It’s official! Dick Cook, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, and Cary Granat, chief executive officer of Walden Media announced today that the Walt Disney Studios has entered into an agreement with Walden Media to co-finance and distribute the long-awaited motion picture “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”.

Read the story of Ben Boothroyd and Luke Newton, both pupils at St John Fisher RC High School, who recently got into the last 25 candidates for a role in a film adaptation of CS Lewis’ classic tale The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

Rumors are swirling that Disney will be distributing the Narnia films. Executive Andy Mooney mentioned LWW during a speech he made at Walt Disney World last week.

DreamWorks is fast-tracking production on the computer-animated sequel film Shrek 3, even though Shrek 2 doesn’t hit theaters until May 21, Variety reported. Andrew Adamson, director of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe might return to direct this film as well.

In his latest newsletter, John Howe admits working feverishly on the Narnia project during the early months of 2003. Howe writes, “From February through May I didn’t do much else except work my fingers to the bone drawing lions, witches and wardrobes pretty much full time.”

USA Today ran a story about the upcoming Narnia films. They quote director Andrew Adamson, “I always thought Narnia was real. I don’t want to make the book as much as my memory of the book. Aslan has to be a talking, emoting character.”

NarniaWeb has learned that about one thousand children have been auditioned and that the production will soon be casting from the short list. It has also been confirmed that pre-production is forging ahead and that the studio has an accepted screenplay and budget.

NarniaWeb has learned that design director Grant Major left the Narnia project in July of 2003. No news yet as to replacements or why Major left the project.

An Ottowa firm, XYZ RGB has placed a bid to help bring the magical characters of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia to life. The firm hopes to be able to help with models of characters such as Aslan, Reepicheep, Tumnus, and 17 other magical creatures. This article from the CanWest News Service describes the process that XYZ RGB uses and their role in The Return of the King.

This story from Stuff says that work on the film will begin next month in Auckland. Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey said last night that confirmation of the production coming to his region was “the greatest Christmas present this city will ever have”.