Perhaps the most anticipated film of the year for Christians, the third movie in the "Chronicles of Narnia" series will open nationwide in more than 3,000 theaters tomorrow, Dec. 10.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader features Edmund and Lucy Pevensie (Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley) along with their cousin Eustace Scrubb (Will Poulter), who find themselves swallowed into a painting and onto a fantastic Narnian ship headed for the edges of the world.

Douglas Gresham, author C.S. Lewis' stepson and executive producer of Dawn Treader, told Christian Retailing that box-office support from the faith-based community, including Christian retailers and churches, is "very important."

"If we are going to make another Narnia (film), it all depends on how many Christians go to the movie, take their friends and their enemies, too, because Christians are supposed to love their enemies," said Gresham, also co-producer of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and Prince Caspian—the first two installments of the movie series.

Faith-based fans of Lewis' "Narnia" books were credited with helping make 2005's The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe a blockbuster, with $292 million at the domestic box office. But the darker 2008 sequel Prince Caspian grossed less than half with $142 million domestically and was criticized by some for backing away from the religious themes of Lewis' original books—known for having strong Christian symbolism.

"I think Christians will like it (Dawn Treader) very much," Gresham said. "Dawn Treader ... is like The Screwtape Letters for kids. It's all about temptation, how it comes to the surface and how we can meet, defeat it and move on. That comes across very strongly in the movie."

Meanwhile, actor Liam Neeson—who voices Aslan, the Christ-like lion throughout the "Narnia" film series—has angered fans of the children's fantasy books after claiming during the Dawn Treader press tour that his character was also based on other religious leaders such as Mohammed and Buddha.

Walter Hooper, Lewis's former secretary and a trustee of his estate, told The Daily Mail in England that the author would have been outraged. The "whole Narnian story is about Christ," said Hooper.

Rated PG for some frightening images and sequences of fantasy action, Dawn Treader is the first in the movie series to be released in 3-D.

Click here for more information on The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and here to listen to an exclusive Christian Retailing interview with Douglas Gresham.

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