The Future of Narnia

 
 
[From Terry Mattingly's weekly column "On Religion" ]
 
Soon
after the smashing opening weekend of The Chronicles of Narnia: The
Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the Rev. Bob Beltz had a vision of
what his Hollywood colleagues might be doing someday just before his
funeral.
 
 
“They could end up holding the first screening of The Last Battle
just before my funeral service. That’s about how long it may take us to
do the whole series,” quipped the 55-year-old Presbyterian pastor,
referring to the seventh and final Narnia novel by the Christian
apologist C.S. Lewis.
 
 
Pre-production work has begun on The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince
Caspian and its creators are shooting for a pre-Christmas 2007 release.
 
 
Using a best-case scenario, it would take two years to make each
movie, said Beltz, director of special media projects for the
billionaire media entrepreneur Philip Anschutz. That would mean 12 more
years and the last film would appear in 2017. But what if there are
snags?
 
 
“Seriously, when we started seeing those first really big numbers
roll in at the box office, that’s when it hit me,” said Beltz. “Some of
us worked on this first movie for a very long time and now it seems
like we may literally get to work on the Chronicles for the rest of our
lives.”
 
 
Of course, Anschutz and his Walden Media associates were convinced
that the Narnia novels — with 100 million copies sold over the past 55
years — could turn into the kind of family-friendly franchise that
makes Hollywood insiders see visions of “Star Wars,” “Lord of the
Rings” and "Harry Potter." That’s why Walt Disney Studios helped pour
$180 million into creating “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”
 
 
Within days of the movie’s release, Beltz and other members of
Narnia team knew that they had a green light. At the beginning of this
week (Feb.28), the global box office for first Narnia movie was nearing
$664 million. And for fantasy fans that are keeping score, “The Lion,
the Witch and the Wardrobe” has rung up $288,193,914 at the U.S. box
office since its Dec. 9 release, while “Harry Potter and the Goblet of
Fire,” which came out three weeks earlier, is a nose ahead at
$288,733,970.