Last week, the Walt Disney Company and Walden Media officially announced that they had begun pre-production on “Prince Caspian,” the highly anticipated follow-up to the hugely popular motion picture, “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”
Which wasn’t really a surprise. Given that — to date — this Andrew Adamson movie has earned $636 million at the box office (I.E. $282 million during “Narnia” ‘s domestic release, plus an additional $356 million from the motion picture’s overseas release).
And — given that “Narnia” looks to be the film franchise that Disney Studios has been desperately seeking for years now — there’s already been a lot of talk on the Web about what the Imagineers can now do to capitalize on this success. What WDI can do to bring C.S. Lewis’ characters to life in a theme park setting.
To date, Disney’s in-park “Narnia” -related efforts have been rather modest. Disneyland has a White Witch meet-n-greet, while Disney-MGM Studio theme park has its “Journey into Narnia: Creating the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” walk-through exhibit.
Photo by Jeff Lange
“So what’s this exhibit like?,” you ask. Well, WDW guests who line up outside of Soundstage 4 are first treated to a short making-of film. Which explains how state-of-the-art visual effects and scenes that were shot all around the globe were combined to create the magical world of Narnia.
Photo by Jeff Lange
Once this making-of movie is shown, Disney-MGM visitors are then ushered into the darkened soundstage. Here, they find some preproduction art from the motion picture (Which re-emphasizes the months & months of behind-the-scenes work that went into making C. S. Lewis’ fantasy world a reality) …
Photo by Jeff Lange
As well as an oversized version of the wardrobe …
Photo by Jeff Lange
After a few brief comments from the WDW cast member who’s hosting the attraction, the door to the wardrobe swings open …
Photo by Jeff Lange
And there — just beyond the door — is the quintessential image from both the “Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” book and movie: That very English-looking lamppost standing in a clearing in the middle of a frozen forest.
Photo by Jeff Lange
The Imagineers re-enforce the mood that they’re trying to achieve on Soundstage Four by keeping the lights low and by pumping cold air into the room. A brief film — which basically recaps the story of Disney’s “Chronicles of Narnia” — is shown. Though the real highlight of this portion of the walk-through exhibit is when a live actress dressed as Jadis suddenly appears.
Photo by Jeff Lange
Looking down from her icy perch, the White Witch issues a warning to all those who would dare to help the ” … sons of Adam and daughters of Eve.” But — with the help of the Pevensie children — Jadis and her evil horde are eventually beaten back. Spring finally returns to Narnia …
Photo by Jeff Lange
And — as to what these Disney-MGM visitors will experience once they get beyond this now ice-free forest and reach the very next portion of the walk-through exhibit … You’ll need to return on Thursday for the conclusion of my “Journey into Narnia” photo essay in order to see that.
Jeff Lange is JHM’s own photographer/archivist. He has just released two new titles in his on-going series of Disney theme park DVDs, “Jeff Lange Remembers … Tarzan Rocks” and “Jeff Lange’s Cruise Line Classics.”
For further information on these two discs as well as all of the other titles that Jeff has created, I suggest that you follow this link.