Narnia movie The Silver Chair now has financing and distribution, but no director

A silver screen return to Narnia is creeping ever closer after the team behind the The Silver Chair movie announced it had secured financing and distribution.

Sony is backing The Chronicles Of Narnia series, along with Entertainment One. The films are based on the much loved books written by East Belfast born writer CS Lewis.

The film will be financed by TriStar, eOne and The Mark Gordon Company with Sony and eOne distributing the picture.

Mark Gordon is producing The Silver Chair, along with CS Lewis's stepson Douglas Gresham, Vincent Sieber and Melvin Adams.

The series of movies based on the classic Narnia Chronicles by Belfast-born CS Lewis has been in limbo for the past few years after Walden Media lost the rights, even though the first three films grossed more than $1.5bn at the box office.

Producer Mark Gordon has said The Silver Chair will be a reboot with original characters, suggesting none of the cast of the first three movies will return, including Ballymena born actor Liam Neeson who voices Aslan, Will Poulter as Eustace - one of the main characters - Ben Barnes as Caspian, Peter Dinklage as Trumpkin and Tilda Swinton as the White Witch.

Life of Pi writer David Magee is writing the script but there is no news yet of release date or director.

He has tweeted that the next step will be choosing a director and casting will come after that, but says it is unlikely that Will Poulter would return as Eustace as he would be a six foot two 23-year-old playing a 12-year-old boy.

Producer Mark Gordon said: “Developing this project with The C.S. Lewis Company has been immensely exciting and a real joy.

“We are so pleased to team up with our good friends at TriStar and our partners at eOne to introduce this new, magical chapter of the Narnia franchise to fans around the world, both old and new.”

Douglas Gresham said: “It’s been both fun and exciting to work with Mark Gordon and David Magee to develop the next Narnian movie, and now it’s a thrill to welcome Tristar to our Narnia family.

“I greatly look forward to plunging again into the joys and challenges of once more bringing Narnia to the screen, this time with the wonderful story of The Silver Chair.“

The Silver Chair takes place decades after the last encounter with Caspian in the Voyage Of The Dawn Treader, at the end of which Lucy and Edmund were told they could not return to Narnia.

In it Aslan enlists the help of Eustace, who teams up with his schoolmate Jill Pole to journey into the far north of Narnia in search of the missing Prince Rillian, only child of King Caspian.

The original three-part series began in 2005 with The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, followed by 2008's Prince Caspian, and 2010's The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader. However, Walden Media lost the rights, resulting in the scrapping of the planned sequel, The Magician's Nephew.

The Mark Gordon Company and The CS Lewis Company took over the rights in 2013, announcing plans for The Silver Chair adaptation.

If the filmmakers decide not to remake the first three films, they will still have three more Narnia books to adapt - The Horse And His Boy, The Magician's Nephew and The Last Battle.