Original Narnia Screenwriters Have Warning for “The Silver Chair”
According to a recent interview with IndieWire the writers of the first three Chronicles of Narnia movies, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, like the idea of The Silver Chair movie, but not the idea of turning it into another franchise.
“They’re gonna be in trouble if they, like other people, have felt like, ‘We can turn this into a great big fantasy franchise,’ because the books are all different, and not each one is gonna give you that same movie,” Markus said.
Markus does have ideas for how to adapt the remaining books in the series though.
“You can make a thoughtful movie from each one and it would be great if the people were prepared to do that.”
Markus and McFeely wrote the script for Joe Johnston’s Captain America: The First Avenger. Their next movie, Avengers: Infinity War, hits theaters April 27.
David Magee is currently the only screenwriter on The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair. (Exclusive interview)
Thanks to Bartek for alerting us!
“You can make a thoughtful movie from each one and it would be great if the people were prepared to do that.”
Yes! Narnia does not have to be a bombastic blockbuster event of the summer to please. It's the heart and soul that counts the most.
They have a point. Trying to take the last four books and make them into conventional "big" franchise probably isn't going to work. That ship sailed after Dawn Treader (no pun intended.)
If they just focus on adaptating each book into the best film they can and embrace the fact that each story is diff I think it could work. Hopefully that's what they do.
I like that the books aren't written like a franchise. But I suppose I can't expect producers to agree with that. 🙁
True! I don't know that Narnia was ever big franchise material. It's not like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter where it is one huge story. It's not like the Marvel Universe where each of the movies is connected. Each of the books is very different in tone, feel, plot structure, and characters. Only Narnia and Aslan tie them together. Trying to bend the books to fit into a big franchise marvel-esque mold will only compromise the integrity of Lewis' work and weaken the movies.
^ Wisdom.
This makes me worried. On the contrary, yes, they are one big story. They are *the story of Narnia* from its beginning to its end. The people in it – Narnia – have their entrances and exits, say their lines and leave the stage, but there IS a unifying oneness. His name is Aslan. The kids aren't the story, just the eyepiece. He is the Marvel of Narnia. Even Marvel's Thor films don't have the same tone, and it works. Thor drops into Doctor Strange's world (which has a completely *different* tone) and it works. Black Panther and Cap coalesce despite their different tones and it works. Infinity War features ten years worth of characters from different tonal backgrounds unified under one all-encompassing cause and IT WORKS. These guys should know since they wrote them. This feels more like an excuse than an actual reason to dismiss Narnia as a potential franchise. Just hire someone who understands them, please!
Why would the people in control of the SC film even decide on a big series and announce it at this point. Why not just make a great Silver Chair movie and then see how it goes. It could still be a great series if the films are well received, but if not, they won't have this franchise promise hanging around their necks.
Do they make that decision now in order to be able to 'set things up' as they make the film. What would need to be set up that isn't set up automatically by a faithful adaption?
Hollywood typically shoots movies back to back to save money, and also since you are dealing with children, you have to shoot them fast because they grow up so quickly.
“The most cinematic of the remaining books.” … Really??
Great article! It's good to know Narnia is being discussed in the filmmaking circles.
Their comments kind of strike me the wrong way, considering it was their scriptwriting that sunk Prince Caspian and VODT and kept the Narnia franchise from continuing. They sure didn't take their own advice in their frantic push for the next blockbuster and severe overthinking that mutilated the innocence and character of those two beloved books. I really, really feel the ball was dropped bigtime with those two movies in a way that did not happen with Harry Potter and other book-to-movie franchises. Sure hoping Gresham is more protective and Magee more respectful of the rest of the books.
Bring on the thoughtful movies.
^ Well Said.
It’s cool to hear the original screenwriters take this stance – probably because they’ve been through the ‘franchise’ ringer trying to bring the first 3 books to the screen as a ‘big fantasy series’. Maybe they realized that Narnia works best as a smaller-audience series of interconnected stories.
I don’t know how a mass audience would respond to another ‘Narnia’ franchise – probably with disinterest. The first 3 films are now old enough to now be part of their collective consciousness, so rebooting the series might feel like “That’s not right” to them, if they care.
