Catholics and Narnia

The support of the Evangelical Protestant community was key to the boxoffice success of The Passion of the Christ, a film made from a very distinct traditionalist Catholic perspective. Since better than half of the Christian US film audience is Catholic, it stands to reason that support from the Catholic community will be a key factor in the boxoffice success of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, a film based on a book written from a very distinct Protestant perspective. The question is: will Christians continue to come together to support films based on a generally Christian worldview, or will sectarian squabbles cross over into art?

We shall see. But at least one Catholic organization has now become part of the efforts to promote Lion to the faith community. The Catholic Exchange has even given a positive report the "Narnia Outreach" website, self-described as "An Initiative of CatholicOutreach.com."

The website is a pretty thorough resource center on all things cinematically Narnia. The FAQ section is particuarly thorough, and apparently represents a Q&A with reps from Disney.

MORE HERE and HERE
Catholic Exchange, 29.08.05

Details on Weta Figurines

Weta Collectibles and Dark Horse Comics have announced release dates for their line of Narnia figurines. The Stone Table has posted a summary and thumbnails of the official promotional photos.

MORE HERE
The Stone Table, 30.08.05

Tilda Swinton Feature

The New York Times Style section is running a pretty lengthy feature article on Tilda Swinton, who plays the White Witch in the upcoming Narnia release. It's mostly a biographical sketch, but probably the most complete yet published on the web. There are few tidbits in there about Narnia, but not much.

MORE HERE
New York Times, 30.08.05

Photo Archive Extravaganza

One of our readers has brought to my attention a German site that is hosting a truly impressive array of visuals from the upcoming Narnia film. Are all of them legit publicity materials? I couldn't possibly tell you—there's that many of them. But for the most part, it looks like the real McCoy. Enjoy! (NarniaWeb warns that many of the pictures are spoilers; are we really worried about spoilers with this movie?)

MORE HERE
Darrell, 24.08.05

William Mosely Interviews

We now get our first words from the silver screen's Peter Pevensie. Cinema Confidential features an interview with the young actor, while IGN is carrying an interview with Mosely and Anna Popplewell, who plays Susan Pevensie in the upcoming Narnia production.

MORE HERE and HERE
Cinema Confidential and IGN Film Force, 26.08.05

UPDATE: New interview with Mr. Moseley HERE, 30.04.06.

New Anna Popplewell Interviews

ComingSoon.net has just published a new interview with the young actress who plays Susan in the upcoming Narnia production. It's light, but engaging enough.

And now Cinema Confidential has one, too!

MORE HERE and HERE
Coming Soon, 24.08.05 & Cinema Confidential, 25.08.05

August HJ Feature: The Silver Chair

Our August Narnia feature covers The Silver Chair, the next-to-last entry in The Chronicles of Narnia. This month's articles are particularly good, I think—but I must apologize for not getting them cleaned up until today. They were originally posted late in the night on August 8, just as HJ's host servers were being changed out. Some really odd things have happened over the last couple weeks because I was posting while server bugs were being worked out, and I wasn't able to get access to the servers until I returned from Europe just yesterday. So things are finally cleaned up and ready for formal presentation... Ah, technology!

MORE HERE
Hollywood Jesus, 08.08.05

New Comments from Gresham

WorldNetDaily has posted an excellent article by Ginny McCabe discussing the involvement of Douglas Gresham in the upcoming Narnia movie. This isn't just a rehashing of previously published remarks—it includes some very current information based on a recent screening of the movie's rough cut. Enjoy!

MORE HERE
WorldNetDaily, 13.08.05

Interview with Narnia Producer

CHUD.com is running a terrific interview with Perry Moore, one of the producers of the upcoming Narnia movie. The interview is a transcript from a roundtable at ComicCon in San Diego.

MORE HERE
CHUD, 11.08.05

New Set Visit Report

"Tehanu," one of the founding contributors to TheOneRing.net, has posted a fourth set visit report. This time she discusses what she saw on the set of the Stone Table. If you want to avoid spoilers, you might want to skip this report.

MORE HERE
The One Ring, 10.08.05

Yet Another Promotional Partner

The Mission America Coalition is coordinating a series of "Narnia Sneak Peek" events this September and October, which will offer church groups an early look at some of the upcoming movie's footage. This appears to be, yet again, a tie-in with the publicists at Motive Marketing, the folks credited with the successful marketing campaign for The Passion of the Christ. MAC joins the Ground Force Network and others as part of the grass-roots mobilization effort to support the movie's opening.

What's at stake? The future of the Narnia series, apparently. Sources connected with Ground Force Network say that Disney and Douglas Gresham are very concerned about boxoffice figures for the first Narnia movie, which needs to be monumentally successful in order to warrant backing of productions for the remaining six books in the Chronicles. (UPDATE: while this assertion may be true enough, the Ground Force Network has not had any such communication from Disney or Mr. Gresham. This information was apparently the result of some misunderstanding. GW, 8/23/05)

Check out the link below if your church is interested in hosting of these Sneak Peek events.

MORE HERE
Mission America Coalition, 09.08.05

Roy Disney's Happy, Too

We've previously reported here that the American Family Association and Southern Baptist Convention have dropped Disney boycotts due,in part, to the company's upcoming coproduction and distribution of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Well, it turns out that activist Christian organizations aren't the only ones changing their tune. An extensive CNN Money article about Disney stockholders reports that "two vocal critics of [outgoing Disney head] Eisner, former Disney board members Stanley Gold and Roy Disney, recently called off their attack dogs. They shut down their Web site SaveDisney.com on Sunday." Methinks there's a lot of bridge-building going on behind the scenes by incoming studio head Bob Iger.

MORE HERE
CNN, 08.08.05

Group Screenings December 8!

BarnaFilms is brokering block ticket sales to groups of fity or more on December 8, one day before the official opening of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Discussions between Disney, BarnaFilms and other religious organizations have been under way for several weeks in an effort to guarantee a blockbuster opening weekend for the first Narnia movie. Opening weekend boxoffice figures are becoming more and more important to the success of a film (and studio), and the opening day booking of entire theatres for Mel Gibson's Passion has had studios looking for ways to make lightning strike again ever since. The upside to the approach announced by BarnaFilms is that block-booking will not affect the availability of seats on opening day.

Expect more of this kind of event in the near future

Check out the BarnaFilms site for more information on how to book tickets.

MORE HERE
BarnaFilms, 03.08.05

Interview with "Susan"

Christianity Today is running a very nice full-length interview with Anna Popplewell, the young actress playing the role of Susan in the upcoming Disney/Walden Narnia film. It's a good read!

MORE HERE
Christianity Today, 02.08.05