Variety reports that Fox will distribute and co-finance the third Narnia film “Voyage Of The Dawn Treader” under the “Fox 2000 division, after Disney dropped the franchise last month after 2008’s “Prince Caspian”.

The studios hope to start filming this summer for a 2010 holiday season release. Prince Caspian finished as the #10 grosser at the Box Office last year, and Dawn Treader has a lot of the magic and fantastic aspects missing from the second book/film, which the studios hope will drive higher earnings.

“Voyage Of The Dawn Treader” features the return of Edund and Lucy Pevensie and Prince Caspian on an adventure aboard the ship The Dawn Treader on Narnia’s unexplored seas. The principal cast, including Ben Barnes as Caspian, Skandar Keynes as Edmund, and Georgie Henley as Lucy are all signed to return, and casting for the rest of the cast, both human and non-human, has reportedly already began.

Fox and Walden will split production for “Voyage Of The Dawn Treader,” and is expected to cost less than “Prince Caspian”, which was considered by Disney to be a box-office disappointment, one of the reasons for the studio dropping the franchise.

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By Costa Koutsoutis, (Source: Variety.com)