Narnia Fans » the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Chronicles of Narnia has been in the works for a very long time.  With an animated version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe released nearly thirty years ago in 1979, and the BBC putting together four of the chronicles for TV in the mid-to-late 80s, Narnia had been attempted before.

The Chronicles of Narnia property was in different hands until the late 1990s, and now we have an idea of why it changed hands at that time.

Frank Marshall is a producer that is no stranger to children’s movies.  His credits include E.T., Indiana Jones, Back to the Future and An American Tail to name only a few of the 84 films on his producer credits list to date.

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In a Penguin Books survey, the White Witch tops the list of scariest characters of all time in children’s books.

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I have been meaning to write about these DVDs from Disney Educational Products, but I couldn’t remember what they were called.  I kept searching for ‘Teacher Edition’ or ‘Educator Edition’ or ‘Education Edition.’   I finally decided to try the term ‘Classroom’ to describe it, and there it was.

On December 2 of this month, Disney Educational Products released both of Disney and Walden Media’s Chronicles of Narnia films in special Classroom Editions.

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This post is partially about satiating a geeky desire and partially about looking at what went right and wrong in the two Narnia movies (specifically the marketing aspect). This will not be in-depth, just to warn you.

First, let’s take a look at the “teaser” trailer (it’s a long teaser at around two and a half minutes) for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and see what stands out.

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Last week’s Shirt.Woot Derby was all about reinterpreting book titles in your designs for potential shirts. Only the top three voted designs are printed over the course of the weekend after the derby ends. Coming in third place for the derby is one that was inspired by The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

I’ve ordered mine already!

One of my favorite websites is called “Woot.com” where they sell a single product each day.  They have a spin-off site called Shirt.Woot that has a weekly derby.  Each derby is based on a topic of their choosing, and the three highest voted designs are printed, one each day, Friday-Sunday.

This week’s topic is book-titles reinterpreted, and someone created a design for “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”  The only way to vote for it, however, is if you have ever made a purchase from Woot.com (or shirt.woot) in the past.  It might not win, but I like the design a lot.

“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” will make its basic cable television premiere on ABC Family as part of the network’s “25 Days of Christmas” programming event in December.

The magical world of C.S. Lewis’ beloved fantasy comes to life in “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” This timeless adventure follows the exploits of the four Pevensie siblings—Lucy (Georgie Henley), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), Susan (Anna Popplewell) and Peter (William Moseley)—in World War II England who enter the world of Narnia through a magical wardrobe while playing a game of “hide-and-seek” at the rural estate of a mysterious professor. Once there, the children discover a charming, once peaceful land inhabited by talking beasts, dwarfs, fauns, centaurs and giants that has become a world cursed to eternal winter by the evil White Witch, Jadis (Tilda Swinton). Under the guidance of a noble and mystical ruler, the magnificent lion Aslan, the children fight to overcome Jadis’ powerful hold over Narnia in a spectacular, climactic battle that will free Narnia from her icy spell forever.

“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” airs Friday, December 12 (6:00 – 9:30 PM ET/PT).

In both Narnia movies, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian, creatures from Narnia have filled the screen with unique and mystical appearances. Thanks to both the makeup and prosthetics team and the costume team, Narnia is truly brought to life.

I had the amazing opportunity to become a Narnian creature myself. I saw up-close what it was like for each of the actors and makeup artists every single day of filming. The process took 1½ hours for me, which was half the time it actually took on set.

My makeup artist was Kevin Wasner. He told me that during most of the filming, he had 20-hour days with only 4 hours of sleep. His day started at 4 or 5 am and went until 12 or 1 the next morning. The morning hours were spent transforming the actors into creatures; the afternoon and evening hours were spent making sure they stayed that way, then turning them back into humans.

Becoming a Hag

Sarah Transform begins I was assigned to be a “hag.” They showed me a picture of what I would soon look like. Wow! It was mind-boggling!

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Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely are in negotiations to pen Marvel Studios’ “The First Avenger: Captain America.” The dealmaking occurs about a week after Joe Johnston boarded the project as director. Markus and McFeely, repped by UTA, worked on “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” and its sequel, “Prince Caspian.” The duo also wrote HBO’s “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.”

Kicking off with “Iron Man,” Marvel Studios’ slate of movies — including “Thor” and the “Iron Man” sequel — is building toward an “Avengers” movie set for release in 2011, in which the characters from the films team for one big adventure. “Captain America” is scheduled for release May 6, 2011.

Marvel’s “Captain America” will be a World War II-set movie, and the character will appear in the modern day-set “Avengers.”

They are great, and smart, guys and could definitely pull off an awesome Captain America film.

A new series of accredited educational programming is now available on DVD from Disney Educational Productions, a division of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.

The series, “The Science of Disney Imagineering,” has four titles to help students learn about Trajectory, Gravity, Levers and Pulleys. The lessons demonstrate how these scientific principles apply to thrill rides, roller coasters and other amusement park attractions.

Additional educational products include two new literacy programs based on the C.S. Lewis books The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

All titles are $49.95 and are available at disneyeducation.com as well as Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.