philip Anschutz and Douglas Gresham are behind this one. While it may not "say" that "Aslan is Jesus" I would think they'll be pretty insistent that the message is clear.
The kiss of death. The new editions of Narnia have suffered the surgical excision of all spiritual references, in an effort to compete with the Potter books.
Exxxelent . . .
Yes they did. It was somewhat poorly produced but true to the original story. It was shown on PBS some years back. The series also included Prince Caspian, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and The Silver Chair. They're available on video. If you have kids who are Narnia fans, I'd recommend them.
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