Narnia Fans » Mark Johnson

The Lord of the Rings series opened up a world of possibilities for the fantasy genre, not least of which was the ability for filmmakers to realize arching storylines that span years or, as in the case of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, generations. It has also shown audiences that children’s films can be dark and dramatic, yet still prove box-office hits.

“The beauty of these fantasy films, like Lord of the Rings and like Narnia, is it’s almost like opera, it’s bigger than life,” says Narnia’s producer, Mark Johnson. “It will take you to a world where there are talking animals and giants and pure evil to overcome.

“And the beauty, in the case of Narnia, is that it asks [children] to save the day. So with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, we really went out of our way to make sure the audience knew what was going on in England during World War II. These children felt so powerless. So powerless because they were sent out of the city, away from their mother and father. Then all of a sudden, they find themselves in a world that’s looking to them to save the day. So it’s so much about empowerment.”

Lion, which proved a massive worldwide hit, bringing in well over 700 million dollars at the box office, was originally produced to be a one-off film, with the vague hope it would become a franchise, with all seven of the original books by C.S. Lewis being realized as feature-length films.

But with a high-profile producer such as Johnson (Rain Man, Diner, My Dog Skip and Good Morning, Vietnam, among others) and director Andrew Adamson (Shrek) on board, why not take the route Peter Jackson did with Rings?

“What New Line and Bob Shea did with Lord of the Rings, basically green-lighting three movies at once, is unheard of. And in today’s Hollywood, it will never happen again. I just cannot imagine it,” Johnson said. “It’s too much of a financial commitment, and everybody will say, ‘Let’s just see if the first one’s successful first.’

“So, when we made The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, that’s all we were going to do. But then when it became as successful as it did, everybody immediately looked at Andrew Adamson and me and said: ‘OK. Where’s the next one? Let’s get going.’ I think once you start to look beyond the movie you’re making, you get in real trouble. You have to make that movie well first and then look up and say, ‘Let’s do another one.’”

The next one, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, is already on the way and is in preproduction. The third in the series, which is chronologically the fifth, picks up three years after Prince Caspian, and sees the return of characters such as Lucy (Georgie Henley) and Edmund (Skandar Keynes), as well as Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes). Unlike Lion and the new Prince Caspian, the next film, slated for a May 2009 release, will take place on a boat. Contingent on ongoing success, according to an announcement by Johnson at the San Diego Comic-Con, the series will continue with new installments coming out every May.

“The challenge, in a sense, is how to connect it to the previous one, so you don’t feel like you’re seeing a completely different movie. So you want to make sure the audience feels it’s a part of this so-called franchise,” Johnson says.

“[But] you don’t have to worry about repeating yourself. I look at Harry Potter, for instance–I understand they’re all very different and all very successful–but, I’m sure one of the challenges is, ‘How do we make it different?’ We’ve got the same characters wearing the same costumes, they’re in the same school. How do you open it up and make it different so it doesn’t feel like it’s the same?

“In our case, C.S. Lewis has done such a good job of saying, ‘Look at this one [Prince Caspian]: This one takes place 1,300 years after the first one. Narnia’s completely different. It’s no longer pristine, it’s no longer in springtime. It’s gotten old and corrupted and been under siege.”

Disney Channel Latin America constantly shows news and interviews of The Chronicles of Narnia and in NarniaSpain we recorded everything.

This time, dear Mexican journalist Carla Medina interviewed most of the cast and the producers of Narnia in the premiere of New York.

In one of the interviews Carla Medina asked Mark Johnson about the rumor that they would film the next film in Latin America and it responded that is truth, and that probably would film some scenes in our dear Argentina! In any case this still is doubtful.

In addition, as all we know, the pre-production in Mexico already began, and this was the cool new in Mexican newspapers. In them it was commented:

“80% of the film “The Chronicles of Narnia 3″ will be filmed in the sets of Popotla in Rosarito as the next year, and it will have a considered cost of 100 million dollars. Oscar Escobedo, representative of the tourism secretariat, affirmed that they are working with Walt Disney to make the film.”

