Disney's announcement that it was abandoning the Chronicles of Narnia series has disheartened many fans around the world, but it may be too soon to give up hope on the series, especially with news that 20th Century Fox plans to pick up where Disney left off. By going back to the drawing board and learning from key mistakes of the past, the series can still be saved, but it will be a difficult and painful road. Here are ten suggestions to make that happen:

1)    Start over again with a new producer and director

Not a few observers noticed that the relationship between Aslan the Lion and the Pevensie children seemed emotionally flat. Was this because its director lacked real world experience directing human beings (he had previously directed the animated Shrek), and was unable to draw out performances from the children or because he didn't understand the relationship between devotees of Christ and their Master and therefore couldn't capture the emotion of the allegorical representation that C.S. Lewis was alluding to? Either way, the relationships were flat and so were the films. He also did the series no favors when he repeatedly gave interviews in which he sought to play down the religious themes of the series and his own associations (more on that later).

Some saw hope when a new director signed on to direct the third installment, but this choice only compounded the problem. As head of the Directors Guild, he had proudly led the charge in crushing traditionalist groups who had, out of a sense of sheer desperation, invented devices that allowed red-state films fans to clean up their favorite movies, then cemented his status as being out of touch with the types of fans who made up Narnia's base when he seemed to brag to reporters about gutting the biopic of the devoutly religious British lawmaker William Wilberforce of its religion:

"Then this script arrived, which was pretty much a straight biopic of Wilberforce – which probably veered more into his Christian side than it did the political side," he had said. "So I thought if I could persuade them to put the politics right more in the front of it – to make that the engine of the story, and certainly deal with his belief system and his religion and all that – then this might be something that would really be good for me to do it. So I did manage to persuade that, on all sorts of levels because I said it makes the character more interesting, because his political skills and political achievements are enormous, and we would move away from the idea of kind of making him an artifact, a kind of saint-like figure; it would give him real personality, real dimension."

Devout filmgoers returned the favor by failing to turn out in large numbers for the film.

All of this raises an obvious question: Does the director of a film with religious themes have to share those beliefs? Not necessarily. But just as the openly gay Gus Van Sant was a smart choice to direct Milk, a film about an openly gay man, as opposed to, say Clint Eastwood or Mel Gibson, so it's probably just common sense that films such as Narnia or Amazing Grace are probably best directed by people who at the very least aren't ashamed of their religious heritage, or seem to exult in stripping the religion out of faith-based stories. 

Where to turn? A producer/director combination like Ralph Winter (XMen) and Scott Derrickson (The Day The Earth Stood Still) have no such hostilities to religion, appreciate the themes in Lewis' work and don't have contempt for the values of the core audience. They could successfully resurrect the series.

2) Understand the core audience of the film and don't offend it

C.S. Lewis is the closest thing millions of Christians have to a saint. 84% of Americans claim to be Christians of one stripe or another. Conservative Christians love him because he was able to articulate the core doctrines of the faith so winsomely, while liberal Christians embrace him because he was a first-rate intellect. Understand that that is your base audience and work outward from there. Don't obsess on the religious themes in the film or secular moviegoers won't like it. But don't pretend they're not there either or you will tick off your base and they'll just stay home. 

3)    Let Doug Gresham be Doug Gresham

Doug Gresham is the only reason that horrible versions of Narnia haven't been made over the last two decades. He has been faithful to his stepfather's legacy and should be allowed to make the kind of movies that he envisions, under the direction of a director and producer. As keeper of the Lewis flame, Gresham understands the series-and his stepfather-as few others do, and he should be given more say. If he wants to be the voice of Aslan let him do it. Fans won't care and somewhere Lewis will smile. 

4)    Be faithful to Lewis

A director and/or writer who is sympathetic and not hostile to the views of the author won't make it his or her mission to undermine the books and insert themselves into the work but rather be faithful to what was on the written page. Lewis, for reasons either theological or cultural, had not allowed the girls in the Narnia story to fight in battle, but the director was determined to overrule Lewis and Gresham.

