By Travis Johnson
12 years after The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and seven years after The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (with Prince Caspian sandwiched in between, completists) we’re getting a fourth Narnia movie, with Variety reporting that dependable gun for hire Joe Johnston (Captain America, The Wolfman, Jurassic Park III) signing on the direct The Silver Chair.
Also on board is a new production company – Tristar Pictures is fronting the money for this one, picking up the rights after 20th Century Fox, who handled Dawn Treader, passed (Disney, who produced the first two films, folded their hand after a budget dispute with Walden Media).
For those unfamiliar with C.S. Lewis’s source novels (have a word with your parents – they dropped the ball on that one) The Silver Chair follows the exploits of Eustace Scrubb, cousin to the original Pevensie children, as he tries to rescue the kidnapped son of King Caspian. Will Poulter played Eustace in Dawn Treader, but he’s aged out of it by now. Odds are good Liam Neeson will pick up a cheque for voicing Aslan again, though.
Given that The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was shot in Australia (you can tell because Bruce Spence is in it) it’s not out of the question that The Silver Chair might as well, especially given our current positive disposisiton towards overseas productions setting up shop here. That’s pure speculation at this point, but never say never.
More as it emerges.
