Initial Reactions to “Dawn Treader” Trailer at Biola [Updated]

At yesterday’s Biola Media Conference in Los Angeles, Walden Media President Michael Flaherty showcased a new trailer for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Here are some attendees’ reactions on Twitter:

Saw the world premiere of footage from Voyage of the Dawn Treader and it looks great. That’s right. Be jealous.

We were just among the first to see the preview for the new Narnia film out this Christmas.

Just got a first look at the new Chronicles of Narnia film the Voyage of the Dawn Treader! Looks like its gonna be impressive!

Just saw first trailor of Voyage of the Dawn Treader at #bmc10. Looks awesome. Lewis is a genius.

New Narnia rough trailer was great!! I got to see the exclusive premiere here at Biola Media Conf!!!

Viewed Narnia release of 3rd film out in December- Michael Flahert-Pres. Of Walden Media showed it. My 13 year old eyes wide open!

Scene stealer:) Just got escorted out of conf. By badged men cause they thought I was bootlegging Voyage of the Dawn Treader trailer!

You can read more about the conference on Biola Media’s homepage.

Comments from NarniaFans’ report on the conference:

“Roger”: Saw the trailer at Biola. It was great. It might be the best movie of the lot. Parts of the trailer are still in post production; green pants were visible. First scene: The trio are in Lucy’s room, Lucy looks in the painting, the sea starts to move, water comes out of the painting, Eustice pulls the painting off the wall, water floods the house, the trio swim out of the house into the sea, they surface to see the Dawn Treader coming right to them. The next part that I remember is Lucy, Edmund and Caspian wondering why the trio was called to Narnia. Next was a small part about the fate of Narnia depending on the ship reaching Ramandu’s Island. A star was shooting through the sky. I am not clear what was going on. This was just a taste not a bite. Next were Lucy and Gael laying on their beds talking. Geal: “When I grow up I want to be like you.” Lucy: “When you grow up you want to be like you.” Lucy then reassures Gael that they will find Gael’s mother. Next was a small scene with Eustice trying to talk to a seagull and the Narnians making fun of him trying to talk to a bird. There was a brief sene of Dark Island. There was a good scene of Lucy in the Magic Room. Beautiful set. Aslan fast forwards Lucy through the book. Lucy says a spell and Susan appears in the window. Yes, Anna Popplewell makes an appearance. There is a scene with Ramandu’s daughter saying her prayers. Quites spectacular. At the end is a small scene from the end of the movie with Aslan saying “In your world I am known be a different name …” That seemed to be right out of the book with a little different set. The trailer ends with the standard trailer ending, except that it’s water instead of snow or trees. . . .They said that this was a never seen before trailer. That does not mean that they could have trimmed scenes from a previous trailer.

“Joy”: The footage was NOT what was shown by Apted, Flaherty, Gresham, and co. last month. Micheal Flaherty made sure to clarify that numerous times.

So Anna makes a cameo? Via CGI or something else? And what about Will? Ah, the joy of speculations. . . .

UPDATE: NarniaWeb has more initial reports from viewers.

“Wendy”:  The Conference host made it quite clear that Fox had a presence there with infrared devices capable of catching anyone attempting to record the footage shown (either in still photographs, or video recording).  The footage had a “Biola Media Conference” stamp at the bottom of the screen. . . .

Our overall first impression was extremely positive…if the little we saw is any indication, I think this will be the best movie of the three so far.  Dearheart and I both drove the two hours back home with silly geeky grins on our faces!

And more details from “Roger” at NarniaFans:

The scene with Susan was very nice. I left a small detail out of the description because I do not want to ruin it. Nice closure. The view of Susan was a window on a page in the magic book. It could have been CG’ed, but I think not. There is a lot they did not show. The magic room looks like a central part of the story as it should be.

I did not see Peter.

The sets were fabulous. I saw nothing cheap in the designs. A top-notch production.

Gael looks like a great add to the script. Quit touching. A good moral lesson. I liked the interaction between Lucy and Gael. This way Lucy is not the only female on the ship.

The end will be very sad just like the book.

Eustace is the butt of some jokes. The Narnians were part of the humor too.

The music [for the movie] has not been done. We heard music from previous films.