The New Zealand Herald has a small story about The Voyage of the Dawn Treader filming at White Island. “White Island Tours marketing executive Patrick O’Sullivan said the filming, which was done without the cast, took place just before Christmas. ‘We went out there with a film team, and left one guy with them to ensure they did not fall into any holes.’” NarniaWebber icarus found a picture of the filming unit while they were just off the coast of White Island. It can be seen here.

On behalf of all the staff, moderators, and news posters at NarniaWeb we want to wish you all a very merry Christmas! In the spirit of Christmas, we wanted to share with you an essay penned by our friend Devin Brown, who writes about C.S. Lewis’ views about the Christmas season (“I send no cards and give no presents except to children.”) and on finding real joy and mirth this season. Click here to read the whole article.

We’ve received two spy reports this morning saying that starting on Boxing Day, Movie World will open its doors for public tours. Nicola sent us a copy the email announcement she received which says, “From Boxing Day, guests to Movie World will have the opportunity to go behind the scenes and visit the set of the Narnia movie series’ latest epic The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Tours of the Narnia studio will run regularly throughout each day. Tours will run for a limited time only and are included as part of everyday Movie World admission.” Andrew followed up letting us know that this lasts for four weeks. If you get a chance to visit the set, we’d love to see your pictures!

Dark Horizons is in the process of reviewing the notable films of 2010. They have picked Dawn Treader as one of them. Some highlights from their story:

“The budget has been cut to a still substantial but more reasonable $140 million which means less pressure to perform but a tighter control on production. Fox Walden also isn’t as strict as Disney on sanitising the product so the film will hopefully take more risks – that could be one of the reasons Disney opted out (they cited ‘creative differences’). The release is back to the more suitable December slot, while director Michael Apted is a far more skilled hand at both drama and action/adventure than previous helmer Andrew Adamson.

The only downside here could be Walden itself which has been keeping production rather quiet and didn’t have any set visits to the film, even for locally based journalists like myself which has surprised more than a few people. A decently updated production blog is online which is a nice start, but the buzz needs to begin early to make sure this doesn’t go the way of ‘Caspian’. Lets hope the film becomes the hit it could be, because the next book ‘The Silver Chair’ is also one of the best of the series and deserves a big-budget adaptation.”

You can read their full review on their website here.

The C.S. Lewis Foundation has announced the founding of C.S. Lewis College in Northfield, Massachusetts for Fall 2012! Visit cslewiscollege.org for more details, and a great video.

Skandar’s official site has been updated to mention that filming has wrapped on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, how he’s received his official PADI certificate in scuba diving, and Sebastian Keynes the Giant Tortoise. You can check out the updates on his site here. Thanks to everyone who sent this story in!

Kelila writes in to tell us about some Dawn Treader toy sketches she found on Deviant Art. It appears that user ‘pnitink’ works as an illustrator and did these sketches for his employer as some basic possibilities for potential Dawn Treader toys. We’ve graciously been given permission to reprint the images, but make sure to check out the rest of the artist’s work at Deviant Art. And remember, these are just concept sketches… nothing more. The real-life toys will surely be much different.

From BBC News: “Comedian Eddie Izzard has been honoured with a special award at the 2009 BBC Sports Personality of the Year for his epic marathon feats for Sport Relief. The 47-year-old popular comedian ran an incredible 43 marathons around the UK, covering 1,100 miles in just 51 days and raised over £200,000 for charity. ‘It was really tough. Everything was painful. People asked me if I enjoyed the running but I enjoyed the stopping! I staggered, I ran and I crawled.’ ” Read the full story here. Thanks to daredevil for the heads-up!

Two Gold Coast locals talk to The Weekender about their different roles on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The first is Morgan Keavney-Rattue who was the stand-in double for Will Poulter. The second is Robbie Harrison who played one of the first mates aboard the Dawn Treader. You can read their stories at The Weekender’s website here. Thanks to ellz_bellz for the heads-up!
UPDATE: NarniaWebber icarus found a digital edition of the same article that includes pictures of both actors. You can view it here, but there are some very adult ads in this version. This particular article is on page 16 and 17.

Daily Mail has released what they believe to be the top 50 movies of the decade. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe comes in at number 15. Number 1 is Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings. You can check out the whole list here.