Here Comes Dawn Treader Speculation

[~Lava~]

Fox picked it up. Now we get to speculate how the adaption will work, since the movie is officially being made.

What day do you think they should release it?
How long is it going to be?
ETC.

[Mozart the Meerkitten]

Fox picked it up. Now we get to speculate how the adaption will work, since the movie is officially being made.

What day do you think they should release it?
How long is it going to be?
ETC.

They should release The Dawn Treader in theaters June 8 2010. Thats what I think at least. (because June 8th is one day before my birthday so I could see it on my birthday if they did so :).)

I think the movie itself will be around 3 hours. They may have to come up with a extened edition for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader to. Its just got everything you could want in this kind of movie. :D;)

[~Lava~]

I honestly think a release around Thanksgiving would be good.

[Aravis Kenobi]

I honestly think a release around Thanksgiving would be good.

since LWW did so well with a holiday release, and PC bombed with a summer release, a holiday release would work better.

It should be no more than 3 hours. I don't like the book because it's quite b oring, but if they can make it just a little more interesting (who knows? Maybe it just being onscreen will help it out) then it'll be a good movie.

But we must remember, whether or not the film is good or bad, that is not because of Fox. It is because of Apted and his screenwriter(s). :) But it'll probably be good; I don't know if Amazing Grace was adapted out of a book but it was really good anyways.

[joelo]

im looking fowered to the movie i really cant wait
from joelo

[Into the Wardrobe]

They're shooting for around Christmas 2010 I think. They won't release it in the summer again since that proved to be a bad move with PC.

They'll be filming in Australia for the most part.

I don't think it will be 3 hours. I do think they'll pull it back to the style of LWW as opposed to PC. I'm very glad of that!

My best advice for them is "Stick to the Books!" If they can do that overall, they'll be just fine.

Amazing Grace came out of history rather than a book.

They did say that in the meetings with Fox that they discussed the script and changes to it. Fox will have something to say about it. We'll have to wait and see what happens.

[Aravis Kenobi]

of course, I guess they'll get in as much as possible, but depending on what their budget is, they may have to cut corners....especially because it seems that with each new Narnia film, the cost for special effects goes up. and DT will have a lot of effects.

[Into the Wardrobe]

It will have a lot of effects, but there will be different ones. There aren't so many creatures on the Dawn Treader as opposed to the amound in the other films. They don't have a huge battle where they'll need to computer generate a few hundred guys legs into something else in every frame. Aslan costs the most, but after they butchered his screentime for the last film to the point where it mangled the story, they really don't have room to cut his appearances in VDT. They better not cut off Aslan's ending speech! There are things they can cut, like the island where Reepicheep finds his Coracle...they can have the Coracle on board already since nothing really happens on that island. Even if they shot all the other events in the book, I don't think it would take more than 2 or 2.5 hours. The BBC included most aspects of the film and if you cut off their bit of Prince Caspian at the start of that DVD, it fits within the time frame. So, we know it can be done. I'm sure Walden/Fox will have better special effects and production to it, but the scenes were "good enough" in the BBC for the most part. I do hope though that they'll include more of Eustace and Edmund's talk after Eustace's undragoning though as well as Aslan's ending. Those are important bits.

To save time, as much as I love Dinklage and the character of Trumpkin, he can stay home. He does not belong on the voyage. If they put characters where they don't belong and then complain about not having enough time to fit in the best bits of the book I will be much less forgiving. I don't think I'll be the only one.

[Truman]

Well I certainly hope they have the plot of "finding the lords" more prominent in this adaption, otherwise it'll be a jumble of adventures that really make no sense (like in the book). I liked the book; I did. But I'm very interested in how they'll make the movie continuous as a plotline. Even when filmmakers made Sinbad movies they had a basic plot goal for the main characters, though Sinbad's stories are anything but plots: just random adventures like DT.

[Aravis Kenobi]

It will have a lot of effects, but there will be different ones. There aren't so many creatures on the Dawn Treader as opposed to the amound in the other films. They don't have a huge battle where they'll need to computer generate a few hundred guys legs into something else in every frame. Aslan costs the most, but after they butchered his screentime for the last film to the point where it mangled the story, they really don't have room to cut his appearances in VDT. They better not cut off Aslan's ending speech! There are things they can cut, like the island where Reepicheep finds his Coracle...they can have the Coracle on board already since nothing really happens on that island. Even if they shot all the other events in the book, I don't think it would take more than 2 or 2.5 hours. The BBC included most aspects of the film and if you cut off their bit of Prince Caspian at the start of that DVD, it fits within the time frame. So, we know it can be done. I'm sure Walden/Fox will have better special effects and production to it, but the scenes were "good enough" in the BBC for the most part. I do hope though that they'll include more of Eustace and Edmund's talk after Eustace's undragoning though as well as Aslan's ending. Those are important bits.