Escobedo explained:

“Disney offers us the opportunity to Baja California to be recognized as a destiny for filmic projects: from Titanic, a so important event had never arrived.”

During a eighteen months, the team of “Narnia” will work in Bajos Estudios (before pertaining to Fox), where already “Titanic” and “Pearl Harbor” have been made.

“Some days ago it initiated the preproduction. With Narnia, we would be finishing around one hundred projects, between cortometrajes and shootings”.

video : http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=p_89H0Mrw68
entre: 3:07 and 3:23

This is the fifth interview in the NYC Prince Caspian series. In this interview, we have producer Mark Johnson talking about the challenges that they faced with bringing Prince Caspian to the screen. He spoke of the difference between the filming of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Prince Caspian, and the possibility of combining Caspian with Dawn Treader.

Mark Johnson: Who have you already talked to?

Paul Martin: Almost everybody

Mark Johnson: So, you all saw the movie last night?

Paul Martin: Yes, very much enjoyed it.

Mark Johnson: Oh, good, perfect.

Reporter: Tell me about the challenges going into a second one. The first is always hard because there are no expectations, but now you have so many expectations. What are those challenges?

Mark Johnson: You know, the first one we were so mindful of the readership, the loyal readership to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and didn’t think we could make a lot of changes. Because we almost felt that the audience was sort of daring us to make a movie that was faithful to the book. I’ve done a lot of movies based on books, from The Natural to Donnie Brasco to My Dog Skip to The Notebook, and a lot of them: we’ve made big changes. We made big changes to The Notebook and The Natural, for instance. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe we just didn’t feel that we could do it. And we were very, I felt, very faithful to it, and that’s what the audience told us. Even to the degree they’d say things like ‘gosh it was so great that you were so true to the book, loved the scene in the frozen waterfall,’ which of course is not in the book, but it just felt that it was in there. On this one, two things: one, we felt that we had the trust of the audience, that they knew that we were not trying to bastardize the books in any way. And we also felt that Prince Caspian the book didn’t really lend itself to a movie. Didn’t lay out as a movie. We were really perplexed. Andrew and I talked, briefly, about possibly combining it with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. So we made some structural changes and elaborated on some things that are in the book. But I think we’re still very faithful to the characters, the journey of the characters, and to the themes of loss of faith and regaining faith that are in the book. But the readership is so strongly loyal and these books are so vivid in so many people’s minds that you just have to be careful about not playing around with them.

Reporter: Did you ever run into any licensing problems using the books? Or how does that work?

Mark Johnson: No, because the C.S. Lewis Estate works sort of hand in hand with us. And, in fact, Douglas Gresham, who is C.S. Lewis’ stepson, is a co-producer of the film with us. So they’re very involved. And they read all of the scripts and are involved in casting and luckily, we have a wonderful partnership with them and we like working with them a lot.

Reporter: You also have a partnership with Walden Media, with the travelling show with the costumes, and what have you. Why did you see a need to keep this going?

Mark Johnson: I’m not involved in that. I know that there’s, right now, a sort of exhibit, I think at Disney World. I’ve never been to it, but I’ve seen what it is. It’s supposed to be as much promoting the books as the movies. And the world of Narnia. And, as it turns out, these movies will be.. in a perfect world every two years we’ll have one out there. So it also keeps them alive.

Reporter: Were you surprised by how much money the first one made? Because there’s a good movie, and there’s a great movie, and then you go beyond into the stratosphere. How surprising was that for you?

Mark Johnson: I know.. I know.. It’s always surprising. People said ‘Oh, you must have seen it coming.’ You didn’t really. That’s a lot of money. We did three quarters of a billion dollars worldwide box office, you know, and we were successful everywhere. You can’t and I can’t take it for granted on this one. People said ‘Oh, of course you’re gonna do fine, you’re a sequel to a successful movie.’ I don’t think that’s true, and there are examples of movies that weren’t that successful. You still have to make a good movie. That kind of money is pretty staggering. But then again, I just heard that Iron Man did thirty-eight million dollars yesterday, so it’s sort of like… numbers.. it’s all sort of relative. You know… who knows. Most of the films I’ve produced have been successful, but nothing on that level. Rain Man did probably about four hundred million worldwide, or something like that, but most of them are much more modest than that. So all of a sudden to happen to do one in those numbers is both exhilarating and a little scary.

