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NarniaWebber Daredevil sent in a spy report with a link to an interesting story. Prince of Persia director, Mike Newell, said that he considered two Narnia actors for the lead role in the new Disney movie. James McAvoy and Ben Barnes were early contenders. You can read the full story here.

We’ve just received some marketing materials that Fox will be using to promote The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. This is our first hi-res look at Dawn Treader’s Reepicheep. Take a look below and make sure you click for a full-size image:

Dawn Treader 3D Poster with Reepicheep

And a close-up of Reepicheep:

Reepicheep Closeup

We’re a bit slow on this story, and for that we apologize, but if you’re in the Chicago area, Walden Media and HarperCollins have some exclusive The Voyage of the Dawn Treader materials available at the International Reading Association Convention today.

From Walden’s website: “Here are some of the top must-sees of the convention: This year, Walden has placed an exclusive RAMONA & BEEZUS and THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER bookmark in each goody bag. The HarperCollins booth will be handing out exclusive Ramona & Beezus and Voyage of the Dawn Treader materials. Be sure to visit their booth to get these special teaching tools.”

You can read the full story on Walden’s website here. And the official IRA Convention website is here. Today is the last day these things are available, so hopefully if you’re in the area, you can still make it down there.

Thanks to 7chronicles for the heads-up!

We’ve gotten a little information about this year’s C. S. Lewis Summer Study Program. Read on for more information:

The Christian Studies Center is offering a unique chance for any undergraduate to take 2 classes on C. S. Lewis. Classes are open to any undergraduate, and class credit transfers nationwide. Dr. Devin Brown (Asbury University) will be teaching a course this summer that will explore Lewis’s life and his fiction writing, with a special focus on the Chronicles of Narnia. Brown is one of the leading authorities on C. S. Lewis, and is the author of Inside Narnia, Inside Prince Caspian, and Inside Voyage of the Dawn Treader. His class, C. S. Lewis and the Oxford Circle, will be taught June 14th-25th. Dr. Jerry Walls (University of Notre Dame) will be teaching a course on C. S. Lewis’s philosophical writings. Walls is the author of numerous works of philosophy, as well the co-author of C. S. Lewis and Francis Schaeffer (InterVarsity Press). His class, Philosophy of C. S. Lewis, will be taught June 1st – June 11th. Housing for students from out-of-town is available. For more information, go to: http://thechristianstudiescenter.org

Weta Workshop has just introduced one of the coolest products available to the public that I’ve personally seen: Weta Legs.

Weta Legs are a unique, low profile, professional grade reverse leg stilt for creature and costume performances in movies, television, theatre, circus, street performances and other creative performances. Something previously reserved for commercial film and television projects, they are the first of their kind available commercially to the public.

Weta has also posted a video showcasing their new Weta Legs (modeled by Shane Rangi and inventor Kim Graham) that you can view here.

You can own your own pair of Weta Legs for a mere $1,320.00 NZD (which equates to approximately $945 in the USA). More information on the Weta Legs can be seen on Weta Workshop’s website here.

Group Publishing, Walden Media, and 20th Century Fox have teamed up and put together a Vacation Bible School package called ‘Fun for the Whole Family’ Hour.

Fun-for-the-Whole-Family Hour combines the excitement of VBS with the thrilling adventure of Narnia in an experience that gets all ages connecting with each other and with God.

It’s one action-packed hour where the families in your church can talk, laugh, share, discuss Scripture, and worship together–and watch never-before-seen clips from the latest Narnia adventure. This film explores family-friendly themes like grace and transformation, giving families the chance to look at God’s transforming love in a new way.

Featuring FREE exclusive clips from the upcoming Narnia movie The Voyage of the Dawn Treader!

The leader pack will be available to ship June 1, 2010. Do you know what this means NarniaWebbers? VDT clip are less than two months away! UPDATE: The VBS package will be available June 30th instead of June 1st as was previously reported.

More information and preordering is available on Group’s website here.

Thanks to QueenSusanJ316 for the initial report, and Liberty Hoffman for the link!

UPDATE: One of the pages on the website includes a new image from the movie:

Nice catch, AslansCountry.com!

NarniaWebber icarus stumbled across a video interview with Roy Billing from last year at the 2009 AFI Award nominations. In this interview, he mentions a small but intriguing detail regarding the Dufflepuds.

At about the 1:50 mark…

Interviewer: Tell me, are you working at the moment? Any upcoming projects I should know about?

Roy Billing: The week after next I go back up to the Gold Coast to finish off a role in the new Narnia chronicles movie, playing a character called the Chief Dufflepud, who will be digitally shrunk to about that tall (*Roy holds his hand out in front of him to indicate the height*), with one leg, a big nose, big ears, beard… you won’t recognise me. It was great. But 3 hours in the make-up chair. (*Laughs*) Oh and hair everywhere!

So this confirms that the Dufflepuds will be digitally shrunk for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. There was a bit of concern that the Dufflepuds might not be small like described in the book after normal sized actors were cast in the role as opposed to little people. Though we did previously report that green screen tests were done for the characters prior to filming.

Thanks to icarus for the heads-up!

The Louisville Science Center announced today that the exhibition for The Chronicles of Narnia will be arriving June 2011. It might be a ways off still, but this is the first showing of the exhibition most certainly guaranteed to include props, costumes, and set pieces from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

A few weeks ago, we reported the next known location for ‘Narnia: The Exhibition’ is Huntsville, AL, where it will arrive sometime in the Fall of 2010. Whether it will head anywhere between the time it wraps up in Houston (on April 25th) and Huntsville remains to be seen. It is possible that they may be taking a break from touring to add the new Dawn Treader pieces.

More information on the Louisville Science Center can be found here. The U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville here. And the official Narnia: The Exhibition site is here.