A smaller audience would be interested, I think, to see what stylistic and tonal direction a rebooted sequel/prequel Narnia franchise could take. Example: Like Planet of the Apes and Mad Max – but for families! I wonder…
But I’m glad David Maggee is just focusing on The Silver Chair before any potential prequels/sequels. He seems to genuinely love the books, and I hope the director does too.
I hope Joe Johnston makes a movie that will interest audiences in the future of the franchise, without completely scrapping continuity with the previous trilogy.
Example: Keep the 1940s setting, keep the British characters British, and bring in Andrew Garfield as Caspian! He’s Spanish in bachground!
I understand your view. Honestly, I’m not a fan of Marvel, I like Iron Man, Black Panther and other stand alone superhero stories, but I strongly dislike the dependency on previous movies to enjoy the new ones. Narnia is s bit like this, but not much more. Each story is self contained, and told as if the reader might be new to the world of Narnia like the new main characters in each book. Sounds repeditive, but C.S.Lewis never intended Narnia as a big-audience franchise and a more modest series of movies would be truer to the books. I know many don’t care about that, but The Lord of the Rings and Marvel did not grow intensely popular by being the big books on the shelf. Maybe, just a little bit ;). They are remembered because they did their own thing. I just hope The Silver Chair is a good movie and a worthy adaptation of the book.
I will say that sort of makes sense. The remaining books aren't in chronological order which would have always created a challenge. I also think that Disney marketed Prince Caspian a little too much as a big summer blockbuster aimed at teenagers. In some ways it was a blockbuster, but it shouldn't have been released right before such a big movie as Indiana Jones 4.
Still thinks there needs to be some continuity between all the films. Sequels can feel different and still maintain continuity. After all, most of the MCU films feel different, yet they are all clearly set in the same universe.
I agree with them in this case, but I still think a complete reboot is a very dumb idea.
https://www.change.org/p/c-s-lewis-company-please-make-the-chronicles-of-narnia-the-silver-chair-a-soft-but-not-complete-reboot?recruiter=867763922&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=share_twitter_responsive
Is peter in this move?
Ben Barnes was a fabulous Caspian. Andrew is a great actor but there is no need to replace Ben.
Remember, Peter and Susan don't return to Narnia after Prince Caspian, unless they decide to do a flashback.
I also don't really know how to take this. They have a point about keeping things simple, but these words are coming from the old Narnia screenwriters, after all.
The writing quality was never more than just serviceable in all three films, and it got worse as the series went on. It's almost as if Markus and McFeely went out of their way to avoid direct quotes from the books and instead tried to modernize the dialogue. Maybe they were ordered to do so, and it's understandable that some things have to be changed, but the end results were not very good and often quite jarring. Their current work in comic book adaptations seems like a much better fit for them.
The moment I learned Magee was involved, I felt more confident. 'Life of Pi' was a well crafted film and had powerful character moments and intelligent dialogue. So did 'Finding Neverland'. I think 'The Silver Chair' is in better hands here.
Not true at all. They are excellent screenwriters. It was the STUDIO's fault VODT failed. They were forced to work under their supervision. In fact, their comments probably come from their experience working with Fox.
It wasn't their fault.
They may have made some mistakes in the script, but I still love Prince Caspian and the Voyage. They should have made The Horse and His Boy before Prince Caspian because Susan, Edmund and Lucy are in it when they are grown ups in Narnia and haven't yet gone back through the wardrobe. In Prince Caspian, Cair Paravel has been destroyed, so they would have to make a Horse and His Boy a flashback. It's a great story.
I'm not sure if you should ask the C.S. Lewis estate not to make the new movies a total reboot. The producers and director probably have more power as far as that goes.
I think the problem with the trilogy was a mix of Walden, Fox, and Disney. They wanted it to be a big blockbuster, especially Disney, who was on a high from Pirates of the Caribbean (which also got worse with each film).
The writers are a great team and their other movies outside of Narnia were really solid. So, I think there's definitely some stuff there that suggests they were pushed to do things that they may have personally felt against.
