TheHollywoodRepoter has revealed that Matthew Aldrich will be overseeing all of the Chronicles of Naria projects at Netflix. Aldrich is best known for being the co-writer of Pixar’s Coco, which won the Best Animated Film Oscar.
Matthew Aldrich, the co-writer of Pixar’s Oscar-winning film, Coco, has been crowned as overseer of Netflix’s expansive adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia.
The digital streaming giant is tackling the fantasy books by C.S. Lewis as both series and film, with Aldrich serving as the creative architect on all projects. He will shepherd all development and creative on the multiple adaptations.
Narnia consists of seven books, all set in the fantastical land of Narnia, and originally published in the 1950s. The best known of the books, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, follows four children who are evacuated to the British countryside during the London air raids during World War II. In their new home, they discover a wardrobe that leads them to Narnia, a land in danger from the villainous White Queen, and to Aslan, a talking lion.
Netflix bought the rights to the C.S. Lewis novels for film and television, it’s unknown if the projects will be intertwined or stand on their own. However, having Aldrich overseeing both sides could mean they want them to all connect.
Amazon also has its own group of literary fantasy rights as well with Robert E. Howard’s Conan, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings, and Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time.
Everyone is trying to replicate the juggernaut success of HBO’s Game of Thrones as the series has ended, even if the Netflix’s Narnia projects will be more family-friendly (even with some darker subject matter not unlike Harry Potter). The more fantasy the better is my policy.
I’m curious what their overall aim will be for Narina and if they hope to build an entire universe with actors signing up for 10 years like with Game of Thrones, you’ll need to tackle these projects quickly just like Warner Bros. did with the Harry Potter films before the kids grow up too fast.
SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