To save time, as much as I love Dinklage and the character of Trumpkin, he can stay home. He does not belong on the voyage. If they put characters where they don't belong and then complain about not having enough time to fit in the best bits of the book I will be much less forgiving. I don't think I'll be the only one.

if they have a wedding scene (I've already mentioned how this might be done in another thread; when Caspian returns to Ramandu's Island, he and Ramandu's Daughter could kiss, the camera zooms in, then it zooms out to reveal their wedding) then Trumpkin, Cornelius, and others could appear. It might be a bit hard to get Glenstorm onto the boat. :p

[KathrynJanewayChakotay]

I Just hope it will be good i am not sure if iwant to see this one after they butchered Caspain but it is my second fave book next to tHHB

[inkspot]

I look to see Trumpkin on the boat. I don't know how they will manage it. But I can't see him left out ... and yah, they will have to make it clear somehow who these men are that Caspian is searchnig for. That might mean a flashback with Miraz! I would be in favor of that ... :)

[Driad54]

I'm interested to see how they portray the "evil" island. When they pull the faun? or man? aboard when he's calling for help. Or when the ship is attacked by the big monster..

[~Lava~]

This one will have its challenges visually. Eustace (as a dragon), the Sea Serpent, and the Duffer's legs will be interesting to see how the do. The good news there will not need to be so many extras, they will not need two huge armies or half of the armor. The Visual effects side of things should not be terrible either, they don't have so many creatures to deal with (at least they shouldn't since the only stange creatures they meet are the Duffers).

[Spare Oomian]

I like the idea of them releasing VDT around the holidays. It would most likely be the best time.

But as far as "cutting corners", I don't know if they can really do that in this movie. In the book, at least as far as I can remember, they didn't spend a whole lot of time on the islands anyway, but each island had a rather important contribution. But I guess if they had to, I would personally be okay as long as they kept the Dark Island, the Land of the Duffers, Dragon Island, and of course Ramandu's island....as long as they don't butcher any of them.

[kilendil]

Just so long as they keep the spirit of the book and Eustace's transformation (both physical and spiritual) I'll be happy:D

Oh, and making sure the "searching for the lost lords" theme is clear would be good too.

[~Lava~]

I would say that they have to keep the islands on which they found the seven lords (Dark Island, Deathwater, Ramandu's Island, Dragon Island, the Lone Islands) and the Island of the Duffers. I would not be too upset if they left out the part about Eustace's Diary. Just showing him writing in it will suffice. They can also probably leave out most of the tour of the Dawn Treader.

There are several episodes on board the Dawn Treader that I would want on the movie: Discovering that the water is sweet/the lilies; Eustace swinging Reep by the tail and the chase that came after; Caspian's making a fool of himself when they are at the end of where the Dawn Treader can sail; and the sea serpent.

[inkspot]

To make the movie of much length at all, they will need to use most of what's in the book. The tour of the boat is important, I think -- I think they need to make the boat really sweet.

[MrBob]

I think the movie should be 120-150 minutes long. They will not be able to fit in all of the adventures, so the sea people, will be out, unfortunately. The two main themes should be seeking the lost Lords and Reep's dream of reaching the World's Edge. Minor theme could be finding a queen.

Most vital islands--Lone Islands, Dragon Island, Duffer Island, Deathwater Island, Dark island, and Ramadu's island. I can also see them getting rid of the sea serpent.

I agree that a Early-Late Dec release would work best.

MrBob

[Knight of Narnia]

The Sea Serpent is important in that we see Eustace's change of character when he goes after it. I would hope they keep it, but they had better make sure that they avoid it making the audience think back the to Kraken from PotC.

[skandar_hh10]

There is soooo much goodness in VDT that they must keep it all. Maybe that's too selfish, but true!!!:D

[NarniaGirl12]

Well I'm just glad the movie's being made! Who cares whether it's being made by Disney or Fox or not?!
But my question is, why 2010?! Why so far away? I can't wait that long! I prolly won't like Narnia anymore by then! (No offense meant for anyone...)
:confused:
:(

[~Lava~]

It is 2010 because they don't have all of the Characters cast yet and so they don't have the movie shot yet. Heck, they don't even have the final script yet. It is 2009 right now. It normally takes a year to produce a big budget film like Dawn Treader is going to be (even if it is not quite as huge as PC's budget). We all saw how well (or not so well as the case is) PC did on a summer release this year so we want it in the fall or holiday season. and they simply cannot get it done in time for this year's holiday season.

