Prince Caspian to be Filmed in Slovenia

|PIC1|Parts of Prince Caspian, the sequel to the 2005 hit The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, will be filmed in the beautiful Soca River region, Slovenia's POP TV channel has recently reported.

Although the filmmakers searched for locations all around Europe, the Soca River and its surroundings proved to be some of the most memorable. They decided to shoot part of the story in Slovenia following successful talks with the Bovec municipal council and officials.

Danijel Krivec, Mayor of Bovec said: "They fell in love with the landscape and the views of the river, and especially the colour of the Soca. It was these key points that attracted them.

"We're still coordinating some details, but the procedures are underway so there shouldn't be any obstacles."

Filming in the region will begin in May or June next year.

In other news, the Disney and Walden Media sequel will qualify as a British film under the UK's new cultural test, despite the fact that the majority of filming will take place in the Czech Republic. Much of the visual effects work will be done in London.

Therefore, Disney and Walden are planning to do most of the post-production and special effects work in the UK, making up a large proportion of the movie's budget, as they will be able to access tax credits worth 20 per cent of their UK expenditure.

The first Narnia movie, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which was shot largely in New Zealand, could not qualify as a British film under the old tax rules, abolished last April.

"We are pleased to confirm that 'Prince Caspian' is expected to qualify as a British film under the government's new cultural points test," Disney said in a statement. "While the majority of filming will take place outside the UK, the majority of the post production and visual effects, which constitute a significant part of the overall production budget, will take place in the UK."

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian will premiere in the summer of 2008.

Director Andrew Adamson returns for the new sequel along with the young quartet of British actors: Georgie Henley, 10, Skandar Keynes, 14, Anna Popplewell, 17, and William Moseley, 18, he shared: "If we don't make [the film] now, we'll never be able to because they'll be too old.

Using a best-case scenario, it would take two years to make each movie, according to Rev Bob Beltz, director of special media projects for the billionaire media entrepreneur Philip Anschutz. That would mean 12 more years and the last film would appear in 2017.

"They could end up holding the first screening of 'The Last Battle' just before my funeral service. That's about how long it may take us to do the whole series," quipped the 55-year-old Presbyterian pastor, referring to the seventh and final Narnia novel by the Christian apologist C.S. Lewis.

"Seriously, when we started seeing those first really big numbers roll in at the box office, that's when it hit me," said Beltz. "Some of us worked on this first movie for a very long time and now it seems like we may literally get to work on the Chronicles for the rest of our lives."

"Prince Caspian," which was first published in 1951, and is the second book in the seven-book series written by Lewis, finds the Pevensie siblings pulled back into the land of Narnia where a thousand years have passed since they left. The children are once again enlisted to join the colourful creatures of Narnia in combating an evil villain who prevents the rightful Prince from ruling the land.