Reporter: Do you have a Narnia jet?

Mark Johnson: (laughter) Well, my yacht says The S.S. Narnia. No, there’s no yacht. No, a lot of people share in the success of it. For me, I’ve never done a movie like that. I would see some of those big fantasy effects films, and say ‘how do they do that? how do you do a second unit and a third unit, and visual effects where you have a character talking to a two-inch mouse which is really just a tennis ball on a wire that somebody’s moving around like that, you know. And so I just wanted to do it. And then I just fell in love with the world of Narnia. And what’s great about the franchise is that each book is so different from the one that preceded it and the one that follows it.

Reporter: You mentioned all the things you have to deal with, the CG effects and everything. How important is it to have somebody like Andrew who knows all that stuff?

Mark Johnson: Well, it’s remarkable, because often a director will be involved in a big visual effects film, and he or she will say to the visual effects supervisor: ‘can I do this?’ or ‘can I do that?’ Andrew knows those answers better than anybody. He has a great team around him, but he knows those answers. So that he is invaluable. And yet at the same time, I was telling somebody earlier, the most important thing is that you not… it’s all about characters. It’s all about characters in the story. And so the effects can be great, and the locations are great, but at the end of the day, those are the side-dishes. So what you have to keep mindful of, when you’re looking at dailies there on the set, is ‘do I really care? Is this moment coming across?’ Because it’s so easy to get distracted and say ‘oh good, that explosion went off beautifully there, and the camera moved like this and that.’ But it’s really in the face of an actor and whether or not that actor shows, or can somehow give you the feeling.. the sensation that you want out of him or her.

Reporter: I have no doubt this film will do well, but it is coming out in a summer that is ridiculously overloaded with potential blockbusters. The first movie came out over Christmas. Was there any kind of hesitency to release it in the summer? Especially like this one?

Mark Johnson: Well the first movie made sense for Christmas, and not just the snow. Father Christmas and all of that. It was very much a Christmas film. We were told at the time we were gonna get stomped by King Kong. And we ended up taking care of the big ape. Ironically, the only place in the world that King Kong did better than The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is in New Zealand. Which.. Andrew Adamson is from New Zealand, as is Peter Jackson, so I don’t think Andrew took it well. (laughter) But, you know, it’s ideally, I think the adage, or what people want to believe, is that successful movies beget successful movies, so people start going to the movies again, and yeah. It’s really scary. I look at Iron Man is going to do over a hundred million dollars this weekend, and next weekend is Speed Racer. The next weekend is us. The next weekend is Indiana Jones. And there’s The Dark Knight, and a bunch of really good movies coming out there. So hopefully we’ll stick around. There’s no doubt that Indiana Jones will be number one movie of Memorial Day. So we’ll see. It is scary.

Reporter: Because you mentioned the worldwide success of the films, do you notice more of a fervency in the fanbase in England as opposed to the United States? Or is it pretty common across the board?

Mark Johnson: I think it’s pretty common across the board. You know what’s interesting: New Zealand, when we did The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, all of our crew members had read it as children. C.S. Lewis was one of the staples. It’s not quite as across the board in the U.S. But in England and Australia and New Zealand, everybody has read those. And I don’t know if that’s true of just fantasy books in general. And a lot of people have said to me over the past six months, ‘aren’t you worried that fantasy films are falling apart?’ And there are a couple of movies that they could point to. And I always think that those movies just didn’t have the characters, and consequently the heart, that hopefully we have. Because at the end of the day, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the scene that’s most important to me is not the big battles, and flying this and talking lions. It’s really Lucy meeting Mr. Tumnus, and you say that’s sort of the heart and soul of the movie and that’s why the movie works.

Reporter: Andrew said that he had signed on to produce the next one, too. Will you still be a producer, and how do you feel about the next director?

