*Robin*
bibbity bobbity boo!
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2000
- Messages
- 1,496
This could be an amazing piece, if they do it right....my son LOVED the BBC series...
This came from Variety...and is subscription...
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Disney nabs 'Narnia' pic
Mouse will share 'Lion' with Walden
By CATHY DUNKLEY
HOLLYWOOD -- Walt Disney Studios has inked a deal with Philip Anschutz's Walden Media to co-finance, produce and distribute a live-action film version of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," the best known book in C.S. Lewis' series "The Chronicles of Narnia."
Pic will be directed by Andrew Adamson ("Shrek") and penned by Ann Peacock. Shooting is expected to begin this year in the U.S. and New Zealand for a Christmas 2005 release.
Walden, Anschutz's family entertainment shingle, paid an unknown sum to option rights to all seven books in Lewis' children's series in December 2001 and plans to develop with Disney a series of pics based on the books. "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is the second book in the series. A prequel, "The Magician's Nephew," was written later.
Walt Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook and Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group prexy Nina Jacobson will oversee pics with Walden Media CEO Cary Granat and co-founder Michael Flaherty.
Pic 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 in winter by the evil White Witch.
Though no budget details were discussed, first pic is expected to be budgeted at about $100 million, with Walden co-financing 50/50 with Disney. The Mouse House will retain worldwide rights, including homevideo, licensing and merchandising rights.
Pics will feature substantial CGI visual effects and animation to bring the magical characters of Narnia to life.
Aspiring franchise could provide potential TV, theme park and merchandising spinoffs for the studio.
"I think this has the potential to be very, very important for Disney," said Cook. "Around the world the books have sold over 85 million copies."
Walden inked a two-year, first-look distribution deal with Disney in September 2002, but "Chronicles of Narnia" was not included in that pact.
So far, Disney and Walden have teamed on "Holes" and "Ghosts of the Abyss." This summer, Disney also will distribute Walden's big-budget remake of "Around the World in 80 Days."
HarperCollins retains publishing rights to the "Narnia" books and has no involvement in the film pact.
The "Narnia" collection had at one time been under option to Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall's Kennedy/Marshall Co. and was set up at Paramount. But the shingle allowed the option to lapse and the rights reverted to the C.S. Lewis Co.
A number of high-profile scribes and filmmakers had previously been involved, including scribe Menno Meyjes, writing team Kiri Zooper and Chris Barbour and helmers John Boorman and Rob Minkoff.
Other books in the series are "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 1985 feature "Shadowlands" told part of his life story.
This came from Variety...and is subscription...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disney nabs 'Narnia' pic
Mouse will share 'Lion' with Walden
By CATHY DUNKLEY
HOLLYWOOD -- Walt Disney Studios has inked a deal with Philip Anschutz's Walden Media to co-finance, produce and distribute a live-action film version of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," the best known book in C.S. Lewis' series "The Chronicles of Narnia."
Pic will be directed by Andrew Adamson ("Shrek") and penned by Ann Peacock. Shooting is expected to begin this year in the U.S. and New Zealand for a Christmas 2005 release.
Walden, Anschutz's family entertainment shingle, paid an unknown sum to option rights to all seven books in Lewis' children's series in December 2001 and plans to develop with Disney a series of pics based on the books. "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is the second book in the series. A prequel, "The Magician's Nephew," was written later.
Walt Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook and Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group prexy Nina Jacobson will oversee pics with Walden Media CEO Cary Granat and co-founder Michael Flaherty.
Pic 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 in winter by the evil White Witch.
Though no budget details were discussed, first pic is expected to be budgeted at about $100 million, with Walden co-financing 50/50 with Disney. The Mouse House will retain worldwide rights, including homevideo, licensing and merchandising rights.
Pics will feature substantial CGI visual effects and animation to bring the magical characters of Narnia to life.
Aspiring franchise could provide potential TV, theme park and merchandising spinoffs for the studio.
"I think this has the potential to be very, very important for Disney," said Cook. "Around the world the books have sold over 85 million copies."
Walden inked a two-year, first-look distribution deal with Disney in September 2002, but "Chronicles of Narnia" was not included in that pact.
So far, Disney and Walden have teamed on "Holes" and "Ghosts of the Abyss." This summer, Disney also will distribute Walden's big-budget remake of "Around the World in 80 Days."
HarperCollins retains publishing rights to the "Narnia" books and has no involvement in the film pact.
The "Narnia" collection had at one time been under option to Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall's Kennedy/Marshall Co. and was set up at Paramount. But the shingle allowed the option to lapse and the rights reverted to the C.S. Lewis Co.
A number of high-profile scribes and filmmakers had previously been involved, including scribe Menno Meyjes, writing team Kiri Zooper and Chris Barbour and helmers John Boorman and Rob Minkoff.
Other books in the series are "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 1985 feature "Shadowlands" told part of his life story.