It's also worth noting that most books don't do well when they're adapted for film, word for word. It's sometimes better to "tell the story" than just re-write the book. Not only does it provide a new twist for people that read the story, but it gives newcomers a reason to pick up the book. If it were the same word for word, scene for scene, there'd be no purpose for someone to watch the movie, then read the book. Looking at sales records, you can see the Walden movies got people reading the books again, and I think that's a great thing. Hopefully the next film will push people to do the same thing (read the book). I mean, there's a whole new generation of kids now that may not have read the books or seen the Walden movies. Hopefully they'll do an amazing job with this movie and get kids interested again.
The BBC Narnia was successful in that it preserved large parts of the dialogue from the book. It had a low budget, but it was a much better book adaptation than any of the new movies. People who criticize the old television series often forget or are not aware of its faithfulness to the original stories. I think all three of the new films should followed the BBC Narnia's example in preserving the original stories as much as possible. That could have been done with much greater accuracy just as well for a large screen production as for a television series.
I see what you mean, but I always thought of Narnia being more if a short history/summary of the world than a continuing story (albeit much more interesting than most history books out there). For example, if we were to make a very short summary of U.S. history, we'd probably have the Pilgrims, the Revolutionary War, Civil War, WW II, and perhaps the Cold War/Space Race. Obviously they have some continuity with each other but each time period is distinctly its own. For Narnia you have creation, deliverance, Golden Age, Second deliverance, Silver age, and the End (or at least that's how I've pictured it) whereas Marvel has Phases 1,2,3; each taking place at roughly the same time (exception being Captain America: The First Avenger) both work, they're just different. (and either way I'm excited for Silver Chair and Infinity Wars)
I don't consider BBC a faithful adaptation.
For example, in the book, the dinner with the Beavers is riveting. I get so drawn into learning about Aslan is, and the anticipation for the children fulfilling the prophecy… and then the shock when Edmund disappears! Even now when re-reading for the 10th time, the scene gets me emotionally involved.
In the BBC version of this scene, I have a hard time staying awake.
There's a lot more to good adaptation than just saying the same words.
FWIW, Chris, just because movie adaptations influence more people to read the books doesn't mean they make more fans. Some people probably picked up the books and thought "huh, the movies were much better." (Of course, those people probably weren't going to enjoy the books in any case. But without the movies they wouldn't have wasted their time.)
FWIW, Larry W, while I don't hate the BBC miniseries or anything, I really don't feel any need to re-watch them. The stories and dialogue from the book are great. But the props, the costumes and the cast are OK at best. There's nothing I get from them that the books and my own imagination can't improve on.
The only one of the BBC adaptations that I prefer to the Walden version is The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. And even in that case, the relatively few things that I really, really liked in the movie (Eustace's complaining, the magician's book, Lucy saying goodbye to Aslan) were better than their counterparts in the miniseries.
Hello, so glad this was discussed. I've been concerned with the idea of a complete reboot. Imagine Little House on the Prairie, Rocky, or Harry Potter changing all of the characters. Not just one. AND the music. I'd personally like unity throughout the series. Give us some characters that we can breathe a sigh of relief with, that we can say, "ok we're all back in Narnia. " Whenever possible let Harry Gregson-Williams original Narnia music play, but especially if the Pevensie kids return. Give us something to get excited about!
Most of the scenes of the BBC Narnia are straight from the book. Even if they could have been done better with certain scenes, some essential ones are missing from the new movies. What about when the children hear the name of Aslan for the first time? Their reaction is completely missing from the movie, but it is very well done in the BBC production. Also, the character of Edmund (including his nastiness and treachery) is more faithful to the original story. The new movie did not emphasize that important part of his character or his redemption from the White Witch. Aslan has a much stronger role as the redeemer of Edmund in the BBC series, which is a very important part of the books. I think that makes it a very good adaptation even if some of the presentation isn't perfect. The only thing that is closer to Lewis' books is the Focus on the Family radio dramas. You even receive more of the plots and dialogue. That isn't a movie, but it is a good example for film makers to follow in story adaptation.
