'The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Silver Chair' News, Release Date: 'The Magician's Nephew' junked due to religious controversy; Will 4th installment revive the franchise?

By Staff Reporter

Aug 21 2015, 12:31 PM EDT

After five years of absence, "The Chronicles of Narnia" is set to make a comeback in the big screen with its fourth installment, "The Silver Chair," after junking "The Magician's Nephew" because of religious themes.

To be developed by The Mark Gordon Company, eOne, and CS Lewis Estate, all under Walden Media, "The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Silver Chair" is set to be produced by Mark Gordon, Douglas Gresham and Vincent Sieber, according to MNR Daily.

Producer Gresham revealed in Narnia's official website that the latest instalment will involve more independent partners. "The next Narnia movie we are making a slightly different way. We are sort of doing it as an independent production using a production partnership with another company. We have got some wonderful people doing it. We are going to try to do this ourselves and do it the way we all believe it should be done. And we'll see what happens," he said.

David Magee, the scribe for the movie, also announced that the screenplay was finalized last June, as reported by Movie Pilot.

"The Magician's Nephew" was supposed to be the fourth installment in the movie franchise. However, the story was criticized atheists because of its alleged "Christian propaganda," and by the Christians themselves who thought that the producers were spreading blasphemous ideas despite C.S. Lewis' original Christian message.

As a result, the producers of the films decided to skip "The Magician's Nephew" altogether and move on to "The Silver Chair" because it was said to be the safest story that does not explicitly depict a Christian theme.

Gresham, who is a self-declared "Narnia Purist," said that the fourth instalment will religiously follow C.S. Lewis' book, finding a way to work with the movie. "I have to argue with everybody else on the team and we usually come to a fine compromise somewhere along the way," he said.

"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair" is set to be released in 2016. However, rumors are saying that with the pace that it is going, the premiere might be moved to 2017.