The Voyage of the Dawn Treader may not quite have broken any box office records, but the third Chronicle of Narnia did at least manage to open at number one on its (admittedly quiet) debut weekend, and eventually raked in north of $400m worldwide. The numbers then continue to add up for CS Lewis' magical franchise, and rights-holders Walden Media have just officially announced that work on The Magician's Nephew is moving forward.
That choice of book will be a surprise to those who were expecting The Silver Chair next. Walden's Michael Flaherty attributes the decision to The Magician's Nephew being the second best-selling book in the series after The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but there may also be a slight issue in that the Dawn Treader film already borrowed bits of it.
The Magician's Nephew was the sixth published Narnia book, but chronologically it's the first, charting the adventures of Digory Kirke (who grows up to be the professor in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, played by Jim Broadbent in the film) and Polly Plummer, travelling to a nascent Narnia via magic rings conjured by Digory's mad Uncle Andrew.
It also details the first arrival to the fantasy land of White Witch Jadis. Tilda Swinton said when the first **Chronicle **was released that she hoped this would one would make its way to the screen, which presumably means she'd be happy - not to say contractually obliged - to reprise the role for a fourth time (although her appearances in Prince Caspian and Dawn Treader are basically cameos).
"I love The Magician's Nephew because it's a great origins story," says Flaherty. "You get to learn so much about where the wardrobe came from, where the lamppost came from, where Narnia came from..."
He says that negotiations are now underway with the CS Lewis estate and Fox, who picked up the series when Disney dropped it following the underwhelming Caspian. If all goes smoothly then the next task will be to assign a screenwriter, "so it could still be a couple of years..."
Excited at the prospect of Aslan Begins, or disappointed not to be seeing Puddleglum? Give us your thoughts below.