Um I'm not sure if you're replying to me or Glumpuddle, Larry W, but I did say that I consider the stuff in the BBC miniseries that is from the book to be great. (I also said I prefer their version of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader to the Walden Media's.) I just give to credit to C.S. Lewis for those things, not the BBC writers. None of their original dialogue stuck out to me as particularly good.
Also, FWIW, the scene in the miniseries where the kids react to Aslan's name doesn't do much for me. If I weren't familiar with the book, I'd wonder why the scene stopped for a random montage of people's faces. (This is why C.S. Lewis wrote the story as a book not a movie script. ;))
On the other hand, I find Aslan's role in the movie to be more touching than in the miniseries. The scene where the other kids watch from afar as Aslan and Edmund talk feels really like the book to me. And I find the bit where the witch asks "Did you think that by all this you could save the human traitor?" and the girls gasp to be haunting.
I'm glad we both enjoy the Radio Theatre Narnia dramas.
I absolutely agree Narnia had/has great music! However, the epic main theme might not fit with a long trek through the marshes. Just my opinion.
Only thing I thought is that Eustace is in the Silver chair… but the dude who played him in the dawn treader is grown up… would've been nice to make the film earlier while he was still a child… now they'll have to find someone who looks like him, maybe? If not it can be confusing for kids, like, they're going to be wondering why he looks different, because I use to think the same thing when movies with the same character suddenly changed on the next film, when I was a kid. But, I'm still a Narnia fan and I was 10 when The lion, the witch, and the wardrobe was released. Sorry but with how slow these movies are being made… I'd probably be in my 40's! once the last battle finally comes. lol
I have always loved the BBC's soundtrack music by Geoffrey Burgon. I think it really worked well with the trek through the marshes in The Silver Chair. The music may be the most memorable part of the series. The movies' soundtracks are also good, although they may be a bit too modern for old fashioned fairy tales, which are considered the genre of Narnia. The songs are quite listenable and I enjoyed them. However, I think Geoffrey Burgon's music is the best ever composed for Narnia and perfectly suits the stories.
Casting 16-year-old Will Poulter as 9-year-old Eustace in "The Dawn Treader" kind of shot the series in the foot. Poulter was wonderful, but he WAS already way too old to play a schoolboy. So, if the filmmakers want to reboot the "Chronicles" with "The Silver Chair" (as they've been saying), it WILL confuse kids – and adults too, to recast the character. I don't think it's a dumb idea (albeit risky), because almost NONE of the original crew from the first 3 films are involved in Tristar's "Silver Chair" movie. But it will make it harder for kids to want to see "The Silver Chair" in the first place. The filmmakers need to get kids and adults to care for the Chronicles again – otherwise, I WILL in my 40's by the time "The Last Battle" is released.
It will confuse kids regardless, I'm afraid.
It’s also Director, Michael Apted’s fault, he said that every movie has to have a villain. And I’m sure he learned his lesson from What he did to VDT.
If you have a Twitter account, you can contact David Magee there and get real answers two.
Okay, this Reboot idea has been the Most Rumored about this movie, and most people r thinking that they’re gonna pretend that the other movies never happened. But starting over with ‘The Silver Chair’ doesn’t make sense.
All I want is answers that makes sense, I just want them to Say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’, don’t just Randomly ‘Oh, this is a Brand New Trilogy’ u know. I’m sure Joe Johnston forgot one book.
I know he said he doesn’t want the movie to be like the first three movies nor Referenced and I think the reason why is because he wants to avoid copyright since Walden owns the first 3 movies and they don’t have the rights to the series anymore. I just wanted them to pretend that the seven swords and the stupid green mist never happened!
But there r still a couple hints that Sc is still a sequel to VDT, Joe Johnston said in an interview that it’s the fourth film in the series and Tristar president, Hannah Minghella was interviewed and said the world is not read for a remake of LWW, The Silver Chair is the perfect movie to rejoin the franchise, now rejoin means reconnect, pick up where you left off. And plus David Magee tweeted on twitter that the plan is simply to continue the remaining books into movies.
I’m also open to the idea of them giving the a Narnia logo a different color and I do believe that Harpercollins owns it because it’s on the books.
