Netflix got recognition for its original series The Crown. It has now signed a multi-year deal to adapt C.S Lewis’s classic children’s novels ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’. It is the first time that rights to all seven Narnia books, including The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, have been held by the same company. Multiple television and film projects are planned, with stories developed from across the Narnia universe.
Netflix’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos, said “C.S. Lewis’ beloved Chronicles of Narnia stories have resonated with generations of readers around the world, Families have fallen in love with characters like Aslan and the entire world of Narnia, and we’re thrilled to be their home for years to come.”
Netflix Take It On!
The producer of recent Narnia films Mark Gordon said in a statement:“Narnia is one of those rare properties that spans multiple generations and geographies”. Gordon said, “We cannot wait to get started on the multiple productions we hope to undertake.”
The step son of book writer Douglas Gresham said, “It is wonderful to know that folks from all over are looking forward to seeing more of Narnia, and that the advances in production and distribution technology have made it possible for us to make Narnian adventures come to life all over the world”. He further said, “Netflix seems to be the very best medium with which to achieve this aim, and I am looking forward to working with them towards this goal.”
This deal makes the Netflix the premium streaming service to have all exclusive rights of all seven books. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician’s Nephew, and The Last Battle.
This announcement comes in the wake of Netflix’s recently unveiled plan for a live-action revival of “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” It also comes just one day after rival streaming service Amazon announced their acquisition of the rights to Robert Jordan’s mammoth “Wheel of Time” book series.
Why Narnia!
Netflix is not the only one with this project of Narnia. Earlier Disney has released movies like The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, Prince Caspian and The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader.
Netflix is not the only one with this project: earlier Disney has released movie adaptations of three of the Narnia books, The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, Prince Caspian and The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader between 2005 and 2010. The first film was a box office success, grossing $745m, but Prince Caspian made $419m and Dawn Treader fared similarly.
Even if this new announcement hadn’t specified that this new project would be separate from the 2000s film series, those three films’ co-writers, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, are deep into another film franchise with their work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Well the Narnia books have been translated in to more than 47 languages and had record selling of over 100 million copies worldwide.