Walden, Narnia, and Screwtape.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"More ominous news has come out of Walden Media. First, co-founder Cary Granat has left the company. Second, in reporting on his departure, the Hollywood\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2008\/11\/walden-narnia-and-screwtape.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Walden, Narnia, and Screwtape.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"More ominous news has come out of Walden Media. First, co-founder Cary Granat has left the company. 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{"id":531,"date":"2008-11-15T17:07:00","date_gmt":"2008-11-15T17:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2008\/11\/walden-narnia-and-screwtape\/"},"modified":"2008-11-15T17:07:00","modified_gmt":"2008-11-15T17:07:00","slug":"walden-narnia-and-screwtape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2008\/11\/walden-narnia-and-screwtape.html","title":{"rendered":"Walden, Narnia, and Screwtape."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

More ominous news has come out of Walden Media<\/a>. First, co-founder Cary Granat has left the company. Second, in reporting on his departure, the Hollywood Reporter<\/a><\/i> says Granat will stay as a \u201ccreative consultant\u201d on The Chronicles of Narnia:<\/a> The Voyage of the Dawn Treader<\/a><\/i>, which the company is \u201cclose to greenlighting\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wait a minute, the film hasn\u2019t been greenlit yet?<\/p>\n

It gets better: The official press release<\/a> from Walden uses even more<\/i> cautious language, saying that \u201cthe company hopes to greenlight [the movie] soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only \u201chopes to\u201d?<\/p>\n

A bit of background: Back in February, Disney said Dawn Treader<\/i> would be going into production in the summer<\/a>. Then, in April, producer Mark Johnson said they were planning to start shooting in October<\/a>. Then, in October, one of the actors stated publicly that shooting was now set to begin in April of next year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So between their habit of putting off the start date, on the one hand, and the ongoing administrative upheavals at Walden Media, on the other hand, who can say whether this film will ever be made?<\/p>\n

Ah well, either way, you will apparently soon be able to get a taste of how certain scenes in Dawn Treader<\/i> are supposed<\/i> to look, at least. NarniaWeb.com<\/a> reports that the DVD<\/a> and Blu-Ray<\/a> of Prince<\/a> Caspian<\/a><\/i> coming out next month will include \u201cbrief glimpses\u201d of the pre-visualization work that has been done on two of Dawn Treader<\/i>\u2018s special-effects sequences.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in related news, I am told that a certain Hollywood writer was approached about writing the script for Walden\u2019s adaptation of The Screwtape Letters<\/a><\/i> \u2014 which, like the Narnia<\/i> books, was written by C.S. Lewis \u2014 but then the writer in question found out that Walden wants to turn the book into a broad comedy \u201cin the vein of MR. BEAN<\/a> a la Richard Curtis.\u201d<\/p>\n

I like Mr. Bean<\/i> well enough, myself, but I am wondering how a mute character \u2014 a silent, physical comedian, in effect \u2014 can provide any sort of template for a story that is, in its own way, rather didactic.<\/p>\n

Given Walden\u2019s mixed-at-best track record with its other<\/i> literary adaptations, this latest news does not bode well, I think.<\/p>\n

NOV 16 UPDATE: Jim Hill<\/a> says Disney is waiting to see what the first-week sales for the Prince Caspian<\/i> DVD are like before they commit to a production budget for Dawn Treader<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"