"I always thought it was such a negative message to send to young girls and women to say, 'here's a bow and arrow. But I really should have given you a butter knife and a plate, because all you do is get to make sandwiches,'" he noted. "To me, it's like why is he giving her a bow and arrow and then saying you have to rely on your brothers to defend you? This is where Doug and I got into it a little bit. I said maybe that was C. S. Lewis's point of view at the time, but times have changed and it's certainly not my view at this time. I've got two young daughters, and I don't want that message to go to my daughters….And Doug accepted. Well, I don't know whether he just relinquished or accepted. But she's in battle in both of them."

If the director didn't like the way Lewis told his stories or thought them to be sexist, perhaps he wasn't the man for the project.

5)    Let faith leaders see the film in its entirety months before its release.

Although its fashionable in some quarters to blame Disney for problems with the series, in reality Disney performed reasonably well and in any event, was not the producer of the films. However, its decision to not allow religious leaders to see the film months before its release was definitely a blunder that could easily be corrected next time. Religious leaders will not recommend films which they haven't seen in their entirety, having been burned too many times by Hollywood to trust it. They need to be shown the film early and with the ability to give input on the final product and plenty of time to get the word out to their followers.

6)    Don't be ashamed of the themes in the film or the audience it appeals to

On numerous occasions officials associated with the film tried to assert that the themes in Narnia didn't pertain to any one particular religion. "I really believe you see whatever you want to see in the film," the producer told USA Today. "It's about faith, whatever kind of faith you have. The first movie was about finding faith, and this is the loss of faith and regaining of it. And that faith is whatever you want to make of it."

Obviously, anybody who knows anything about Narnia knows full well that the entire arc of the story is built upon the Judeo-Christian tradition and that Aslan is a stand-in for Christ. To pretend otherwise is crazy. That doesn't mean it needs to be promoted as a "Christian film" or that people of other faiths or no faith at all shouldn't be made to feel welcome, but it does mean that those who made the film shouldn't insult its core audiences by pretending the movie is not what they imagine it to be: a strong and powerful affirmation of their faith.

In a similar vein, when a reporter from a large religious publication tried to raise the fact that the director's own parents had once been Christian missionaries he responded: "It's a difficult thing to get into. I'm sort of in the public eye, and I don't think it's fair to drag my family into it. So I don't talk about it a lot. But yes, we did move to Papua, New Guinea when I was 11. My father worked at the university there, and my parents were involved in the church there as well."

"Would it be accurate to call your parents Christian missionaries?" the reporter persisted. "Yes, it would be accurate. You're still going down that road, aren't you?" the director replied as though ashamed and annoyed by the revelation and devout Americans who had turned out in force for The Passion of The Christ, may have gotten the message that he was also ashamed of them.

7)   Time the release carefully

Releasing the first Narnia film on December 9th was a serious blunder and one that showed a lack of understanding of the calendar of a typical church and thus, a churchgoer (yes it made money, but didn't do nearly as well as it should have in its first two weeks of release) Early to mid-December is the busiest time in a typical American church, with plays, parties and numerous social functions to attend, and hence, one of the worst times of the year to expect churchgoers to attend a film en masse. The first weekend after Christmas may work as might Easter. Keep the habits of the core audience in mind and you'll find the right date. 

8)    Stop spending so much money

These movies wouldn't suffer a bit if the budgets were cut by half. The production should be done in North America (Canada) and costs kept to a minimum. 

9)    Give Phil Anschutz a stronger role in the production.

It's his money and he's a smart guy. He may not be a filmmaker but he has a good sense of timing and a gut instinct about things in general. That's how he became a billionaire and there's a lot to learn from a guy who has been smart enough to avoid talking to the press since 1974. He and his confidante Bob Beltz need to have a stronger hand. Beltz is both a minister and a producer and brings the sensibilities of the heartland to the production. 

10)    Let Lewis be your guide

C.S. Lewis was the greatest single purveyor of religious themes to a "secular" or mainstream audience that the 20th century ever produced. His writings hold the keys to the ability to create a film that will appeal to all people, regardless of their religious beliefs and any attempts to do so should be done by those who are deeply familiar with Lewis and his other writings. 

These steps may or may not right a train that has been slipping off of the tracks for some time now. They certainly can't hurt. And they should be tried before the towel is thrown in on this beloved series.