EDIT: Besides, it put a little space for people to calm down about the wreck they made of PC's script.

[AsbelMctalisker]

It will probably take a couple of months to produce a revised script, get the shooting locations finalised and start casting the secondary roles.
This means shooting probably won`t start until the middle of this year and that will probably last somewhere between four and six months. The post-production, CGI work and editing for this sort of film is quite complicated and will likely run on in to early 2010 depending on how things work out.
So its reasonable to assume that Summer 2010 is about the earliest that they would be able to release it provided everything goes to plan.
December 2010 looks at the moment like a safe bet.

[Aravis_yanes]

Well I think VDT should be released on holidays, and it should last from 2 and a half hours to three hours no more because it perhaps result boring for children.

[Pardine]

I think it'll be around 110 - 140 minutes long, I think there will be a lot of it cut out or cut down. I mean, I'm sorry, but there's a lot there, and there's not a lot of money for funding, and the islands each offer something unique, and that means each island adds more money.. it's just not going to involve them all.

But so long as things are done properly, I'd be happy.

[Pianoplayer888]

With the special effects, I think they will be spending the most on the scenery of the islands rather than the characters. There is so much detail that could be included in EVERYTHING: the trees, the grass, the beaches, the mountains, everything. I think that if they did include it all, as well as following the book, the movie would turn out absolutely AMAZING.

[~Lava~]

I don't think they will cut many of the islands because all but two are integral parts of the "finding the seven lords" plot. As for the Land of the Duffers (one of the two islands that are not integral parts of the above-said plot), it is an important part of the development of the story too because it develops Lucy's Character and her relationship with Aslan and also is one of the best loved episodes in Dawn Treader (just look at the Land of the Duffers threads). I get the feeling that they will combine Dragon Island and the island where they found Reep's Coracle. I doubt any others will be combined (or cut out) except maybe they might not deal with Avra and Felimath of the Lone Islands.

I think a lot of the editing out will deal with scenes on the Dawn Treader itself. Might I add that they needn't put the whole episode in the book to film: we don't need to see Eustace carrying all of the other Narnians around Dragon Island or the whole parade through the streets in the Lone Islands, for that matter we don't need to watch them chosing a seat at Aslan's Table.

BBC did a sufficient job at showing all of the various episodes in Dawn Treader without the movie lasting more than 127 minutes.

[General Oreius]

Setting up the primary reason for the voyage (searching for the lords and visiting the island kingdoms and the Lone Islands) will be the most important part of setting up the plot. The lords leaving can be narrated by Caspian and shown in flashback easily, setting up an adventure-feeling for the movie.

Otherwise, I think they can fit all of the islands into the movie WITH the side-occurences as long as they take the time to cut out the unneccesary in-between actions of voyaging/sailing. They can show them at the beginning, but if nothing happens at see in between islands, they don't need to show much of the ship sailing. BBC got VDT done in 90 minutes, didn't they?

[shortangel]

i think maybe around Thanksgiving or Christmas the movie should be coming out that would be a nice thing for theaters to start sending those gift cards ads or some kind of discount or somethng, i hope this time although there will be adaptions probably that they will stay true to the book

[~Valiant]

I think it should be between 110-150 minutes. I personally wouldn't object to a three hour Narnia movie, but that might be a bit boring for anyone younger than 12, and since the CoN are children's books...

Scenes they have to keep:
Eustace's transformation
Lucy and the magician's book
Deathwater Island
The dark shape and Aslan's "Courage, dearheart."
Aslan's Country
"It must've been the horrible influence of those Pevensie children..."

Scenes I love but will probably be cut:
The merpeople city
The sea-serpent

I'd like it to be released around Thanksgiving, but Christmas would be fine, too.

[Lucy Fan]

What about a Spring Break release? Maybe a holiday release would be better and have it come out on DVD during the Spring or Summer. Whatever season makes the most money so we can get our Narnia fans back. :)

[Pianoplayer888]

I imagine Christmas would probably work, because who doesn't want to escape the cold for a few hours and go sailing in warm Narnia with our favorite Narnians?

It's also more of a 'magical' time, during which fantasy films tend to do better, and people like to be outdoors when it's warmer.

[Knight of Narnia]

Early to maybe mid December would probably be best. It worked for LWW quite well.

Thanksgiving Weekend is not the best time since most people are more concerned about buying a new TV at 3:00am than going to see movies.

