# Narnia movie: In development hell? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 10, 2003, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-movie-in-development-hell/187438 "2003-07-10T11:46:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aslan_of_Narnia)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-movie-in-development-hell/187438/1 "2003-07-10T11:46:31Z")
The [site](http://www.narnia.com/movie/index.htm) seems to have no updates since from July of last year. Since it is the official narnia site, I would assume that if their was updates beyond that, they would have them. So, is the movie adaption in development hell? I know that they could be spending more than a year or so to bring it all together, but it would be odd to not have any updates whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-movie-in-development-hell/187438/2 "2003-07-10T12:00:48Z")
Do you **want** a Narnia movie? I, for one, hate hate hate when a good book is made into a movie, because A) it probably won’t be done well, and B) I think plenty of people say, “Well, I saw the movie; no sense reading the book. After all, I know how it ends.”☹ ---
**Author:** ![garius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19b73/32.png) [@garius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garius)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-movie-in-development-hell/187438/3 "2003-07-10T12:06:41Z")
W ---
**Author:** ![garius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19b73/32.png) [@garius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garius)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-movie-in-development-hell/187438/4 "2003-07-10T12:07:44Z")
woah. strange. that should read: “Wasn’t there a decent BBC version a while back?” ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-movie-in-development-hell/187438/5 "2003-07-10T12:08:00Z")
Actually, I kinda liked the three Narnia movies I saw when I was younger (_The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Voyage of the Dawn Treader; The Silver Chair_). Sure, they weren’t as good as the books, but they were pretty entertaining for me. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-movie-in-development-hell/187438/6 "2003-07-10T12:11:55Z")
The IMDb entry says that the film is still on track to be filmed later this year and to be released next year: [http://us.imdb.com/Title?0363771](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0363771) ---
**Author:** ![Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aslan_of_Narnia)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-movie-in-development-hell/187438/7 "2003-07-10T12:14:56Z")
Garius, I believe their were some BBC tv movies or television series, at least more than a decade old. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-movie-in-development-hell/187438/8 "2003-07-10T12:31:10Z")
I vaguely remember those; they really weren’t as bad as they might have been, except that Aslan looked like a stuffed lion you might buy at a flea market. ---
**Author:** ![LateComer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5ac83/32.png) [@LateComer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LateComer)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-movie-in-development-hell/187438/9 "2003-07-10T12:55:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dung Beetle \* > \*\*Do you **want** a Narnia movie? I, for one, hate hate hate when a good book is made into a movie, because A) it probably won’t be done well, and B) I think plenty of people say, “Well, I saw the movie; no sense reading the book. After all, I know how it ends.”☹ \*\* I disagree. Yes, if a bad movie is made, all deals are off, but if a decent movie is made I think it’s much more likely that people will see the movie and think “Wow, that was great. I should read the book.” The Lord of the Rings movie has spurred Tolkein book sales. The same thing happened for Thomas Harris after Silence of the Lambs. A good Narnia movie could introduce the books to a new generation of children, albeit in the wrong order. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-movie-in-development-hell/187438/10 "2003-07-10T13:02:21Z")
Ugh, that’s right…they **are** sold in the wrong order now!:mad: Guess I’m a Narnia purist. ---
**Author:** ![Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aslan_of_Narnia)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-movie-in-development-hell/187438/11 "2003-07-10T13:19:09Z")
I feel that it is the right order. I did read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe first, but it makes that much more sense to read in Chronological order, to have The Magicians Nephew come first. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-movie-in-development-hell/187438/12 "2003-07-10T13:21:43Z")
Is there any real evidence that the Peter Jackson Tolkien movies have increased the sales of Tolkien’s books in any major way? Remember, _The Lord of the Rings_ was one of the biggest-selling novels of all time before those movies were made. I recall that they had sold something like 50,000,000 to 100,000,000 copies. Has the increase in the number sold really been that major? The Chronicles of Narnia is already one of the biggest-selling children’s series of all time, so again could a film increase the sales by that much? In any case, suppose that a bad movie increases the sales of a good novel. Is that really an acceptable reason to make the movie? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-movie-in-development-hell/187438/13 "2003-07-10T13:28:03Z")
Well, now suppose that after Rowling finishes the Potter series, she decides to write a prequel from Harry’s father’s point of view, taking place during his school days and describing how he met Harry’s mother, etc. Although it would chronologically be the “first”, would you not be disturbed to see it first in a set? It would give away too quickly things that took time to set up in the later books. ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-movie-in-development-hell/187438/14 "2003-07-10T13:49:29Z")
Re: The movie increasing sales of the book. Sure, there’s plenty of evidence that sales of LOTR increased because of the movies, e.g. this article: [http://www.theonering.net/scrapbook/torn/tolkien/view/1486](http://www.theonering.net/scrapbook/torn/tolkien/view/1486) Of course, you could quibble that tripling the flow of sales is small compared to the stock of books already sold, but there’s no denying that sales increased substantially. Re: The “Will a making a movie damage the book?” question. Just as in the case of LOTR, this is a moot point, because there have _already_ been multiple media adaptations of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe – a radio series, two TV adapataions, and a really awful animated TV movie, according to IMDB. (The “really awful” part comes from me, not IMDB!) The book has already withstood all that: it’s not clear why another movie, even an extremely bad one, would suddenly kill it. ---
