Variety is reporting that less than a month after Disney ended its participation in the Narnia franchise, Walden Media has found a new partner in 20 Century Fox.  The third film in the Narnia series, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, can now proceed with the hope of a release near the end of the summer holiday season in 2010.

According to Variety the Dawn Treader will be budgeted at $140 million, a considerable reduction from the $215 million spent on the second film in the series Prince Caspian, which earned $419 million worldwide and was the #10 box office film of 2008.  While those numbers sound good, and the film probably turned a profit thanks to DVD revenue, Caspian’s take was way down from the $745 million earned by the first Narnia film, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, a drop that caused Disney to wash its hands of the franchise (see “Disney Drops Narnia Franchise”).