Disney Pins $100m Hopes on Narnia

CS Lewis's tales of an enchanted world reached through a wardrobe are to hit the big screen as Hollywood studios seek to repeat the success of JRR Tolkien's fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings.

Troubled studio Disney has struck a deal to co-produce The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the book that introduced Narnia to generations of children.

Like Tolkien's Middle Earth, Narnia is populated by magical creatures, and the first tale features four children who join the lion Aslan in his battle against the White Witch. The billion-dollar, 11 Oscar- winning success of Peter Jackson's Tolkien trilogy has convinced studios that fantasy can make money.

'It has put fantasy films on the map commercially. I am not surprised that a lot of projects are out there and that Narnia is top of the list,' said Professor Mike Drout, a Lewis scholar at Wheaton College in Massachusetts.

Written more than half a century ago, and with seven books in the series, Narnia offers huge scope for a profitable film franchise. In double-page adverts taken out by Disney in the US press in the last few days, the company hinted strongly that it is thinking in terms of a series. 'There are a thousand stories in the land of Narnia. The first is about to be told,' the adverts blared.

Just as The Lord of the Rings has dominated the last three Christmases, so Narnia films could dominate every holiday season until 2012. The first is scheduled for release in December 2005.

Narnia could give a massive boost to Disney, which is gripped by board struggles, poorly performing stock price and a hostile takeover bid by cable firm Comcast. 'It's a very, very ambitious production and one we believe could be very important to the studio,' said Disney studios chairman Dick Cook.

The budget for the first film is pencilled in at $100 million. Like the Tolkien films, shooting is to take place in New Zealand. Andrew Adamson, who made Shrek, is to direct. 'The Chronicles of Narnia were an important part of my childhood, just as they are to millions of fans,' he said. 'I hope to bring to the screen a movie as real to the audience as Narnia was to me as a child.'

Casting is under way and a five-month shoot is planned for this summer.

The Narnia stories have a strong Christian allegory, with Aslan equating to Jesus, which could be another source of strength at the box office. The surprising success of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, currently raking in millions, has shown that religion can attract movie-goers.

One disadvantage is that the Narnia books are aimed at younger readers than The Lord of the Rings, but executives are already pumping up some of the adult themes. 'It is a film ... with four kids who leave a world consumed by war that they have no control over only to enter a world where a war is raging in which their actions are crucial to the outcome,' said Cary Granat, chief executive of Walden Media, Disney's partner in the project.