The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (film)

The sequel to the Disney and Walden media films of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is due to be released to theaters May 1, 2009, filming is due to start in January. Michael Apted will be directing, and Andrew Adamson has returned as one of the producers.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will be a fantasy film based on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third published novel in C. S. Lewis' children's fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia. The third film in Walt Disney Pictures' and Walden Media's Chronicles of Narnia film series, it will be directed by Michael Apted and is currently scheduled for release on May 1, 2009.

Plot
Lucy and Edmund Pevensie return to Narnia with their cousin Eustace, where they encounter King Caspian aboard the royal ship Dawn Treader. They join him on a quest across the eastern sea for eight missing lords of Narnia; along the way, they encounter delights, dangers, and transformations before reaching the edge of the world and Aslan's country.

Cast
Ben Barnes has signed a three-film deal to portray Caspian, and will return to play the character. Actors Georgie Henley and Skandar Keynes are also slated to reprise their roles as Lucy and Edmund Pevensie, respectively.

A casting call has been issued for the role of Eustace Scrubb.

Production
Michael Apted was announced as director on April 17, 2007; Andrew Adamson, director of the series' first two films, and Mark Johnson are slated as co-producers. Apted grew up reading the Narnia novels. Bob Beltz of Walden Media said the production company deliberately set up a fast-paced, staggered shooting schedule for the Prince Caspian, Dawn Treader, and Silver Chair films "in a way that it won't have to be two and a half years between them. We'll be able to bring them out sequentially a year apart". Michael Apted described taking over direction of the series as easy, "What’s fascinating about this particular franchise is how different all the stories are... there’s no element of Narnia in it at all. This is a journey that Caspian the Tenth is making into the islands, outside to the east of Narnia. So it’s interesting, it’s a whole different tone to the other things."

Production designer Roger Ford was replaced by Jan Roelfs. The owners of an AUD2.1 million 40 metre by 30 metre by 5 metre water tank at Warner Roadshow Studios in Queensland are negotiating with the production company, in the hope that The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will be filmed there. Filming will begin in January 2008.