Fox Sets Sail with Narnia

A month ago Disney jumped ship on the third film in the Chronicles of Narnia. Today 20th Century Fox scooped up the franchise and intends to set sail with "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" shooting start by end of summer for Holiday 2010 release.

The final details are being worked out between Fox and Walden Media, but a general commitment has been solidified to develop the project. The two companies will split the production costs for "Voyage" with a projected budget at $140 million. This appears as a big dip from the last Narnia film which had productions costs of $215 million, but was considered a bit of a failure at the box office.

The directing and production team is set with Michael Apted directing and Mark Johnson and Andrew Adamson producing. The original cast members are still signed on to star including Ben Barnes from the last Narnia film "Prince Caspian." The first addition to the cast is Will Poulter (Son of Rambo), who will portray Eustace Clarence Scrubb. The only snag, Variety reports, comes with the script. Richard LaGravanese has penned the majority of the script for "Treader" but may be unavailable due to working on "Water for Elephants" for Fox 2000.

What say you? Excited for more Narnia? Have you been a fan of the previous two films? Is the family friendly Fox the right fit for the Narnia films? Strikeback...