Some of Mr. Anschutz’s early films flopped, but he has also enjoyed some notable successes. “Ray,” a biopic of Ray Charles that Mr. Anschutz championed against reservations from his film executives, went on to win an Oscar for its star, Jamie Foxx. During the film’s production, according to Mr. Flaherty and David Weil, who heads the Anschutz Film Group, Mr. Anschutz intervened to tone down some of the racier material to make the film more suitable for a family audience.
His biggest film hit by far has been “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” which is based on the Narnia series of children’s books by the British Christian writer, C. S. Lewis. The filming of the next installment in the Narnia series, “Prince Caspian,” has finished in New Zealand and moved on to Prague; “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” will be next.
The Narnia stories are all Christian allegories. “Amazing Grace,” a current Walden film, is about one of Mr. Anschutz’s heroes, William Wilberforce, a British politician and evangelical Christian who fought the slave trade. Bristol Bay plans a film about another C. S. Lewis book, “The Screwtape Letters,” an epistolary novel about devils fighting over human souls.
I can't find much specific information about the movie plans, but I've seen independent reports of its being in the works on several websites, and it does have an IMDB page.
More on Walden Media, its family- and faith-friendly mission, and the business tycoon who invaded Hollywood to make it happen.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member