Newsletter of the C. S. Lewis Society of California
Winter 2019
LOGOS (eNewsletter) – Winter 2019
In This Issue:
1. Netflix to Produce TV Film Series Based on C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia
2. Update on Amazon Studies Creating 5-Season Prequel Series for The Lord of the Rings
3. Stage Productions on C.S. Lewis
4. Pope Francis and the Caring Society: Acclaimed New Book on How Liberty Creates a More Caring World
5. New and Enhanced Webste for the C.S. Lewis Society
6. Subscribe FREE to the YouTube Channel of the C.S. Lewis Society!
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1. Netflix to Produce TV Film Series Based on C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia
Now the world’s leading internet entertainment service, according to DMR, Netflix has 137 million subscribers worldwide (56.7 million in the U.S.) and reaches over 300 million people, with expected 2018 revenues of $15 billion and an estimated company value of $120 billion.
Sample Media Coverage:
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2. Update on Amazon Studios Creating 5-Season Prequel Series for The Lord of the Rings
A new, 5-season, TV, prequel series is underway for The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien, who was a close Christian friend and colleague of Lewis and the literary society, The Inklings, that they both ran together for decades at Oxford University. Beating out Netflix, Amazon Studios will produce the new series in co-operation with the Tolkien Estate and Trust, book publisher HarperCollins, and New Line Cinema (a division of Warner Bros., which made the original Oscar-winning movies with Peter Jackson). The studios will allocate a reported $1 billion budget for the series—the biggest in television history—and filming may well be done in New Zealand, as was the case with Jackson’s Tolkien-based films.
Jackson’s six mega-hit adaptations, starting in 2001, have earned $5.85 billion worldwide at the box office, underscoring the enduring popularity. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “As for whether Jackson is involved in the TV series as an executive producer remains to be seen and would be up to him. His attorney Peter Nelson was not a part of the 2017 rights negotiations but recently helped start a dialogue between Jackson and Amazon.” According to Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, they hope to have the Lord of the Rings prequel on the air by 2021.
Multiple sources have confirmed that the show will follow young Aragorn. According to David Harris at Fansided:
“Unlike other characters in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, Aragorn’s backstory was never really explored. Sure, we know he was a ranger of the Dúnedain who went by the name Strider when Frodo and company first meet him in The Fellowship of the Ring, and we learn that he was fostered by Elrond and the elves of Rivendell before learning his true lineage and eventually becoming the King of Gondor in The Return of the King, but…well, actually that’s a fair amount to go on. Still, the specifics elude us.”
Sample Media Coverage:
- Rumor: Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series to be about a young Aragorn?, by David Harris (Winter Is Coming, May 19, 2018)
- Lord of the Rings TV Series: Everything We Know, by Alex Flood (NME, June 13, 2018)
- Inside Amazon’s $250M Lord of the Rings Deal: “It’s Very Much a Creature of the Times”, by Tatiana Siegel (The Hollywood Reporter, April 5, 2018)
- Could Amazon’s Lord of the Rings Prequel Series Focus on Young Aragon?, by Allison Keene (Collider, May 17, 2018)
- Everything We Know About Amazon’s Lord of the Rings Prequel Series so Far, by Lindsey Roman (Nerdist, January 9, 2019)
3. Stage Productions on C.S. Lewis
A. This year, the Christian theater company, Fellowship for Performing Arts (producer of the record-breaking, stage plays for C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters and The Great Divorce), is touring across the country its new production of C.S. Lewis on Stage: The Most Reluctant Covert, and premiering A Man for All Seasons in New York City!
Video excerpts of C.S. Lewis on Stage
Video excerpts of The Screwtape Letters
Video excerpts of The Great Divorce
B. The Academy of Arts plans to build the C.S. Lewis Memorial Theatre in Maudlin, SC. This announcement comes after a series of spectacular stage plays based on Lewis’s Narnia book series, including an internationally acclaimed stage production of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the first ever stage production of Prince Caspian now playing at the Logos Theatre until April 23, and The Horse and His Boy, which will open in March 2019.
C. David Payne’s acclaimed portrayal of C.S Lewis in An Evening with C.S. Lewis continues its touring of the U.S. In the production, the year is 1963 and Lewis is hosting a group of American writers at his home in Oxford. Seated in his living room and in front of a warm fire, Lewis recalls the people and events that inspired his thought and shaped his life; of his friendship with J.R.R. Tolkien; why he nearly abandoned the Narnia Chronicles; how he came to embrace Christianity; and of the woman Joy Davidman who turned his life upside down.
