The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to the countryside, who find a wardrobe that leads to the fantasy world of Narnia. There they ally with the Lion Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson) against the forces of Jadis, the White Witch (Tilda Swinton). The film was released on December 9, 2005, in both Europe and North America to positive reviews and was highly successful at the box office grossing more than $745 million worldwide, making it 2005's third most successful film. It won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Makeup and various other awards. An "Extended Edition" was released on December 12, 2006, and was only made
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe make a faithful adaptation of the novel set in Britain. ""Harry Potter" came along, and all those cultural or geographical lines were broken," Mark Johnson explained. "When "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" was being developed at Paramount, the imperative was to set it in the U.S., and it just doesn't hold. [...] It's not the book." Guillermo del Toro turned down the offer to direct due to his commitment on "Pan's Labyrinth". Following an Academy Award win for "Shrek", director Andrew Adamson began adapting the source material with a 20-page treatment based on his memories of the book.