German picture book Die Reise auf der Morgenrote: Fotos aus Narnia (via Narniaweb.com) has published a series of 15 new stills from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Originally scheduled for a May, 2009 release, production was first held up by concerns over the safety of a Mexico shoot and then by a change in distributor, with 20th Century Fox replacing Walt Disney Pictures, caused by budget disputes.

With producers admitting “we made some mistakes with Prince Caspian, and I don’t want to make them again”, that Prince Caspian lacked the “wonder and magic of Narnia”, and that the previous instalment was “a little bit too rough” for a family movie; it looks as the the Narnia series is back on track with Voyage – these stills (in keeping with the impressive trailer) hinting at a swashbuckling adventure suffering no such lack of magic.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will sail into cinemas this December in 2D and 3D.

Last November we saw the first images to escape from the production of the third film in the Chronicles of Narnia, and now there’s a pretty nice teaser poster all the way from Fox.

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the first film, and arguably most well known, of the C.S. Lewis stories, made a great impression on its release and the follow up Prince Caspian was a less successful affair but remained a solid addition to the film series.

Now we’re all aboard for the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and returning to see Lucy and Edmund join up with their cousin Eustace on their Narnian odyssey are Prince Caspian himself, Ben Barnes who reprises his role along with Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, Peter Dinklage, Eddie Izzard and Liam Neeson. Will Poulter is an addition to the cast as Eustace Scrubb.

Here’s the poster, and if you weren’t already aware, this one will come at us in all three dimensions.

Prince Caspian did not have the success of its predecessor, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, but it was a solid fantasy film and it looks as if the third film will build on their foundations.

Comingsoon.net have noted the release of the first production stills via the film’s Facebook pages and they are striking in their design and point to a colourful journey ahead with the Dawn Treader. We see Ben Barnes as Caspian and Skandar Keynes as Edmund Pevensie and Georgie Henley as Lucy as well as the titular Dawn Treader itself.

C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books are beloved by many people and I’m hoping we’ll see director Michael Apted continue to remain faithful to the source material and resist the temptation (and pressure from Fox perhaps) to make Narnia a Lord of the Rings lite/Potter franchise machine.

Check out the images below.