Daily Variety, Monday, March 29th, 2004:
By Marc Graser

Rhythm & Hues has landed the role as lead special effects studio on the Walt Disney Studios and Walden Media fantasy epic "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," which Disney will distribute late next year.

R&H is expected to create more than 700 shots for the pic, which will start lensing this summer in New Zealand, with "Shrek" and "Shrek 2" director Andrew Adamson at the helm and Mark Johnson producing. Ann Peacock penned the script.

The effects studio has built a name for itself in creating digital characters, most recently for such pics as Fox's "Daredevil," Warner Bros.'"Scooby-Doo" and its sequel and Universal's "Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat." Its work will next be seen in Fox's upcoming "Garfield" and U's "Chronicles of Riddick."

For "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," R&H will create matte paintings, as well as bring to life a cast of creatures from the C.S. Lewis children's classic as photo-realistic computer-generated characters, including Aslan, a talking lion.

"This is a movie that will be driven by dramatic performances from characters that are animals," said R&H prexy Richard Hollander. "It's going to be a challenge."

R&H has already begun developing new motion capture techniques and improvements in digital hair, for example, to use in the film.

Because of the complexity of the pic's required character animation, R&H is benefiting from a 20-month post-production schedule, a long period for major effects shops. Only Industrial Light & Magic enjoyed a similarly lengthy post process recently on Universal's "The Hulk." R&H isn't expected to deliver its final shots until October 2005.

"The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is skedded for a Christmas 2005 release.

It now becomes the second film R&H has worked on with Walden; R&H recently tackled the visuals for the production company's "Around the World in 80 Days," also to be released by the Mouse House.

Bill Westenhofer ("Elf") and Doug Smith ("The Cat in the Hat") serve as pic's visual effects supervisors. Erika Burton ("The Cat in the Hat") will be the visual effects producer, while Bill Kroyer ("Scooby-Doo") will take credit as senior animation director.

While film may be Adamson's first live-action pic as director, he has an extensive background as a visual effects supervisor. While at effects shop PDI, his credits included "Batman and Robin," "Batman Forever," "A Time to Kill," "Angels in the Outfield" and "Double Dragon."

While R&H has landed the lead job, several effects sequences have yet to be awarded on the film.

Weta Digital, the Oscar-winning effects studio that worked on "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, created initial designs for the film.