05-005 Screen adaptations of Narnia

05-005
Screen adaptations of Narnia 

Like many other epic fantasy works, The Chronicles of Narnia has been adapted many times. With a total of 7 books in the series and 8 screen adaptations in total, technically, all the books should have been adapted. But sadly, this is not the truth. Only 4 of the 7 books were adapted so far. The first book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was adapted 4 times. The second book, Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia, 2 times. The third book, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, also 2 times. And finally, The Silver Chair, one time. 

Map of The Narnian World

Below, I am going to talk about all 8 adaptations one by one.

 

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (1967)

Many people do not know, The Chronicles of Narnia was first adapted back in the 60s. In 1967, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe was adapted into a 10-episode children TV play. The show is in black and white. Each episode lasts for 20 minutes. Computer graphics did not exist in those days. The animals were all portrayed by actors in costume.

This TV play is now lost and only one episode can be found on YouTube. I heard some people are saying this is still the best Narnia adaptation ever made. I personally do not agree. You can watch it here. I leave you to judge.

 

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (1979)

DVD cover of The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe animation

Image Source: IMDb

12 years later, we saw another attempt. The first book of The Chronicles of Narnia was adapted the second time. And this time, it is an animation.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is an animated television program that was broadcast in two parts on CBS on April 1 and 2, 1979. The length of the film is 95 minutes in total. It is one of the few non-Disney animations that reached the length of a full feature film in the 70s.

I am not sure where you can stream this animation. But it is available on DVD. I got this on my bookshelf but never watched.

 

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1988 TV serial)

DVD cover of BBC's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Image Source: IMDb

At the end of the 80s, we saw another Narnia adaptation coming to the small screen again. It is a BBC live action TV drama came in 6 episodes, with a total length of 172 minutes. And the adapted book is again, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It was the third time seeing this book being adapted.

 

Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1989 TV serial)

DVD cover of BBC's Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Image Source: IMDb

In the next year, we saw the second season of BBC’s Narnia adaptation coming out. It is again a 6 episodes live action drama. And it adapted the second and the third book, Prince Caspian & The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It was also the first time seeing these 2 books coming to the screen.

 

The Silver Chair (1990 TV serial)

VHS cover of BBC's The Silver Chair
Image Source: IMDb

Fantasy goes on. In the next year, The Silver Chair was adapted. It is also a 6-episode live action TV drama. Up to the time of writing, this season of BBC TV serial is still the only screen adaptation of the fourth book, The Silver Chair.

I saw many comments on the internet saying the BBC adaptation is better than the Disney’s. I have the DVDs. I watched them before. They are not bad but I still like the Disney’s.

 

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)

Movie poster of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Image Source: IMDb

After more than a decade of silent, we finally see another adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia. And this time, it came to the big screen and was produced by the big boss, Disney. The movie was jointly produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media. I believe if you like epic fantasy, you must have watched this movie. With all those modern style CG, handsome actors and beautiful actresses, the movie is really fantastic. It also created a great success in box office. With a 180 million budget, the movie grossed 745 million worldwide. Book shops were busy reprinting this decades old children classic. Narnia was a great hit by that time.

 

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)

Movie poster of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Image Source: IMDb

Business is business. Following the success in 2005, the next movie came out in just 3 years. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is the second movie in the series. It is also the first sole adaptation of the second book. (The BBC TV serial combined the second and third book into 1 season.) However, it seems the hit was gone. With a 225 million budget, the movie only managed to gross 419 million in box office worldwide. It was not exactly a box office bomb. It earned money. But not as much as expected. Definitely not as much as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix earned.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix premiered 1 year before grossed 942 million worldwide with a budget less than that of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. And it happened that in 2008, there was no new Harry Potter movie coming up. People may just give Narnia a chance while waiting for the next Harry Potter movie to come.

Movie industry is cruel. Incompleteness of a story is never a concern of movie producers. With this kind of achievement, Disney jumped the boat, leaving Walden alone.

 

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)

Movie poster of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Image Source: IMDb

Luckily story continued. Walden managed to get a new passenger onboard, the 20^th Century Fox. At the time of production, Fox was still a competitor of Disney. We saw the same actors and actresses reappearing. Everything looks good, except the box office.

Based on a 150 million budget, the movie managed to gross 415 million worldwide. Technically, that was not bad, but not good enough to keep the franchise going forward.

After the third movie, news of the fourth followed. News on the actors and actresses, the director, and the scriptwriter kept popping up over the following years. But nothing was materialized. Then in 2018, the license felt into the hand of Netflix. But still, nothing was announced. Only until last week, some news started floating up. Just hope that we can see another rebirth of the Narnia IP.

 

No, they are only fan-made posters.

The Last Queen of Charn (2021) – a Narnia fan film

The fandom of Narnia is not as big as that of Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings. There are not many Narnia fan films ever produced. Most of them are fan trailers or teasers. However, there is one that worth watching.

The Last Queenof Charn adapts a two-page passage from C. S. Lewis' The Magician's Nephew and brings it to life in a short fan film. Before there is any official adaptation of the first book in chronology order, this film is all we had on hand. It is less than 2 minutes long.

 

Screen adaptation watching order

Since The Magician’s Nephew and The Horse and His Boy were yet adapted, watching order of the Narnia screen adaptations is rather straightforward. Just watch following their release date. You can watch the BBC TV serials or the Disney/Fox/Walden movie series.

However, if you just want to enjoy the storyline, this is the watching order I would suggest:

• The Last Queen of Charn (2021) – a Narnia fan film
• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
• The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)
• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)
• The Silver Chair (1990 TV serial)

Yes, forgot about the 4 decades old animation or the ITV black & white TV dramas. BBC is also outdated. Stick to the modern movie adaptations. For The Silver Chair, we have no choice so watch the BBC’s. If you are serious on Narnia like me, watch the remaining. If not, then these 4 adaptations and the 2 minutes long fan film are all you need.

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