Mark Johnson: Well I think that the perfect person to direct the next movie would be Andrew. And Andrew’s not going to do it. So you say, alright, who’s the perfect person after Andrew? And Michael Apted is a director I admire a lot and he’s very strong with performances and consequently story. And I think The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a perfect movie for him to be doing. And, I think, it’s not that he hasn’t done big visual effects films – he did a James Bond film – but I’m excited about that. And of course Andrew will still be involved. One of the smartest things they did on Harry Potter was have Alfonso Cuarón direct the third one, and in many ways he was not a likely candidate; he had just done Y tu mamá también. He and I had done A Little Princess together, so I knew that he would be perfect for that, but I’m not sure that the world did.

Reporter: What was it about Ben Barnes that fit the role of Prince Caspian?

Mark Johnson: I think it’s…in a strange way you needed to buy him more, as a character who wasn’t sure of himself – who didn’t think he was a prince or a king – than, when at the end of the film, when he becomes that person. In many ways, the key moment is when Aslan says ‘rise kings and queens of Narnia’ and the four Pevensies get up and Caspian stays down, and he says, ‘all of you’ and Caspian says ‘I do not think I am ready.’ I like that Caspian, and that’s what we needed in it. We didn’t need just a good-looking, heroic, self confident young man, but a man who was, I guess, vulnerable. And we saw hundreds and hundreds of actors for that part. And Andrew had originally thought that the Telmarines would be this pirate race, so he liked the idea that they had a Mediterranean accent. Spanish, Italian, French – somewhere in there. So we saw a lot of boys and young men from Spain, Mexico, Italy and it was hard. You need the character, you need the physicality, you need the vulnerability, you need the ability to play that accent. And then, also, in some cases, also be able to speak English well.

Reporter: With the success of the first movie being so huge, was there ever any danger of this one having too much money available to you?

Mark Johnson: Well, that’s an interesting.. there’s never enough money, no matter what you do. I executive produced a film called Ballast that won the Sundance Best Director award, this year, and we did it for nine hundred thousand dollars, and there wasn’t enough money there, and all of a sudden you’re doing a movie that’s seemingly hundreds of millions of dollars and there’s never enough money. But the beauty of making films and not having enough money, from a producer’s standpoint, is that it forces you to be resourceful and inventive, as opposed to, ‘okay, we’ll just sort of throw money at the problem.’ And yet, when you are in this world and you are creating characters, believable characters, it just unfortunately costs a lot of money. There are people who do it, you know, people I’m constantly trying to learn from. I’ve become good friends with Guillermo del Toro because Pan’s Labyrinth was made for a lot less money, and it’s visual effects were pretty remarkable. But, you know, Aslan has to be completely believable. If you don’t believe that’s a real lion, I guess until Liam Neeson’s voice comes out of his mouth, then we’ve failed.

Reporter: At the end, I was getting ready to scream, because ‘Where’s Aslan?’ You guys were really able to milk it, and keep the movie exciting to the very end! Because I was looking for this lion to come.

Mark Johnson: I know… I know… I’m really pleased to hear that. It’s in the book. It’s a hard one, because Lucy’s sister and brothers may be dying in the middle of a battle, and yet she’s having a conversation in a field, you know, with Aslan. And yet, he comes in and wakes the trees and saves the day.

Reporter: Thank you!

Mark Johnson: Thanks everyone, and so long!

Up next, the final interview in the series, before we move onto the next day in the NYC Prince Caspian series. Look for the interview with Ben Barnes, Prince Caspian himself, soon!

Going to New York City for the first time can be pretty overwhelming. Going to New York City to see Prince Caspian for the first time is another thing entirely. Friday started out with a stroll through the city, learning where things were, which way it is to the cinema and figuring out where to go in the meantime.

It was all very surreal, as I was excited to see the film, but still overwhelmed by the size of the city.

We arrived to the film about an hour before the scheduled showtime. I wasn’t scheduled to check-in until 6:30, so we waited around a while. I met a bunch of people while we waited, including Barbara Vancheri: the Arts & Entertainment Writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She was easy to talk to, and not at all like most of the critics that I had met previous to this.