(Please NO RUDE REPLIES, that’s what happens every time I give suggestions for this movie and I’ve had enough as it is)
I really don't know what they (the writers) are talking about. Everyone knows the further four stories are separate and different from each other but must all ultimately fall under the heading of the Chronicles of Narnia films. Why would you want to make "that same movie" over and over again. Narnia was never the same after Andrew Adamson left as director and screenwriter in my honest opinion.
These are all great points of yours.
I do agree with you that we should have a solid “Yes” or “No” statement to the question “Is the Silver Chair a reboot?”. I’m putting my money on the filmmakers eventually saying “No” even though their plan has many facets of a reboot (New cast; new crew; new characters; new storiy, etc.).
If TriStar and Joe Johnston want to bring The Silver Chair to life in an attempt to continue / complete the Chronicles (and not just another fantasy franchise), their is hope that the “reboot” rumblings will work, and get audiences interested in the stories again.
Figuring out the order in which future films would be made is going to be a nightmare.
Why do they (writers) suddenly care?
I guess messing up big time makes them feel qualified to dish out advice…
Here's my take: Narnia is not a big fantasy franchise (in the Hollywood sense of the word). But the movies shouldn't be considered stand alone any more than the books are.
The Chronicles of Narnia are the chronicles of Narnia. (Original, I know). They are the retellings of what happened in Narnia over time. The individual stories (books) are unique and complete. They are very interconnected, but not in the way we would think. It may take seven reads to start connecting the dots. C.S. Lewis was a lot smarter than we give him credit for. There are layers upon layers of interwoven links. If anyone understands this, I would expect Douglas does…. It's more mystery, than mindless action/adventure. Good for current writers to know.
Wait Eustace was 9 in the book?! I thought he was about Edmund's age, who (I thought) would be 11-12 maybe 13 by then? If that case I think I'm okay if they age them up a little… I've always found it strange when there are 10 year olds going toe to toe in a sword fight with middle aged knights XD
I agree, I doubt this will be a full, solid reboot. That being said, I think (not sure if this is the best comparison) they will have soft-reboot like Spiderman Homecoming was.
(Possible mild spoilers ahead)
In it, Peter Parker already gained his superpowers and a pre-murdered uncle Ben a few months earlier. The movie never had to address the backstory because the previous movies established the main characters and "with great powers" theme. In Narnia's case, although pretty much all actors will be new (just like Homecoming) we won't need flashbacks or exposition when they allude to events in Caspian or Voyage.
I find this a little bit interesting. I think the viewpoint of the former screenwriters is very formulated as to what creates a blockbuster movie, but they do seem to have learned some things I don't think were really realized when they were writing the scripts. Jadis just isn't as powerful when she's not destroying other worlds or turning everything to ice, so including having her return as a villainess after she's been defeated doesn't carry the same danger.
Personally, I don't think The Chronicles of Narnia is going to win with the biggest battles or the most special effects, the 2005 LWW got lucky with it's timing in that the CG effects were so much better than things seen even a few years previous and the general culture was a little more open to stories that have Christian elements (at least in the U.S.)
I do not see how the HHB and SC can't be very good movies as the storylines in these books are very linear and the characters have well-developed emotions and grow in the stories. Those books don't have the fame of LWW, and the likelihood of them becoming blockbusters is slim, but so is everything else that Hollywood makes. There are very few movies that are blockbusters.
It might be a mistake investing the same budget into the movies as say was spent on the 2008 PC, simply because if they can't make a profit there won't be any more Narnia movies. I just want the movie to look real, be consistent with the messages of the SC, and be immersive enough so that I can fool myself into thinking I'm a kid again and have wandered into Narnia.
But that's part of the magic of Narnia, that children are powerful too. It's unlikely in our world that teenagers would be able to beat middle-aged knights either, we've just come to accept it in movies.
Even if they find someone who looks like Will Poulter, he probably won't act the same way. I don't think they can really get around the problem easily, but if you read SC without having read any of the other books, it would still make sense, because it is from Jill's perspective and she is new to Narnia. It might be refreshing to have a movie serial that doesn't require the average person to binge-watch or research prior movies before going to the theater.
