Adaptations of The Chronicles of Narnia facts for kids

The Chronicles of Narnia is a famous series of seven fantasy novels written by C. S. Lewis. It's a classic in children's literature and is Lewis's most well-known work. Over 100 million copies have been sold in 47 different languages! Lewis wrote these books between 1949 and 1954. They were illustrated by Pauline Baynes and published in London from 1950 to 1956. The Chronicles of Narnia has been turned into many different things. These include TV shows, radio plays, stage shows, movies, audio books, and even video games.

Television Shows Based on Narnia

The first time The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was made into a TV show was in 1967. This show had ten episodes, each about thirty minutes long. It was directed by Helen Standage. You can't buy this version to watch at home today.

In 1979, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was made into an animated TV special. This cartoon was created by Bill Melendez, who also worked on A Charlie Brown Christmas. The Children's Television Workshop, known for Sesame Street, also helped make it. This animated special won an Emmy award for best animated program. It was the first full-length animated movie ever made for television!

From 1988 to 1990, the BBC made three popular TV series based on the first four Narnia books. These shows were called The Chronicles of Narnia. They were shown in the US on a program called WonderWorks. The series was nominated for 14 awards, including an Emmy for "Outstanding Children's Program." Later, these three TV series were released as movies on VHS and DVD.

Narnia Movies

Walden Media Films

The premiere of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian in 2008

C. S. Lewis never wanted to sell the movie rights for Narnia. He wasn't sure if movies could really show the magical parts of the stories. But after seeing a demo of CGI (computer-made) animals, Douglas Gresham, Lewis's stepson, agreed to let films be made. He became a co-producer for the movies.

The first Narnia movie was The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It was made by Walden Media and Walt Disney Pictures. It came out in December 2005. Andrew Adamson directed it. The movie was filmed in places like Poland, the Czech Republic, and New Zealand. Many big companies worked on the special effects for the film. This movie was very successful with both critics and at the box-office. It became one of the top 25 highest-earning films at that time.

Disney and Walden Media then made a second movie, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. It was released in May 2008 and earned over $419 million worldwide. Disney was planning the next movie, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. However, in December 2008, Disney decided not to fund the Narnia series anymore.

Fox 2000 Pictures and Walden Media then worked together to make The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. 20th Century Fox distributed it, and it came out in December 2010.

Plans for the next book, The Silver Chair, were put on hold. Walden Media wanted to restart the series with The Magician's Nephew, which is actually the first book in the Narnia timeline. But they lost the film rights in 2011.

In October 2013, there were new plans for a fourth movie, The Silver Chair. The Mark Gordon Company started producing it. David Magee was announced as the screenwriter. In April 2017, Joe Johnston was chosen to direct the film.

Netflix Narnia Shows

On October 3, 2018, the C.S. Lewis Company announced that Netflix had bought the rights to make new movies and TV shows based on the Narnia books. This was the first time one company owned the rights to all the Narnia stories. Entertainment One also joined the project. Mark Gordon, Douglas Gresham, and Vincent Sieber became executive producers.

In June 2019, Matthew Aldrich, who co-wrote the movie Coco, was hired to lead the creative team for the Netflix Narnia adaptations. In July 2023, it was announced that Greta Gerwig would write and direct at least two Narnia films for Netflix.

Stage Plays

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was first performed as a musical play in 1983. This happened at Northwestern College in Minnesota.

In 1984, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was performed in London. This play was very popular and was performed many times until 1997. Other Narnia stories were also turned into plays, like The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Magician's Nephew.

In 1986, a musical version of Lion called Narnia: The Musical was created. A shorter version of this musical has toured the US since 1993.

The Royal Shakespeare Company also put on a play of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in 1998. This musical was very well-liked and ran during the holiday season for several years. It was also performed in London.

Many theaters, including professional, community, and youth groups, now perform The Chronicles of Narnia plays. There's even a musical version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe made just for young performers.

In 2015, a musical comedy called Narnia: Vuelve a vivir was performed in Argentina. It was very popular and sold out shows.

In 2022, The Logos Theater created a stage play of The Horse and His Boy. This play was also performed at the Museum of the Bible.

Radio Dramas

The BBC Radio 4 made a very popular drama series of all the Narnia books between 1988 and 1997. It was called Tales of Narnia and was about 15 hours long. You can buy this series on audio cassette and CD. In 2014, the whole series was released as one audio book on Audible.

Between 1999 and 2002, Focus on the Family also made radio dramas of all seven books. This production had over a hundred actors, including Paul Scofield and David Suchet as Aslan. It also had original music and great digital sound. This version is about 22 hours long. Douglas Gresham, C. S. Lewis's stepson, introduces the series.

The Focus on the Family version was also broadcast on the BBC. Both the BBC's original version and the Focus on the Family version are available today.

Audio Books

All The Chronicles of Narnia books are available as audiobooks. Andrew Sachs read them for Chivers Children's Audio Books.

In 1979, Caedmon Records released shorter versions of all seven books on records and cassettes. Different actors read them, including Ian Richardson and Claire Bloom.

In 1981, Sir Michael Hordern read shorter versions of the stories with music. These were re-released in 2005.

HarperAudio also published the series as audiobooks. These were read by famous British and Irish actors like Michael York, Lynn Redgrave, Derek Jacobi, Jeremy Northam, Alex Jennings, Kenneth Branagh, and Patrick Stewart.

Tom Baker, another actor, also read the series for Collins Audio.

From 1998 to 2003, Focus on the Family Radio Theatre recorded all seven Narnia books on CD. These had over one hundred actors, original music, and digital sound. Paul Scofield was "The Storyteller," and David Suchet was Aslan.

Games

In 1984, a game called Adventures in Narnia was released for the Commodore 64 computer. It was made to teach good values like self-control.

In 1988, a series of 5 gamebooks were released. These were like choose-your-own-adventure books with role-playing elements.

In November 2005, Buena Vista Games released video games based on the movie. These games were available for many platforms like Microsoft Windows, GameCube, Xbox, and PlayStation 2. Handheld versions were also made for Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance.

In 2008, Buena Vista Games released new video games for the Prince Caspian movie. These were made for Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Microsoft Windows, and Nintendo DS.

Even though Disney stopped working on the Narnia films, a mobile game for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader movie was released in late 2010. This was because Fox took over the movie series.

• Some Narnia Video Games

See Also

• A YouTube playlist featuring many of the songs from the Trumpets Workshop production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (LWW)
• "Come to the Table," a song from the Royal Shakespeare Company production of LWW (here performed by the GTC at the Picturedrome Theater)