The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a 2005 high fantasy film directed by Andrew Adamson, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ann Peacock and the writing team of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, based on the 1950 novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first published and second chronological novel in the children's book series The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. The film is the first installment in The Chronicles of Narnia film series. It was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media, and distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution.
For the novel by C.S. Lewis, see The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. For other uses, see The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (disambiguation).
The Chronicles of Narnia:
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
- Ann Peacock
- Andrew Adamson
- Christopher Markus
Stephen McFeely
- Mark Johnson
- Phillip Steuer
- Sim Evan-Jones
- Jim May
- Walt Disney Pictures
- Walden Media
- Mark Johnson Productions
- 7 December 2005 (Royal Film Performance)
- 8 December 2005 (United Kingdom)
- 9 December 2005 (United States)
143 minutes
English
$180 million[3]
$745 million[3]
William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, and Georgie Henley play Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie, four British children evacuated during the Blitz to the countryside, who find a wardrobe that leads to the fantasy world of Narnia, where they ally with the lion Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson) against the forces of the White Witch (Tilda Swinton).
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe premiered on 7 December 2005, selected for the Royal Film Performance, before it was theatrically released on 8 December in the United Kingdom and 9 December in the United States. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and was a box office hit, grossing $745 million worldwide against a $180 million budget and becoming the third-highest-grossing film of 2005. An extended edition was released on 12 December 2006, on DVD. Combining both releases of the film, in regular and extended edition, it was the third-best-selling and first-highest-grossing DVD in North America in 2006, taking in $332.7 million that year.[4] At the 78th Academy Awards, the film won for Best Makeup and was nominated for Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects, while at the 59th BAFTA Awards, it won for Best Makeup and Hair and was nominated for Best Costume Design and Best Special Visual Effects. The score was nominated for Best Original Score and the song "Wunderkind" by Alanis Morissette was nominated for Best Original Song at the 63rd Golden Globe Awards. The score was also nominated for Best Score Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media and the song "Can't Take It In" by Imogen Heap was nominated for Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media at the 49th Grammy Awards.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was followed by Prince Caspian in 2008 and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 2010. The three films have grossed a total of $1.5 billion worldwide.
Plot[edit]
After an air raid during World War II, the Pevensie children - Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy - are evacuated from London to the country home of Professor Kirke.
During a game of hide-and-seek, Lucy discovers a wardrobe and hides inside, only to find that she has entered a magical winter world. She encounters a faun named Mr. Tumnus, who tells her she is in Narnia. Tumnus puts Lucy to sleep by playing a flute lullaby; when she wakes up, he explains that the White Witch has cursed Narnia to eternally experience winter and never Christmas; any humans encountered are to be brought to her. Unable to hand over Lucy, Tumnus quickly sends her back home, where she finds that hardly any time has passed in the real world.
Lucy later returns through the wardrobe, followed by Edmund. Edmund meets the White Witch and tells her about Tumnus. The Witch offers him Turkish delight and kingship if he brings his siblings to her. In the real world, Lucy informs Peter and Susan, but Edmund betrays her by lying out of spite. Professor Kirke, however, suggests Lucy is telling the truth.
While fleeing the housekeeper after accidentally breaking a window, the siblings retreat to the wardrobe and enter Narnia. Peter angrily snaps at Edmund for lying to Lucy and forces him to apologize to her. They discover that the Witch has taken Tumnus, and meet talking beavers, who say Aslan plans to return and regain control of Narnia, and that there is a prophecy that when two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve sit on the thrones of Cair Paravel, the Witch's reign will end.
Edmund sneaks off to visit the Witch, but she is furious that he came without his siblings. She sends wolves to find the children, and Edmund is imprisoned, where he meets Tumnus. The children and beavers escape, and the Witch turns Tumnus to stone.
Peter, Lucy, Susan, and the beavers encounter Father Christmas a sign that the Witch's power is weakening. He gives them tools to defend themselves — Lucy receives a cordial that can heal any injury and a dagger; Susan a magical horn, and a bow and quiver of arrows; and Peter a sword and shield. After evading Maugrim's wolves, the group reaches Aslan's camp, where he is revealed to be a lion. Two wolves ambush Lucy and Susan, but Peter kills Maugrim. Aslan's troops chase the fleeing scout wolf, and rescue Edmund.
