'Captain America' Director Joe Johnston Boards 'Narnia' Revival 'The Silver Chair'

By Justin Kroll, Variety

Captain America: The First Avenger helmer Joe Johnston will journey to Narnia: The Silver Chair, a revival of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series.

TriStar Pictures will partner with the Mark Gordon Company, the C.S. Lewis Company, and Entertainment One on the project with Mark Gordon, Lewis’ stepson Douglas Gresham, Vincent Sieber, and Melvin Adams producing the pic. Life of Pi scribe David Magee adapted the script.

Related: ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ Revival in the Works From TriStar, Mark Gordon

The Narnia franchise’s three films — The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader — have hauled nearly $1.6 billion at the worldwide box office. Disney distributed the first two films, with Fox releasing Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

While previous installments followed the Pevensie children, this edition centers around their cousin Eustace Scrubb, who travels to Narnia to save the kidnapped child of Prince Caspian.

The series of seven novels, published in more than 50 languages, has sold 100 million-plus copies worldwide.

Johnston — repped by Paradigm and Lawrence Rose at Gang Tyre Ramer and Brown — is no stranger to both kick-starting and reviving franchises. He is best known for directing Jumanji, starring Robin Williams, and stepping in for Steven Spielberg on Jurassic Park 3. He also directed Captain America: The First Avenger.