Described by critics as “Extraordinary!”, “A Must See!”, “A Master Class!”‘
An Evening with C.S. Lewis is an enthralling experience of the continuing impact of a man who died over 50 years ago and whose collected works have made him one of the literary and Christian giants of modern world.
D. In Freud’s Last Session, a play by Mark St. Germain, and on the day England enters World War II, the legendary psychoanalyst and committed atheist Sigmund Freud hosts in his London study the young Oxford don C.S. Lewis. A former atheist, Lewis had converted to Christianity. These two intellectual giants then proceed to clash and debate about God’s existence, love, sex, and the meaning of life. Widely acclaimed, stage performances across the U.S. and elsewhere continue in 2019.
The play was inspired by the book, The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life, by Armand M. Nicholi, Jr., who is a member of the Board of Advisors for the C.S. Lewis Society of California.
4. Pope Francis and the Caring Society: Acclaimed Book on How Liberty Creates a More Caring World
Pope Francis and the Caring Society
Edited by Robert M. Whaples
Foreword by Michael Novak
The recent, widely acclaimed, Independent Institute book, Pope Francis and the Caring Society, edited by Robert M. Whaples (Professor of Economics, Wake Forest University; Founding Member of the Board of Advisors, C.S. Lewis Society of California), with a foreword by the late Christian scholar Michael Novak, has received a combined media reach of 237+ million views (across radio, TV, print, and web). Dr. Whaples has also spoken on the book at Princeton University, Hillsdale College, Acton Institute, The King’s College of New York, Napa Institute, FreedomFest, and Association of Private Enterprise Education. Featuring both Protestant and Catholic authors, the book was also selected as the 2017 INDIES Finalist for Book of the Year and #1 of the 2017 Top Ten Catholic Eco-Stories.
Including the work of numerous C.S. Lewis Society leaders and friends, this book is a respectful but critical response to Pope Francis’s views in calling for dialogue on the economy, the environment, and charity. Readers discover important historical and cultural context for non-bureaucratic solutions for environmental preservation, a defense of Francis’s criticism of power and privilege, the case for market-based entrepreneurship and private charity as essential tools for fighting poverty, and the crucial need to the family.
Videos:
- Is Capitalism a Caring Society: A Dialogue between Economists and Pope Francis (Napa Institute, July 27, 2017)
- An Economic Appraisal of Laudato si’ (Napa Institute, July 29, 2017)
- Pope Francis and the Caring Society (Independent Institute, February 22, 2018)
- The Economics of Pope Francis and the Caring Society (Association of Private Enterprise Education, April 3, 2018)
- Can a Capitalist Society Also Be a Caring Society? (Acton Institute, May 17, 2018)
- Is Capitalism a Caring Society: Economists Engage the Thoughts of Pope Francis (James Madison Program, Princeton University, May 8, 2018)
- Pope Francis and Free Markets (FreedomFest, July 13, 2018)
5. New and Enhanced Website for the C.S. Lewis Society:
A rich repository of hundreds of articles by and about C.S. Lewis, as well as providing a Christian view on both enduring and topical issues, our new website attracts seekers from all over the world, offering free access to one of the most comprehensive archives of materials suitable of interest ranging from the casual reader to the most accomplished scholar.
The new website offers links to Interviews, Quotes from Lewis’s many works, background on Lewis, Links to hundreds of other resources, as well as the most complete collection anywhere of thousands of Books, CDs, and Videos for sale, including every book by or about C. S. Lewis, as well as all of the works by many others. The new website has also been created to work and look great on any device—mobile, tablet, laptop, or desktop.
Your support has made it possible for us to extend the reach and impact of Lewis’s rich legacy, by creating the dynamic, user-friendly, and modern website for the Lewis Society. The new site has been developed to optimize user experience, allowing visitors to quickly find and share relevant content with ease.
6. Subscribe FREE to the YouTube Channel of the C.S. Lewis Society!
Our YouTube Channel now features 259 excellent videos, and is organized into twenty-one Playlists by topic. Our Channel also includes ten C.S. Lewis Society videos, including “C.S. Lewis on Mere Liberty and the Evils of Statism,” which has received 20,900+ views. And more videos are coming!
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