Netflix Pays Nine-Figure Sum!

Lewis’ seminal fantasy work, The Chronicles of Narnia. The series follows the adventures of several children who find themselves on epic adventures in the land of Narnia, which is populated with all manner of fantasy creatures. This is definitely proof of intent and huge ambition from Netflix, and that’s without getting into the kind of money they must have spent; according to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix paid a nine-figure sum!

Ten Sarandos, the Chief Content Officer at Netflix, expressed his admiration for the novels. Lewis’ beloved Chronicles of Narnia stories have resonated with generations of readers around the world,” he said. We know that Mark Gordon and Vincent Sieber will act as executive producers.

When Netflix announced that they had bought the rights in a multi-year deal, Gresham said, “It is wonderful to know that folks from all over are looking forward to seeing more of Narnia, and that the advances in production and distribution technology have made it possible for us to make Narnian adventures come to life all over the world.” In more recent news, Netflix confirmed on Twitter in June of 2019 that Matthew Aldrich, known for his screenwriting work on Coco (2017), will serve as the creative architect of the Narnia Universe. Lewis’ beloved Narnia universe for Netflix pic.twitter.com/k77EG6f9N4 — Netflix Queue (@netflixqueue) June 12, 2019 Other than that, we’ve pretty much been left in the dark.

Since then, there’s been some rather turbulent development over a movie adaptation of Book Six in the series, The Silver Chair. Joe Johnston (Captain America: The First Avenger, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms) was confirmed by Variety as its director in 2017, with production set to begin a year later. However, that doesn’t seem to have happened.

Mark Gordon, who producing The Silver Chair, is now attached to Netflix’s Narnia Universe. At the moment, there are a lot of networks vying to fill the high fantasy space left open by Game of Thrones. Amazon is producing shows based on The Wheel of Time and The Lord of the Rings, HBO is making a Game of Thrones prequel, and Netflix itself has The Witcher and an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series.

Or maybe it’s stalled. Still, if you’re eagerly awaiting the arrival of Netflix’s Narnia Universe, you might be waiting a few years yet.

How Many Live-Action Movies Were Produced Between 2005-2008?

Children of the 2000s may have grown up with the three live-action movies produced between 2005-2008 and anyone of any generation may have read C.S. Lewis’ classic novels as a kid, but a new version of The Chronicles of Narnia is on the way. Netflix acquired the rights to adapt the seven fantasy books back in 2018 and immediately announced their plans to create new TV series and films based on the world of Narnia. So, what have we learned about the company’s intentions for the franchise since then?

Narnia fans have examined the evidence, though, and come up with some compelling theories about what Netflix may do. The previous film franchise adapted the books in publication order – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. An ultimately unproduced fourth movie, The Silver Chair, would have followed suit.

This idea was put forward by the folks at the NarniaWeb podcast, who also suggested that Netflix could take a darker approach to the source material than the previous adaptations. They used other Netflix series based on classic literature, like Anne With An E, as an example of how the company likes to do this. Just in case there was any doubt, it’s also highly likely that Netflix will completely reboot the universe and not bring back previous stars.

Netflix is taking its sweet time, then, but eventually we’ll be stepping back through the wardrobe and enjoying the Chronicles of Narnia all over again.