There has been more trouble getting The Voyage of the Dawn Treader going into production with rising violence in Mexico as of late.  Scheduled to begin filming production at Baja Studios next month, presumably set building and pre-production, the drug war violence may have led Disney and Walden Media to begin a search for another location.  Baja Studio is the home of the water tank that was used for Titanic and Master And Commander.

Word has it that the production may move down under, as film industry officials in NSW and Queensland are chasing the movie.  The Sunshine State is favoured to win because of the water tank at Warner Roadshow Studios on the Gold Coast. The Dawn Treader needs studios, beaches, jungles and other locations for a five-month shoot.

In the C.S. Lewis fantasy novel, Edmund, Lucy and their cousin Eustace return to the magical land of Narnia through a painting then set sail with King Caspian to find seven lost lords.

Briton Michael Apted, who made Amazing Grace, The World Is Not Enough and the Seven Up documentary series, is directing with returning roles for young Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley. Also back will be Ben Barnes, who was Prince Caspian in the last instalment.

The producers are known to have investigated Australia as a location before they settled on Mexico.

0 people like this post.

Like 

The third installment of Disney and Walden Media’s The Chronicles of Narnia franchise will move its production to Mexico from New Zealand, where the previous two installments shot, Variety reported.

Production of the first two films–The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian–was based in New Zealand largely because of government tax incentives. Weta Digital and Weta Workshop, which created most of the films’ effects and props, also are based in that country.

By contrast, the third movie, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, to be directed by Michael Apted, needs several large soundstages plus a massive water tank: The title of the film refers to the ship that serves as a major set piece.

Because of that, production will move to Rosarito, Mexico, and set up shop at Baja Studios, where Titanic, Deep Blue Sea and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World were shot.

Location shots in Australia will still be filmed as planned. Production originally was slated to start in October, but will now likely begin in January.

Third Narnia Shoots In Mexico

0 people like this post.

Like 

Allan Wall has written a fascinating article about Mexico’s contributions to the Narnia films, he writes: Hi, my name is Allan Wall, an American who lives in Mexico. I’d like to invite you to read my article about Mexican contributions to Narnia movies.

Here a portion of the article. Read the rest at the source link!

“Prince Caspian,” a movie produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media, was recently released worldwide, opening in the number one position in 14 countries, including the U.S. and Mexico.

Contemporary big-budget movies, with their legions of actors, artists, technicians and other contributors, only a fraction of whom are seen onscreen, are international collaborations. “Prince Caspian” was no exception.

“Prince Caspian” is a cinematic adaptation of the fantasy novel of the same name by C.S. Lewis. It’s part of the seven-volume “Chronicles of Narnia” series, about the imaginary land of Narnia, first published in the 1950s. The books have sold more than 100 million copies and have been translated into 41 languages, including Spanish.

In 2005, Disney and Walden brought “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” (the first of the Narnia series that Lewis wrote) to the big screen, and now it’s being followed by “Prince Caspian,” which has several Mexican contributions.

Some of these contributions are in the area of computer-generated visual effects, produced at Studio C in Mexico City, under the direction of Guatemalan-born Carlos Arguello.

The twenty Mexicans working at Studio C produced 40 visual effects for “Prince Caspian.” These effects are briefly seen onscreen, lasting from 3-4 seconds apiece.

But the movie’s most prominent effect produced at Studio C was the “Hag,” a totally digital character, quite grotesque and evil, appearing about halfway through the film. Quite effectively done, it managed to scare one of my children when we watched the movie!

While producing such effects, Studio C had to be in communication with director Andrew Adamson in New Zealand, and a production director in Britain, illustrating once again the globe-girdling nature of modern film production.

Also, prominent Mexican actor Damian Alcazar had a major role in the movie. Alcazar, who has previously won ten Ariels (an Ariel is the Mexican equivalent of the Oscar) portrayed Sopespian, one of the principal bad guys.

Alcazar turns in a very solid acting performance, and near the end of the movie he is part of an impressive special effects scene (which I don’t divulge because I don’t like to spoil movies for others).

Alcazar thoroughly enjoyed his stint on “Prince Caspian,” his first Hollywood movie. The Mexican actor had not even sought the role. Rather, Adamson and the producers had seen his work in Mexican cinema and sought him out for the Sopespian role, not even requiring an audition.

Alcazar says he tried to bring a sense of “Mexican irony” to the role.

[...]

In October, filming is scheduled to begin on the next Narnia movie, “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” which is nautically-themed. Two-thirds of the movie is to be filmed in Rosarito, Baja California, Mexico, in the studio which was constructed for the “Titanic” movie.

Read the rest at Mexidata.info

0 people like this post.

Like 

This comes from the National Ledger:

Ben Barnes is battening down for the tidal wave of fan attention that already is starting to come his way as “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian’s” title star prepares to launch the flick opening May 16. The 26-year-old already has wound up in a clutch of “hunk-on-the-rise” lists. Web sites and YouTube video pictorials have been created in his honor already.

“It is a little strange. William (Moseley) and all the other guys from the first movie have been through the fame and the fan frenzy, so they know, and I watch the way they handle it. Colin Firth said, ‘I’ll tell you the important thing: Just be comfortable with what you’re doing,’” says the London-born Barnes, who also has the feature adaptation of Noel Coward’s “Easy Virtue” in the can, co-starring with Firth.

This month’s Comic-Con convention in New York “was the first time I’ve ever been face to face with the avid fans who can’t wait to see the movie. They’re so keen to know all about the visual effects, the tiny discrepancies between the movie and the book. It’s cool to know that the work we put into those seven months is appreciated. Everyone was respectful.”

Barnes already is scheduled to begin the third installment of the “Chronicles” — “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” — this fall. “We’re supposed to start shooting in October or November, a lot in Mexico. It’s a whole different type of movie, an action-adventure.”

This means that the film will be shot in both New Zealand and Mexico, so far. I had heard from someone very close to the production that he’d just checked out the facilities in Mexico, and that the country was on the short list. This is the first I’ve heard it confirmed.

1 people like this post.

Like 

Letting The Goblet of Fire prepare the marketplace for its arrival, The Chronicles of Narnia grossed $41.5 million from just 13 markets.

Narnia amassed $16 million from 499 screens in the United Kingdom, its biggest territory. Not only was it the fourth biggest opening ever for a non-sequel, but it topped the debuts of both The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.

Several other territories supplied records for the picture. In Spain, Narnia grossed $7.5 million from 359 screens, making it the third largest opening ever there behind Torrente 3 and Goblet of Fire. The C.S. Lewis fantasy generated $5.9 million from 396 screens in Mexico, the fifth highest launch there on record. In New Zealand, it snared $1 million from 107 screens, becoming the largest opening ever for a non-sequel.

Numerous markets, although furnishing first place finishes, didn’t fare as well. In Germany, Narnia grossed $6 million from 1,056 screens, a smaller gross than Goblet of Fire did in its third weekend and well below the standards of the Harry Potter, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings franchises.

Other moderate starts were Brazil’s $1.4 million from 232 screens, Austria’s $1.1 million from 89 and Switzerland’s $1 million.

0 people like this post.

Like