**Author:** ![Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aslan_of_Narnia)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-movie-in-development-hell/187438/15 "2003-07-10T13:53:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dung Beetle \* > \*\*Well, now suppose that after Rowling finishes the Potter series, she decides to write a prequel from Harry’s father’s point of view, taking place during his school days and describing how he met Harry’s mother, etc. Although it would chronologically be the “first”, would you not be disturbed to see it first in a set? It would give away too quickly things that took time to set up in the later books. \*\* It wouldn’t disturb me, I would be glad to see expansion the back history. Backhistory can help to better understand the world of the characters. They explained the back history of Harry’s parents, albeit sparsely, in the HP books. You have enough to grasp it, and expansion would be good but not required to understand the books. Where as with the first Narnia book lacks a good portion of the back history, making it so you need to read it in Chronological order in order to understand the characters motivations, why that lamp is there, and various other things. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-movie-in-development-hell/187438/16 "2003-07-10T14:02:26Z")
I didn’t need to know why the lamp was there to love TLTW&TW. And when I got to TMN, there was this sense of wonder and discovery that I don’t think would have been there if the story had gone straightforwardly, point to point. ---
**Author:** ![Bobby\_Roberts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Bobby\_Roberts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobby_Roberts)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-movie-in-development-hell/187438/17 "2003-07-10T14:06:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wendell Wagner \* > \*\*Is there any real evidence that the Peter Jackson Tolkien movies have increased the sales of Tolkien’s books in any major way? Remember, _The Lord of the Rings_ was one of the biggest-selling novels of all time before those movies were made. I recall that they had sold something like 50,000,000 to 100,000,000 copies. Has the increase in the number sold really been that major? The Chronicles of Narnia is already one of the biggest-selling children’s series of all time, so again could a film increase the sales by that much? In any case, suppose that a bad movie increases the sales of a good novel. Is that really an acceptable reason to make the movie? \*\* Yes, there is evidence that LotR book sales have increased over excitement from the movie. In June 2001: “The Lord of the Rings book orders have tripled since 1999.” From: [http://www.lordoftherings.net/film/news/ne\_art2001\_06\_00.html](http://www.lordoftherings.net/film/news/ne_art2001_06_00.html) This was 6 months before the first movie was released. LotR is one of the best selling sets (or the best) this century, but that does not mean it doesn’t end up being pushed aside by the next generation. The films brought out new interest in the books and has obviously increased the number of readers. For those who choose to only watch the movie instead of reading the book, it’s very unlikely they would have read the book anyway. As for an acceptable reason for making a movie out of a book, if increasing the number of readers of the book isn’t one, what is a good reason? Are you saying that no books should ever be made into movies? That would lead to some pretty dull movies IMO since many of my favorite movies were made from great books. If done well, a movie made from a book has so much more depth than a script written just for the movie. So the point is making a great movie out of an even greater book. Of course there’s no way that any movie can be as good as a book, but that’s an unfair comparison. Your imagination will always beat out the limitations of film, no digital special effects will change that fact. But why should that stop the creation of a great movie? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-movie-in-development-hell/187438/18 "2003-07-10T14:18:30Z")
**Bobby** , I’m gonna have to concede that point. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-movie-in-development-hell/187438/19 "2003-07-10T14:30:14Z")
On second thought, I’ll partially concede your point. What about kids too young to read the books being exposed first to the movie? I’d think it would dilute their experience, if not ruin it. Also, what if the movies aren’t well done? I cringe when I admit that I like Stephen King because so many people who have only seen the movies consider the books crap. (Yes, I know some are.) ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2003, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-movie-in-development-hell/187438/20 "2003-07-10T15:36:34Z")
I have to agree with the purists that they need to be put back in their original order. Without having read _The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe_, I wouldn’t have given two shits about _The Magician’s Nephew_ or _A Horse and His Boy_. Niether of those stories really appealed to me even after reading the first story; the only thing that made _The Magician’s Nephew_ interesting was seeing how this world I already came to love was created, and seeing how things fell into place (like the lamp-post). Reading _The Lion,…_ after all that, the story would just seem…I don’t know, kinda out of place. It does a great job of setting up the world of Narnia on it’s own, and branches into a really good story arc crossing four books (four, right? It’s been a while since I read them, I can’t remember exactly where _The Silver Chair_ fits into things chronologically). Anyway, the back stories fit in as filler to help give everyone a nice little taste of this world without the main characters we’ve come to love…but you need to gain that love first before the world means anything to you, and you can’t do that without _The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe_. A friend of mine just started reading them, and I made sure that she started with “Book 3”. Without it, _The Magician’s Nephew_ is just uninteresting. I’m also pretty sure I’d make my kids see **A New Hope** and the original Star Wars trilogy before letting them see the others…if I ever let them see the others. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/narnia-movie-in-development-hell/187438.md?page=2)