The Chronicles of Narnia Movies continue with The Silver Chair

The C.S. Lewis Company has entered into an agreement with The Mark Gordon Company to jointly develop and produce THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE SILVER CHAIR, the fourth book published in C.S. Lewis’ famed fantasy series. In THE SILVER CHAIR, Aslan calls Eustace (from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader) back to Narnia together with his classmate Jill Pole. There they are given four signs to aid in the search for Prince Rilian, Caspian's son, who disappeared after setting out ten years earlier to avenge his mother's death. 50 years have passed in Narnia and Caspian, who was barely an adult in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, is now an old man, while Eustace is still a child. Eustace and Jill, with the help of Puddleglum the Marsh-wiggle, face danger on their quest to find Rilian. [hit the jump to continue]

The first and second movie in the Narnia series was produced by Walden Media and Walt Disney Pictures, by the third movie,  20th Century Fox replaced Walt Disney Pictures as the distributor while Disney would still retain the rights for the first two. Fox had pursued the Narnia film rights in 2001 and distributed various other Walden projects. Dune Entertainment came in on the third movie as well. In 2011,  it was announced that The Magician's Nephew would be the next film in the series, but later that year, it was announced that Walden Media no longer owns the rights to produce another Narnia film. Now, the Narnia film series continues with the Mark Gordon Company handling it. The Mark Gordon Company's film credits include SOURCE CODE, THE MESSENGER, 2012, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, THE PATRIOT, and TV series “Grey’s Anatomy”, and “Criminal Minds”, among others.

Mark Gordon stated, “Like many readers, both young and old, I am a huge fan of C.S. Lewis’s beautiful and allegorical world of Narnia.  These fantasy stories inspire real-world passion among millions of devoted fans around the world. As we prepare to bring the next book to life, we are humbled and excited to contribute to the outstanding legacy of Narnia.”

Douglas Gresham, stepson of C.S. Lewis stated, “I have a great deal of respect for Mark Gordon’s work and am confident that together we can bring the beauty and magical delight that Narnia engenders in the hearts of those who read the books to the screen in ‘The Silver Chair.’ I am very much looking forward to diving once more into Narnia, this time with Mark Gordon and his team.”

Mark Gordon and Douglas Gresham along with Vincent Sieber, the LA based Director of The C.S. Lewis Company, will serve as producers and work with The Mark Gordon Company on developing the script. Michele Wolkoff and Sara Smith will oversee for The Mark Gordon Company.

Vincent Sieber stated, “We are very excited by this partnership and to be able to work on this movie from its earliest conception on such a collaborative basis. It gives us the opportunity to develop a script and then produce a film with some of the most talented industry professionals whilst remaining completely faithful to this much loved book.”

The first three Narnia films combined have grossed over $1.6 billion at the worldwide box office.

A classic series of seven novels that have sold over 100 million copies worldwide, C.S. Lewis’ “The Chronicles of Narnia” began with the publication of “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” in 1950. Six more novels (including the prequel, “The Magician’s Nephew,” and the sequels, “The Horse and His Boy,” “Prince Caspian,” “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” “The Silver Chair” and “The Last Battle”) would follow in the next six years. The final title in the series, “The Last Battle,” was awarded the highest mark of excellence in children’s literature, the prestigious Carnegie Award.