Variety magazine is reporting that Walden Media and Disney will be taking The Chronicles of Narnia franchise to Mexico for their next film. That means that following The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian, Disney and Walden Media will be making a third film, but which Narnia will they tackle next?
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The third film is moving to Mexico because they need soundstages with a large water tank. The Dawn Treader for those who remember the books is a ship and a great deal of the action takes place aboard it. Director Michael Apted will be filming in Rosarito, Mexico at Baja Studios. This isn’t the first water or ship film that’s taken place at these studios. The films Titanic, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and Deep Blue Sea were all filmed at these studios.
There will be location shots filmed in Australia (which played host to the first two films) and filming is scheduled to begin sometime in January.
The Story
In Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Lucy and Edmund once again return to Narnia, though this time they are without their older siblings and stuck with their annoying cousin. Dawn Treader breaks with battling the big bad and instead journeys beyond where any have gone before. This is one of my favorite Narnia stories and it features Caspian, now the King, searching desperately for the knights his deposed uncle exiled.
It’s also among the more adult tales of Narnia because it deals with greed – material, base greed and we get to see Lucy and Edmund (two of my all time favorites from the series) in older, more mature roles.
I was never a fan of the cousin, but every story needs an annoying foil and it’s his turn in this book. I’ll be very interested to see how Apted translates this Narnia tale to the big screen. Which Chronicle of Narnia is your favorite?