After a short while, we were able to check-in, and were given our passes. Up a couple of escalators, we found our way into a huge screening room. There had to be nearly 1000 seats in that auditorium. The entire middle section of the screening was taped off for us to sit, and I found a spot toward the center of a row at eye level.

It was there that I met Fantasia-kitty from NarniaWeb, sitting one row in front of me. We started talking, which was cool, because my friends went up to sit with the crowd from TRL. She was really nice, and easy to talk to. She pulled out a notepad, but never wrote a thing. A little while later, someone asked if I’d be willing to move up, as they needed the row that I was sitting in for something. I moved up, and a little while later, something incredible happened.

In walked Peter Dinklage. Trumpkin, himself! But that’s not all. Many more members of the cast started to file into the row behind. Ben Barnes, Georgie Henley, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell… it seemed to never end.

Looking to the left, there was Mark Johnson: the producer.

A few minutes later, director Andrew Adamson walked to the front with Mark Johnson to introduce the film. I had expected, perhaps, a video introduction, but the man himself was standing before us. And he announced that he only finished the film two days before, and it would be the first time that the cast has seen it. He said that they were pretty apprehensive about it, as this was the first real test of the film in its’ final form.

He sat down and the lights went out and the film began. Two and a half hours later, the lights came up and I sat there, trying to figure out what I had just seen. I knew that I loved it, but that’s all that I knew.

I took a stroll down to introduce myself to the director. I don’t know it if I was starstruck or what, but after I introduced myself to him, he asked me what I thought and I could say nothing. I was so impressed with what he had created that I could barely figure out the vocabulary to express my thoughts.

He was clearly delighted. You’ll have to read my full review on Friday.

Talking to him for a while, he was a very genuine man, and very kind. I also met Mark Johnson and by then I was finally starting to figure out my thoughts. Next, we made our way out of the auditorium, where we met none other than writer Christopher Markus. A true gentleman and a very hilarious man, he quipped: “You’re not supposed to know who I am!”

We talked a bit about the film and then Andrew walked over and said that a shot was missing from one of the reels, and it was the only reel that was missing that single shot. When I asked what that shot had, we joked about how Andrew was trying to be a bit more edgy as a director, and it really was a good thing the shot was missing. It involved a waterfall and the cast, and that’s all that I’ll say here. Needless to say, the shot turned out to actually be an establishing shot or some such. Not nearly as exciting as our own imaginations.

After this, it was back to the hotel to get some sleep before press interviews would start at around 9am.

Prince Caspian Official Illustrated Movie Companion

Title: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian: The Official Illustrated Movie Companion.
Author: Ernie Malik
Publisher: HarperOne

ISBN-13: 978-0061435607

Summary of the book:

The film adaptations of the Chronicles of Narnia are some of the most anticipated movies ever. Ernie Malik looks at the making of the second film in the series, “Prince Caspian”. From preproduction, to filming to post production this book goers every aspect of the filming of the movie, complete with exclusive behind the scenes photos from the movie.

Review of the book:

It was almost a given that with the success of the first film in the Narnia series, that a second would follow. This book looks at the making of the film and is great not only for film buffs interested in the process, but for fans of Narnia who want to know more about their new favorite movie.

The book begins with forwards from Andrew Adamson, Douglas Gresham and Mark Johnson. Appropriately it concludes with an afterward by newcomer Ben Barnes, who plays the titular prince. These forwards and afterwards are very inviting and welcoming and immerse you in the action of the film making process and make you eager for not only Prince Caspian, but for the Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

As expected the book has many biographies on the cast and crew, complete with great photos. This includes some amazing shots of Will, Anna, Skander and Georgie, who, in my opinion are looking more and more like Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie and less like a bunch of actors and actresses chosen to play them.

Readers discover that the four young stars didn’t let their success on the first film go to their heads. What’s more these kids are clearly very good friends with each other, which will help so much in their performances in the film.

