Directors have been named for the newest installments of the new Chronicles of Narnia and the venerable James Bond movie series.
Disney Pictures and Walden Media have announced that Michael Apted will direct The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which will be the third installment in the series. Mark Johnson and Andrew Adamson (who directed the first two films in the series) will be the producers. Returning cast members include Ben Barnes (“Prince Caspian”), Georgie Henley (“Lucy”), Skandar Keynes (“Edmund”), William Moseley (“Peter”), and Anna Popplewell (“Susan”). Dawn Treader is expected to be released 1 May 2009. (the second film, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, is scheduled to be released 16 May 2008).
Apted’s previous genre work includes the Pierce Brosnan James Bond film The World Is Not Enough (1999) and the 1999 documentary Me & Isaac Newton, as well as every installment of the Seven Up! documentary series except the first.
Marc Forster has been named to direct the as-yet-unnamed next James Bond film, the 22nd in the franchise’s history. Variety reports that “Forster will start work shortly with screenwriter Paul Haggis on a draft of the screenplay by Neil Purvis and Robert Wade. Daniel Craig will reprise the role of James Bond.”
Forster’s previous genre work includes directing Stranger than Fiction (2006) and Finding Neverland (2004).