Book-based Film "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.
The film is based on C. S. Lewis’s 1950 novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first published and second chronological book in the Chronicles of Narnia series. It was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media and distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution.
The film stars William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, and Georgie Henley as Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie—four British siblings evacuated to the countryside during the Blitz. There, they discover a wardrobe that transports them to the magical realm of Narnia, where they join the lion Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson) in his struggle against Jadis, the White Witch (Tilda Swinton).
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe premiered on December 7th, 2005 as the Royal Film Performance selection and was released theatrically on December 8th, in the United Kingdom and December 9th in the United States.
The film was both a critical and commercial hit, earning $745 million worldwide on a budget of $180 million and ranking as the third-highest-grossing film of 2005. An extended edition followed on DVD on 12 December 2006; combined sales of the standard and extended versions made it the third-best-selling and top-grossing DVD of 2006 in North America, generating $332.7 million.
At the 78th Academy Awards, the film won Best Makeup and received nominations for Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects. It also won Best Makeup and Hair at the 59th BAFTA Awards and earned additional nominations for Best Costume Design and Best Special Visual Effects. The score received Golden Globe and Grammy nominations, including nods for Best Original Score and Best Original Song for Alanis Morissette’s “Wunderkind,” as well as Grammy recognition for Imogen Heap’s “Can’t Take It In.”
The film was followed by Prince Caspian in 2008 and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 2010, both of which met with declining critical and commercial reception. Nonetheless, the trilogy achieved a combined worldwide gross of $1.5 billion.
Genesis:
On December 7th, 2001, Walden Media announced that it had acquired the film rights to The Chronicles of Narnia. The company met with numerous potential directors, including Rob Minkoff, John Boorman, and David Fincher. On March 1st, 2004, Walden Media and The Walt Disney Studios reached an agreement to co-produce and finance the film—along with future installments in the series—under the Walt Disney Pictures label.
The success of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone convinced the producers that a faithful, British-set adaptation of Lewis’s novel could succeed. “Harry Potter came along, and all those cultural or geographical lines were broken,” producer Mark Johnson said. “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.” Guillermo del Toro declined the directing role due to his commitment to Pan’s Labyrinth. After winning an Academy Award for Shrek, Andrew Adamson began developing the adaptation with a 20-page treatment drawn from his childhood memories of the story. This led to the film opening with a Luftwaffe bombing raid and ending with a large-scale battle—sequences that take up far less space in the novel.
In the book, the climactic battle is not shown until Aslan, Susan, Lucy, and their reinforcements arrive. Adamson expanded this moment because he vividly recalled imagining an epic confrontation while reading the story, illustrating how Lewis often left details to the reader’s imagination. Other small changes were made as well: in the film, all four children enter Narnia after accidentally breaking a window and hiding; in the book, their arrival is more incidental. Tumnus also does not meet Edmund until the novel’s end. Additional character details were added, such as giving the Pevensies’ mother the name Helen—the real first name of Georgie Henley’s mother. Finchley was chosen as the family’s hometown as a nod to Anna Popplewell, who is from there. Adamson also altered Lucy’s first encounter with the wardrobe, making it part of a hide-and-seek game rather than a chance discovery.
The film includes hints of Professor Kirke’s backstory from The Magician’s Nephew—such as ornate engravings on the wardrobe and his keen interest in Lucy’s claims—elements absent from the novel, as Lewis had not yet conceived the series’ larger mythology. The film also changes the whereabouts of the Pevensie father: while he is in London with their mother in the book, the movie shows him fighting in the war, a detail Lucy mentions during her first meeting with Mr. Tumnus.
Wētā Workshop’s Richard Taylor cited Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights as a major artistic influence, emphasizing that Narnia should appear brighter and less gritty than the Middle-earth of The Lord of the Rings. Howard Berger ( Prosthetic makeup artist) consulted his children during the design process; they suggested changing the White Witch’s hair from black to blonde—an idea he agreed with after realizing Tilda Swinton’s darker wig looked overly Gothic.