The Witch journeys to Aslan's camp to claim Edmund, but Aslan secretly offers himself instead. That night, Lucy and Susan see the Witch kill Aslan at the Stone Table and deploy an army to slaughter his troops. Edmund encourages Peter to take command. In the morning, both armies clash in battle. Aslan is resurrected, citing magic beyond the Witch's understanding, and takes Susan and Lucy to the Witch's castle to free the petrified prisoners. Edmund is mortally wounded after breaking the witch's wand with his sword while saving Peter, but reinforcements arrive and Aslan kills the Witch. Edmund is healed by Lucy's cordial, and the Pevensies are crowned King Peter the Magnificent, Queen Susan the Gentle, King Edmund the Just, and Queen Lucy the Valiant.
Fifteen years later, the siblings, now adults, pursue a white stag. They encounter the lamppost that Lucy first saw when she entered Narnia. They cross back through the wardrobe, and since hardly any time in their world has passed since they left, they become children again. Professor Kirke asks why they were in the wardrobe. Peter says he wouldn't believe them, and he responds, "Try me."
In a mid-credit scene, Lucy attempts to use the wardrobe again, but Professor Kirke tells her he has also tried, and they will probably return to Narnia when they least expect it.
Production[edit]
Pre-production[edit]
During the early 1990s, producers Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy were planning a film version.[14] They could not find a space in Britain to shoot the film during 1996,[15] and their plans to set the film in modern times[16] made Douglas Gresham oppose the film,[17] in addition to his feeling that technology had yet to catch up.[16] Perry Moore began negotiations with the C. S. Lewis estate in 2000.[18] On 7 December 2001, Walden Media announced that they had acquired the rights to The Chronicles of Narnia.[19]
The success of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone prompted the producers to feel they could make a faithful adaptation of the novel set in Britain. "Harry Potter came along, and all those cultural or geographical lines were broken," Mark Johnson explained. "When The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe was being developed at Paramount, the imperative was to set it in the U.S., and it just doesn't hold. [...] It's not the book."[20] Guillermo del Toro turned down the offer to direct due to his commitment on Pan's Labyrinth.[21] Following an Academy Award win for Shrek, director Andrew Adamson began adapting the source material with a 20-page treatment based on his memories of the book.[7] As such the film begins with the Luftwaffe bombing and concludes with an enormous battle, although they do not take up as much time in the novel.[18]
In the novel, the battle is not seen until Aslan, Susan, Lucy and their reinforcements arrive. This was changed in the movie because Adamson said he could vividly remember a huge battle,[9] an example of how Lewis left a lot to the readers' imagination. Other small changes include the reason all four children come to Narnia, in that an accident breaks a window and forces them to hide. Tumnus also never meets Edmund until the end of the novel. Minor details were added to the Pevensies, such as their mother's name, Helen, being the actual first name of Georgie Henley's mother.[5] Finchley as the home of the Pevensies was inspired by Anna Popplewell, who actually is from Finchley.[22] Adamson also changed the circumstances in which Lucy first comes into Narnia. He felt it was more natural that she first see the wardrobe while looking for a hide-and-seek hiding place, rather than just chance upon it exploring the house.[9] The film also hints at Professor Kirke's role in The Magician's Nephew, such as the engravings on the wardrobe, when it is a simple one in the novel, and the Professor's surprise and intrigue when Peter and Susan mention Lucy's discovery in the wardrobe. When Lewis wrote the novel, it was the first of the series, and the back-story later outlined by the subsequent books in the series did not exist. Additionally, in the novel, the father of the Pevensie children is in London with their mother, but in the film, their father is fighting in the war as Lucy states to Mr. Tumnus when they first meet in Narnia.