Since we are trying to attract a family audience, the time when schools are out for Christmas break would be best for attracting a large audience.

However, it really depends on the quality of the film as to whether or not it can attract an audience. Both Golden Compost and the Eragon-ish Movie released in December to mediocre revenues.

Hopefully Fox will actually market this film correctly and write it correctly and VDT will sail on past the $300 Million mark.

[General Oreius]

The only problem with a spring break release is that spring break is not a set week in March. Many schools have varying weeks of spring break, plus with Easter being so late this year (1st or 2nd week of April?), some schools won't have a real spring break.

[SweetWaters]

I think it should be between 110-150 minutes. I personally wouldn't object to a three hour Narnia movie, but that might be a bit boring for anyone younger than 12, and since the CoN are children's books...

Scenes they have to keep:
Eustace's transformation
Lucy and the magician's book
Deathwater Island
The dark shape and Aslan's "Courage, dearheart."
Aslan's Country
"It must've been the horrible influence of those Pevensie children..."

Scenes I love but will probably be cut:
The merpeople city
The sea-serpent

I'd like it to be released around Thanksgiving, but Christmas would be fine, too.

I hope they keep the sea-serpent!!! And for some reason, I don't know why, but the mer-people have always been one of my favorite parts of the book. I loved the scene when Lucy sees the underwater girl and they smile at each other. Besides, if they don't have the mer-people, how will it make sense when Reepicheep jumps into the water? And if they cut out that part, well, I don't know what I'd do...my poor screenname wouldn't make any sense! :p

Hopefully Fox will actually market this film correctly and write it correctly and VDT will sail on past the $300 Million mark.

Agreed!!!!

[~Lava~]

They could do the sweet waters part and leave out the mer-people. I don't know what they will do, but in the BBC they had someone drawing up water to wash the deck and Reep stopped them because something about the water made him think that it was different.

[Pianoplayer888]

Yeah, and some places(like my school) only get two days of Spring Break.

[inkspot]

They just have to do December/holiday release. HP HBP will be coming out in November, so that's no good. And summer is bad -- look at PC. I know some fantasy movies don't make it in December, but if they do VDT right, I am sure it will be a huge hit in December, as Piano said: it's a magical time, people want to see a fantasy movie, and it will be a movie about warm climates and islands so that's a big plus in the winter. I think it would be a big mistake to go spring time or summer release.

And I agree with SW, I want to see the Sea Serpent and the Mer People!

[~Lava~]

When is The Hobbit coming out?

[BarbarianKing]

The first thing Fox did was change the writer and look at the script. I don't know if that's good or not.

[marsh_wiggle_for_life]

I'm really excited about it because it's my favorite book in the series. I think they should release it around Christmas time for a couple of reasons. Obviously PC didn't do well over the summer and kids are out for Christmas break so it gives parents time to take them.

It's just a super exciting book I hope they keep the sea serpent and I hope they do the Duffers.

[inkspot]

I'm really excited about it because it's my favorite book in the series. I think they should release it around Christmas time for a couple of reasons. Obviously PC didn't do well over the summer and kids are out for Christmas break so it gives parents time to take them.

It's just a super exciting book I hope they keep the sea serpent and I hope they do the Duffers.
Welcome, Wiggle for Life! i didn't see you post before. VDT is a terrific book, I agree. And like you, I am hoping for:

A Christmas release
A sea serpent
Justice to the Duffers

Actually, I can't think of anything I want them to leave out! It's all very exciting.

[Pianoplayer888]

Yeah it is. I can't see the movie with anything left out at all.

[TheShadowlands]

I think the movie will be well made. If Walden wants to make the whole series, it is important to stay true to the book and not stray too far like
PC. I mean, Aslan was a side-note in the movie...instead of being a central
character like the book had him.

TheShadowlands

[~Lava~]

We have a day! We have a day! Hurray for Dec. 10, 2010.

[DestinyLies]

THAT IS FOREVER AWAY!!!!!!!! aLMOST two years!!!!!! nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[~Lava~]

Well, since they don't even have all of the actors yet, it needs to be nearly two years away.

[inkspot]

It's not quite two years, more like 22 months, really, and they will fly by if we keep posting our speculations in here -- and pretty soon we will at least be hearing news abotu the production and sometime later trailers. It's all good. Can't wait! I am so happy about a December release.

[Pianoplayer888]

Lol, I like that: "its not two years, more like 22 months.":)

I'm sure the time will pass fast. Just yesterday, it seems, I was at my friend's house celebrating New Year's.