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 song "Further Up, Further In" from the album "Room to Roam" by The Waterboys is heavily influenced by "The Chronicles of Narnia", with the title coming from a passage in "The Last Battle". C. S. Lewis is acknowledged in the liner notes as an influence. A convert to Christianity in later life, Lewis had authored a number of works on Christian apologetics and other literature with Christian-based themes before writing the "Narnia" books. The character Aslan is widely accepted by literary academia as being based on Jesus Christ. Lewis did not initially plan to incorporate Christian theological concepts into his