The new cast member profiles as just as enjoyable as the ones on the returning cast members. Ben Barnes recounts how he became the “fifth Pevensie” and fit right into their already jelled group of friends. This is great news for us fans when we go to the movie. If he can’t fit into the mix, then the movie would be a bust, but if he seems natural with them, the magic can continue. He even recounts how he grew so close to them that at times Will grew angry at him as it seemed Ben was usurping his role as Georgie’s on set older brother.

Warwick Davis recounts his work on the BBC Narnia films and how much he enjoys being back working on Narnia. There’s even a humorous anecdote about how on his first day on set, Howard Berger, blasted the Ewok theme from Return of the Jedi ( Davis played Wicket, the main Ewok who befriends Princess Leia in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi) over the speakers on set to welcome him.

The book goes into full detail about the whole production process from making the props and costumes to designing the creatures. They continually emphasis how everything in Prince Caspian should feel more “used” and “worn out” as opposed to how new and fresh it all felt in the first film.

Casting is described to be just as hard as it was with the first film. The hardest character to design and cast ended up being Reepicheep who was cast at the time the book was being finished. From what we’ve scene already in trailers and sneak peaks, when you read this book, you’ll be glad they did.

The behind the scenes photos are visually stunning and at times are funny to see. You’ll see things like tennis balls, or fake lion heads standing in for creatures like Reepicheep or Aslan. There’s even one of the four Pevensies standing on their marks at the ruins of Cair Paravel, with Anna and Georgie in very modern sandals. In the case of Georgie, they are a clearly oversized pair of sandals.

And of course, lest I forget, our own Paul Martin is mentioned in the Special Thanks section in the back of the book as he helped contribute some information for the book.

This books is nothing short of an exciting look at the magic behind the magic of the Prince Caspian film. It was well written, well researched, the photos were great and in short it had everything you need in a “behind the scenes book.”It is certainly well worth the read. However, when you buy it, make sure to read it after you see the film. There is plenty of juicy spoiler info inside. One thing becomes more sure after reading this book, you will want them to make the rest of the series.

Five out of five shields.

ComingSoon.net interviewed producer Mark Johnson about the future of Narnia, and during the interview they spoke about Dawn Treader and possible 3-D Narnia films.

CS: So we know that Ben and Skandar and Georgie will be returning but will you bring back Weta and use the same writers on the next few movies?
Johnson: We actually have a different writer right now on “Dawn Treader,” it’s a complicated process but it’s like the books. You want to have the connection to the prior movies but at the same time, it’s a whole new world.

CS: When do you start thinking about “The Silver Chair“? Do you have to wait until the next one’s finished again?
Johnson: Yeah, we don’t have a director for that, but we will soon enough. We’ve already been talking to some people. Let’s see how this movie does.

CS: Also, in “The Silver Chair,” Ben’s going to be 50 years older.
Johnson: That’s exactly right. I think when you see Caspian, he’s at the dock and getting on the boat and he’s an old man.

CS: I know that both Walden Media and Disney are really big on the 3-D experience, so do you think you’ll ever take “Narnia” into the 3-D realm? Have you had any talks about shooting future movies or scenes in 3-D?
Johnson: We did. We even talked about this for a while. Could we make this 3-D? I would guess that if we keep making these, we’re bound to make one or two in 3-D. You’re right. It so lends itself to it.

CS: When you started this movie, I’m not sure 3-D had exploded like it has in the last few months. I’m surprised to see you producing a lot more independent films this year as well, like “Ballast” and (“Narnia” executive producer) Perry Moore’s movie “Lake City.”
Johnson: Yeah, yeah, we’re really pleased that this year we had two movies I was involved in at Sundance, and then “Ballast” won Best Director.

Read the rest at ComingSoon.net

It’s a question that we can’t help but think would please the old theologian himself: Is C.S. Lewis’s “Chronicles of Narnia” film series dead or isn’t it? First, Disney announced in grand fashion that they would film all seven of Lewis’s books, with a new one coming out each May. Then the rumors started to swirl like the White Witch: Disney wanted to concentrate elsewhere, they wouldn’t commit to any Narnia films after “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” which would mean three films and no more. Producer Mark Johnson himself recently told a packed crowd at New York Comic-Con that “Treader” would, in fact, be the last voyage.

