Photo: The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader poster

In The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the two younger Pevensies, Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley), are visiting cousin Eustace Scrubb (Will Poulter) when they find themselves drawn into a painting of an old ship. They surface on the Dawn Treader, where the new King of Narnia, Caspian X (Ben Barnes), is heading off on a quest.

Michael Apted signed on to direct The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (taking over from Andrew Adamson) in June 2007. The film was then slated to release in May 2009. However, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures delayed the release date to May 2010 citing “challenging schedules for [its] young actors.”

Later, a budget dispute between Walden Media and Disney -  Disney wanted to limit the budget to $100 million, while Walden wanted $140 million – delayed filming. In January 2009, 20th Century Fox stepped in as distributor instead of Disney.

Filming of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader has been completed now, and post-production work is on. Click here to see pictures from the sets of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

The third part of The Chronicles of Narnia film series has been scripted by Steven Knight. Richard Taylor, Isis Mussenden and Howard Berger have worked on the production design and practical effects. Visual effects supervisor Jim Rygiel, composer David Arnold and cinematographer Dante Spinotti joined the Narnia team with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

A series of fantasy novels for children written by C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia details the adventures of children who find themselves in the fictional land of Narnia, a place where animals talk, magic is common, and good battles evil. The books feature children from this world who are transported to Narnia, where they help the Lion Aslan save Narnia.

The first two movies in the series were The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008).

Photo: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian poster

In The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, set three years after the Pevensie children helped Caspian win back the throne from his evil uncle Miraz, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie – along with cousin Eustace Scrubb – find themselves on a Narnian ship headed for the end of the world.

Peter and Susan do not return because, as Aslan (Liam Neeson’s magical voiceover of the mighty, much-loved lion) said, they have learned all they needed to in Narnia. The younger Pevensies find King Caspian on a mission to find the seven lost Lords of Narnia.

Lucy and Edmund are elated to return to Narnia, but Eustace – who never believed in the existence of Narnia – isn’t quite sure of how he should react.

Caspian, Lucy, Edmund, Eustace and the warrior mouse Reepicheep (Bill Nighy lends his voice) try to find Aslan and his country beyond the seas of the “utter East” in a journey that turns out to be a voyage of a lifetime.

Walden Media is hoping that The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will be as successful as the first Narnia film – The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (in which the Pevensie children ally with Aslan to defeat the forces of the evil White Witch) was released in December 2005, and grossed over US$700 million worldwide.

In The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, also directed by Andrew Adamson, the Pevensies are summoned to Narnia to help Prince Caspian, the rightful heir to the throne of Narnia. The four – along with Aslan – help Caspian overthrow his uncle, King Miraz, before the evil king’s plot to exterminate all Narnians succeeds. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian grossed US$141 million in the United States and $278 million in the rest of the world.

Admitting to some mistakes with The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, producer Mark Johnson said The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader has shaped up to be a wonderful Narnia movie.

The Chronicles of Narnia: the Voyage of the Dawn Treader ship photo via aintitcool.com

The much-anticipated third instalment of the Narnia series, The Chronicles of Narnia: the Voyage of the Dawn Treader movie stars Ben Barnes, Liam Neeson (voice of Aslan), Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Will Poulter.

The movie will be released on December 10, 2010.

Produced by Mark Johnson, The Chronicles of Narnia: the Voyage of the Dawn Treader is directed by Michael Apted and penned by Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely. Steven Knight, Michael Petroni and Richard LaGravanese.

The Chronicles of Narnia: the Voyage of the Dawn Treader photo

In The Chronicles of Narnia: the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Lucy and her brother Edmund Pevensie return to Narnia with their cousin Eustace. They go on a voyage with Prince Caspian across the sea in the royal ship The Dawn Treader.

During the voyage to the Aslan’s country they have many adventures with dragons, dwarves, merfolk, and a band of lost warriors.

The last Narnia movie, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian had disappointed Narnia fans.

Dawn Treader ship photo from The Chronicles of Narnia 3

Earlier, Coming soon had quoted Mark Johnson as saying that the third Narnia movie would be similar to Ray Harryhausen’s 1958 film The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad.

“This one is different from the others, it’s in that ['The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad'] league and they go from island to island having adventures. I’m very excited about it,” he was quoted as saying.

The Chronicles of Narnia: the Voyage of the Dawn Treader is being filmed in Queensland, Australia.