Narnia Facts

Before J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books took over, C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia topped the best-seller list of children's fantasy novels.

One of the actual Lewis family wardrobes is on display at the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College in Illinois, along with Lewis' desk and other personal mementos. On the wardrobe door, there's a sign that reads, "Enter at your own risk. The Wade Center assumes no responsibility for persons who disappear or who are lost in this wardrobe."

The movie was filmed in New Zealand — just like Peter Jackson's movie adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series. In fact, Tolkien was a close friend of Lewis, but the two didn't like one another's fantasy worlds.

Adamson (Narnia director) and Jackson are close friends, and Adamson sought Jackson's advice. "The fear there was that my interpretation or imagination of the locations or situations was different from other people's," said Adamson. "I asked Peter, 'How much did you adapt LOTR?' And he said, 'We actually changed a fair amount. You can change stuff as long as you do a good job.' And that was really useful to know, because those movies were very well accepted by their fan base."

A script for Prince Caspian, the fourth Narnia book, has already been written, and producers are said to be waiting on release-weekend box-office results to give the production the official green light. Adamson, who once said he would not direct the Shrek sequel, isn't making such claims this time. "It's hard not to return," he says. "You tend to fall in love with the characters and the story, and, in this case, with the kids."

In the book, Father Christmas visits the children and equips them with weapons for there upcoming battle. He gives Lucy a potion for healing and a dagger, but says, ‘I do not intend you to use it because battles are ugly when women fight.’ Adamson thought that this was very disempowering to girls and decided to remove it from the movie.

The Chronicles of Narnia ruled its opening weekend at the box office by bringing in a whopping $65.6 million. This is nearly six times the amount brought in by the second biggest opener Syriana at $11.7 million.

"Aslan" is Turkish for "Lion."

Aslan is the only character to appear in all seven of the Chronicles.

All throughout elementary and high school, C.S. Lewis was a really bad mathematics student!! He favored subjects like classical music and mythology.

When Lewis was 16, the image of a faun carrying parcels and an umbrella in a snowy wood came to him. Many years later, the faun was joined by an evil witch and a magnificent lion --- this image and the three character's stories became THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE.

The character of Aslan, the Great Lion, originally came the book TALES FROM THE ARABIAN NIGHTS which C.S. Lewis used to read as a child.

The film was shot chronologically for many reasons, not the least of which was that it starred four growing kids. During filming, William Moseley (Peter) grew about 3 inches, Anna Popplewell (Susan) grew half an inch, Keynes skyrocketed 5 1/ 2 inches (plus a voice change), and Georgie Henley (Lucy) grew four inches.