Weta Workshop head Richard Taylor cited Hieronymus Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights as an inspiration on the film. He felt Narnia had to be less dark and gritty than their depiction of Middle-earth in The Lord of the Rings because it is a new world.[23] Many of Weta's creature designs were designed for digital creation, so when Howard Berger and KNB FX inherited the practical effects work, they had to spend three months retooling approved designs for animatronics.[24] Berger's children would comment and advise upon his designs; they suggested the White Witch's hair be changed from black to blonde, which Berger concurred with as he realized Swinton's wig looked too Gothic.[25]
Filming[edit]
Principal photography began in New Zealand on 28 June 2004,[26] shooting in primarily chronological order.[6] Adamson did this in order to naturally create a sense of mature development from his young actors, which mirrored their real-life development.[17] Georgie Henley and Skandar Keynes[8] were never shown the set before filming scenes of their characters entering Narnia, nor had Henley seen James McAvoy in his Mr. Tumnus costume before shooting their scenes together.[5]
The first scene shot was at the former RNZAF Base Hobsonville for the railway scene.[27] Afterwards, they shot the Blitz scene, which Adamson called their first formal day of shooting.[9]
The filmmakers asked permission to bring in twelve reindeer to New Zealand to pull the White Witch's sled. They were denied by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, citing the potentially deadly Q fever, from which the North American reindeer population suffers, as the reason. However, ten wolves and wolf hybrids were allowed in for filming in Auckland.[28] To replace the denied live reindeer, Mark Rappaport's Creature Effects, Inc. created four animatronic reindeer that were used in shots where the deer were standing in place. The reindeer were designed with replaceable skins to get the most usage; brown for those of Father Christmas and white for those of the White Witch.
The cast and crew spent their time in New Zealand in Auckland before moving in November to the South Island. Shooting locations in the South Island included Flock Hill in Canterbury, the area known as Elephant Rocks near Duntroon in North Otago, which was transformed into Aslan's camp.[29] The castle scene was filmed in Purakaunui Bay, in the Catlins district, not far from the most southern point in New Zealand.[30]
They filmed in the Czech Republic (Prague and České Švýcarsko National Park), Slovenia and Poland after the Christmas break,[6] before wrapping in February.[31]
Post-production[edit]
The film was edited by Jim May and Sim Evan-Jones. Jones states that he really liked the problem solving that one can do with editing. According to Sim, "The way you can just take stuff and sort it out and be the keeper of the story without having to interact with actors, crew and reign" drew him to film editing.[32]
Jim May had worked at several visual effects facilities—Boss Film, ILM and Sony Pictures Imageworks—and eventually, moved into feature editorial as the visual effects editor in the cutting room.[33]
Reception[edit]
Release[edit]
On 7 December 2005, the film had its world premiere in London as the 59th Royal Film Performance, an event held in aid of The Film and Television Charity. The event took place at the Royal Albert Hall and was attended by the then Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.[40] The film was released 8 December 2005 in the United Kingdom and 9 December 2005 in North America and the rest of Europe.
Box office[edit]
Worldwide, Narnia earned $745,013,115 marking it the 55th-highest-grossing film of all time worldwide. It had a worldwide opening of $107.1 million, marking Disney's fifth-largest opening worldwide (at the time it was the largest).[41] It is the third-largest movie worldwide among those released in 2005[42] and it remains the highest-grossing movie of the Narnia franchise worldwide, and separately in North America and overseas.[43] Finally, it is also the most successful film of Walden Media worldwide.[44]
Home media release[edit]
The DVD for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was released on 4 April 2006. It is available in a standard one-disc set (with separate full-screen and widescreen editions), and a deluxe widescreen two-disc boxed set with additional artwork and other materials from Disney and Walden Media. The DVD sold four million copies on its first day of release[66] and overtook Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to become the top-selling DVD in North America for 2006.[67] As of December 2008 it has grossed $353.5 million in DVD sales, equivalent to 12,458,637 units sold.[68][69]
Disney later issued a four-disc extended cut of the film on DVD. It was released on 12 December 2006, and was available commercially until 31 January 2007, after which Disney put the DVD on moratorium.[70] The extended cut of the film runs approximately 150 minutes. The set includes all of the features previously released on the two-disc special edition. The two additional discs include a segment called "The Dreamer of Narnia", a previously unreleased feature-length film about C. S. Lewis, and additional production featurettes.[71] Most of the extended footage, besides the extended battle sequence, is longer establishing shots of Narnia and footage of the Pevensies walking in Narnia.[72]
The high-definition Blu-ray Disc version was released on 13 May 2008, in the United States, and on 16 June 2008, in the United Kingdom.[73]