Cue the Great Aslan. No, better yet, cue one of his patented resurrections.

“There is a list,” Johnson revealed to MTV News of a group of dream directors being eyed to bring the fourth Narnia book, “The Silver Chair,” to the big-screen. “We have an eye on who might direct.”

Whoa, Whoa. Back up. You’re talking directors? That strikes me as something nobody does with a dead franchise. Not at the level of “Narnia,” anyway.

In fact, Johnson went on to describe how he envisions that the future of the “Narnia” series may very well wind up like “Harry Potter,” with different, visionary directors brought in to reinvigorate the franchise at each step along the way (a la Alfonso Cuaron).

“I think [the director of "Silver Chair"] will be somebody new entirely,” he said when we asked if that list of helmers included previous directors Andrew Adamson or Michael Apted. “I would like to get somebody totally unexpected.”

So it looks like, for now at least and until the next reversal, that the future of Narnia is a bright and comprehensive one, with Johnson planning on taking us from the beginning (“The Magician’s Nephew“) to the end (“The Last Battle“).

Amid those future adaptations, of course, will be many complications – from mere logistics to figuring out how to navigate Lewis’s increasing sexism, religious allegory, and perceived racism.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t say a couple of them I don’t know how to film,” Johnson confessed, adding with a wry smile. “It would be a good problem to have.”

MTV Movies Blog

Cast and crew for Disney’s upcoming Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian fielded audience questions this morning at the New York Comic Con. On hand were stars Ben Barnes (Prince Caspian), William Moseley (Peter Pevensie), Peter Dinklage (Trumpkin), as well as producer Mark Johnson.

Johnson said that the third Narnia film, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, will begin shooting this October and is looking at a May 2010 release date.

Following with the book, Caspian will be in the next movie, along with only two of the Pevensie children. While there are seven books in the Narnia series by C.S. Lewis, Johnson said that there are no plans at this time to make more Narnia films after Dawn Treader. Johnson followed up by saying that if the next two films are successful, there could be a possibility to continue with the film saga, with The Silver Chair being the next one.

Geeks of Doom for the rest!

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, is currently in post-production and heading to theaters on May 16th. But first, the good prince — and the cast and crew of the film — will be stopping by Manhattan this weekend for the third annual New York Comic-Con.

Join IGN Movies’ Editor in Chief Eric Moro this Saturday, April 19th, as he moderates the Prince Caspian panel. Joining him for the event will be Ben Barnes (Prince Caspian), William Moseley (Peter Pevensie), Peter Dinklage (Trumpkin), and producer Mark Johnson for an audience Q&A and a screening of exclusive new footage from the film.

It’s one year after the events of the first movie, but over a thousand years have passed in Narnia when the Pevensie siblings return to the fabled land of Aslan. There, new adventures — and dangers, of course — await them as does a new ally in the person of the titular prince.

New York Comic-Con is, as always, being held at Manhattan’s Jacob Javits Center this weekend. So stop by the IGN Theater at the con on Saturday, April 19th at 11 a.m. All non-talking lions will be caged, we promise!

Visit IGN for more, and keep an eye over there for the conference

Mark Johnson wasn’t what I expected. And neither was Narnia.

When I was first asked by Disney if I wanted to visit the Prague locations for PRINCE CASPIAN, the second film in their Narnia franchise, I wasn’t sure. This was August of last year. I was in the middle of a number of things. But what made my mind up was a conversation I’d had with Howard Berger on the night we wrapped PRO-LIFE. He was talking about what he wanted to do in the second NARNIA, and what he’d discussed with Andrew Adamson. And listening to him talk about it, it was obvious that Howard wanted to do something different on the second movie. That he was excited about it. I liked his work on the first one. It’s good stuff, and I don’t think anyone was surprised when they won best Make-Up at the Academy Awards. The mix of the practical and the digital is very canny, and just the chance to watch them shoot some of that… remembering how cool it sounded when Howard described it… I told Disney I’d do it.

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