Source: Wikipedia
The film is based on C. S. Lewis’s 1950 novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first published and second chronological book in the Chronicles of Narnia series. It was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media and distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution.
The film stars William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, and Georgie Henley as Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie—four British siblings evacuated to the countryside during the Blitz. There, they discover a wardrobe that transports them to the magical realm of Narnia, where they join the lion Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson) in his struggle against Jadis, the White Witch (Tilda Swinton).
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe premiered on December 7th, 2005 as the Royal Film Performance selection and was released theatrically on December 8th, in the United Kingdom and December 9th in the United States.
The film was both a critical and commercial hit, earning $745 million worldwide on a budget of $180 million and ranking as the third-highest-grossing film of 2005. An extended edition followed on DVD on 12 December 2006; combined sales of the standard and extended versions made it the third-best-selling and top-grossing DVD of 2006 in North America, generating $332.7 million.
At the 78th Academy Awards, the film won Best Makeup and received nominations for Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects. It also won Best Makeup and Hair at the 59th BAFTA Awards and earned additional nominations for Best Costume Design and Best Special Visual Effects. The score received Golden Globe and Grammy nominations, including nods for Best Original Score and Best Original Song for Alanis Morissette’s “Wunderkind,” as well as Grammy recognition for Imogen Heap’s “Can’t Take It In.”
The film was followed by Prince Caspian in 2008 and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 2010, both of which met with declining critical and commercial reception. Nonetheless, the trilogy achieved a combined worldwide gross of $1.5 billion.
Genesis:
On December 7th, 2001, Walden Media announced that it had acquired the film rights to The Chronicles of Narnia. The company met with numerous potential directors, including Rob Minkoff, John Boorman, and David Fincher. On March 1st, 2004, Walden Media and The Walt Disney Studios reached an agreement to co-produce and finance the film—along with future installments in the series—under the Walt Disney Pictures label.
The success of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone convinced the producers that a faithful, British-set adaptation of Lewis’s novel could succeed. “Harry Potter came along, and all those cultural or geographical lines were broken,” producer Mark Johnson said. “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.” Guillermo del Toro declined the directing role due to his commitment to Pan’s Labyrinth. After winning an Academy Award for Shrek, Andrew Adamson began developing the adaptation with a 20-page treatment drawn from his childhood memories of the story. This led to the film opening with a Luftwaffe bombing raid and ending with a large-scale battle—sequences that take up far less space in the novel.
In the book, the climactic battle is not shown until Aslan, Susan, Lucy, and their reinforcements arrive. Adamson expanded this moment because he vividly recalled imagining an epic confrontation while reading the story, illustrating how Lewis often left details to the reader’s imagination. Other small changes were made as well: in the film, all four children enter Narnia after accidentally breaking a window and hiding; in the book, their arrival is more incidental. Tumnus also does not meet Edmund until the novel’s end. Additional character details were added, such as giving the Pevensies’ mother the name Helen—the real first name of Georgie Henley’s mother. Finchley was chosen as the family’s hometown as a nod to Anna Popplewell, who is from there. Adamson also altered Lucy’s first encounter with the wardrobe, making it part of a hide-and-seek game rather than a chance discovery.
The film includes hints of Professor Kirke’s backstory from The Magician’s Nephew—such as ornate engravings on the wardrobe and his keen interest in Lucy’s claims—elements absent from the novel, as Lewis had not yet conceived the series’ larger mythology. The film also changes the whereabouts of the Pevensie father: while he is in London with their mother in the book, the movie shows him fighting in the war, a detail Lucy mentions during her first meeting with Mr. Tumnus.
Wētā Workshop’s Richard Taylor cited Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights as a major artistic influence, emphasizing that Narnia should appear brighter and less gritty than the Middle-earth of The Lord of the Rings. Howard Berger ( Prosthetic makeup artist) consulted his children during the design process; they suggested changing the White Witch’s hair from black to blonde—an idea he agreed with after realizing Tilda Swinton’s darker wig looked overly Gothic.
Source: Wikipedia
Below is actress Georgie Henley's instagram photo of the main cast (and director Andrew Adamson) reuniting for 20th anniversary:
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