“THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE is an adventure the likes of which no one has ever been through, yet everyone who is, or ever was, a child would love to be a part of.”

-- Producer Mark Johnson

In 1950, the scholar, critic and writer C.S. Lewis published The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, the first of his seven-volume series, The Chronicles of Narnia, and established a modern legend. A long-time fan of what he called “fairy stories,” Lewis had set out to write a series of fantasy tales for children, but his creation turned out to be much larger and grander than even he had foreseen. Adults and children alike fell in love with his stirring, action-packed adventure that was set in the middle of World War II bombing raids yet transported readers into an alternate and far more enchanted universe of mythological creatures waging an epic battle between good and evil. Meanwhile, critics were impressed with Lewis’ rare ability to forge a completely believable, imaginary world – one with its own history, geography, culture and myths that nevertheless reflected the struggles, hopes and moral dilemmas of our own world.

Profoundly affecting its fans, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe went on to develop an enduring, worldwide readership and to become a staple of family libraries across the planet. The entire Chronicles of Narnia series – which also includes Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician’s Nephew and The Last Battle -- took the publishing world by storm, eventually selling over 85,000,000 books in 29 different languages, making it second only to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter tomes as the most popular book series ever. Indeed, Rowling has cited C.S. Lewis’s Narnia as one of the inspirations to her own contemporary stories of magic and adventure.

From the beginning, C.S. Lewis had wanted the experience of Narnia’s wonders to be open to people of all background and ages. Explains the film’s co-producer, Lewis’ stepson Douglas Gresham, who grew up knowing Lewis and his writing intimately: “C.S. Lewis’ mandate, his main idea about writing for children, included the theory that if a book is worth reading when you're five, it is still equally worth reading when you're fifty. So The Chronicles of Narnia was intended to be read to children and by children and also to be read by adults with great joy even to the last days of their lives."

Along with a few other rare stories such as The Lord of the Rings (written by Lewis’ close friend and contemporary J.R.R. Tolkien), The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe became the equivalent of a foundational 20th century fable. It was one of those timeless adventures that equally fascinated grade-schoolers, grown-up readers and the most sophisticated literary scholars intrigued by its metaphors and spiritual allegories. It soon saw many incarnations in stage versions, as a British television series, as an animated film and even in a BBC version created almost entirely with puppets.

But no one dared to attempt to bring Lewis’ land of Narnia to life with real actors and sets, perhaps because it simply seemed too vast and overwhelming an undertaking. Only recently, as technology has at last begun to catch up with Lewis’ far-reaching imagination was it even possible to imagine re-creating Narnia with the thrilling realism director Andrew Adamson brings to the story.

C.S. Lewis’ stepson, Douglas Gresham -- the creative and artistic director of Lewis' estate and the C.S. Lewis Company -- always believed a motion picture of Lewis’ masterwork would one day become reality. He stuck by the dream of bringing the story to life in a way that would honor Lewis’ enduring creation for decades. "I’ve been working on seeing a movie made of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, one way or another, for probably twenty-five or thirty years,” Gresham notes. It was not until Gresham was approached by Walden Media that the project truly began to take shape. "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe was my very favorite book as a kid, like it was for so many other people," notes executive producer Perry Moore, who was then a film executive at Walden Media. "I always thought it was the perfect fit for Walden."

From the start, everyone at Walden and subsequently at Disney was committed to remaining steadfastly true to the spirit of C.S. Lewis’ story -- without adding manufactured twists to a story that has continued to inspire generation after generation. "On the very first day that we sat down with the estate, we assured them that we were going to do an absolutely faithful adaptation," Cary Granat of Walden Media explains. "Perry and I and, most importantly, Phil Anschutz [Walden Media’s founder], were devoted to that vision. We weren’t looking to put modern-day spin on this piece, but to honor it as a classic of all times.”

Sums up Gresham, for whom the journey to bringing his stepfather’s work to the screen was profoundly personal: “The story of THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE is so true, so honest, so straightforward, we felt certain that the less we messed around with it, the better movie we would make. The first and most important thing about getting this movie made properly was to get the right people involved. Finding Andrew Adamson and bringing him on as director was key."