A soft Reboot would make more sense.
I compare the Narnia series to The Swan Princess series. It originally had three movies, each had different studios and their ratings are close. If not identical, the Narnia series.
Sp1- pretty good.
Sp2- some people didn’t like it, others thought it was okay.
Sp3- not so great at all.
And then fourteen years later, Sony brought the Franchise back, that’s what they’re doing with Narnia, but with new animation and new voice actors, The Silver Chair will have a new feel and new cast, but still had the same Director and writer, Narnia will have the same co-Producer, Douglas Gresham.
And when they did the fith movie, they did not exactly tell what happened in the first movie, nor used the same footage from it, The Silver Chair won’t be like the first three movies, they will not use the same storyline from the Walden movies.
But to tell you the truth, the Recent Swan Princess movies r awful, and if you haven’t seen them, don’t watch them. Especially the fourth one. It was so tortured for and everyone else.
I wonder why people who say they don't like the BBC Narnia series often don't even mention Geoffrey Burgon's music. They must have heard at least some of it while watching the episodes. Why disregard one of the best parts of the series?
Swan princess 4 is a reboot of the series but it’s still a continuation, it doesn’t contradict the original movies but it is a fresh start. So I still don’t think Sc will contradict the Walden movies, and I Don’t believe it will be a different cannon.
I must confess I haven't watched any of the BBC adaptations other than few clips (i.e. Aslan's resurrection). I know saying the effects are bad is a poor excuse, but I found it hard to watch my favorite characters wander the stage like mascot costumes. I will look into the music for fun sometime
I'm afraid that "trilogy" reference means that first will come The Silver Chair, and then after the DVD is released, they'll pull a Harry Potter/Breaking Dawn/Mockingjay and split The Last Battle into 2 parts: Next, we'll get "THE LAST BATTLE – PART 1", which will end on a cliffhanger, then about 7-10 months later, we'll get "THE LAST BATTLE – PART 2". I wouldn't be one bit surprised if this happened…..
Do you think we will ever see all the movies made and leading up to a film of the last battle, hopefully with the original people that portrayed the characters in their film. I get that their doing a total “reboot” but doesn’t mean in the future you can’t use the actors from before. I’d be pretty upset if everyone was new, almost like it wouldn’t hold as much emotional depth for us, or at least me. Imaging if they swapped out Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grant, Emma Watson, or Tom Felton? Unless your not a HP fan, you can’t tell me you would like if they were portrayed by another in other films…? (Sorry, I’m passionate about this stuff…)
Agreed…
Ya, idk why they would even think that they would try to make it into a series, I don’t think they were planning to.
I don’t mind them making the last battle into 2 parts (or just a 4 hour movie) if it means that we get details from the book translated on screen. As long as they do it it in an authentic way/split/pause to the book and right moment in the film. Although this series is not some drama action series that was made to be portrayed in that sort of format.
Someone else said that when they heard the word “Trilogy” he thinks that maybe after they make SC, they’ll do MN and LB and maybe make HHB a Spin-off.
I would love to see see MN as a movie, I think it would look good on the Big Screen. Idk how they’ll make LB into a movie, it’s very dark and too scary for kids to see. I know if I see it, I’m gonna have nightmares for a while.
This Reboot idea has been annoying me and everyone is thinking that they’re gonna pretend that the other movies never happened, which doesn’t make any sense, and when Joe Johnston says it’s gonna be a ‘Brand New Trilogy’, it doesn’t make sense either, I just want some straight answers, like what do they mean by ‘reboot and ‘Trilogy’ what do they mean by that? Because I don’t like people just throw random stuff that doesn’t make sense and just all of a sudden, it’s there! I need to know what they mean by that!
I’m a Harry Potter Fan, and I woul be disappointed if they recast the main characters halfway through, I obviously wouldn’t want to c the rest of the series with them, I would be very disappointed if someone else was gonna play Luna Lovegood because Evanna Lynch was perfect for the role and no one else could play Luna other than her. I know they had to recast Dumbledore, which I know Richard Harris passed away after COS.