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The novel is more than 50 years old and Disney’s live-action adaptation won’t hit the big screen for nearly three weeks, but The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is generating quite a buzz these days.

Indications are everywhere that Hollywood’s $200 million take on C.S. Lewis’ children’s novel, set in the fantasy land of Narnia, might give Harry Potter and Frodo Baggins — maybe even Mel Gibson’s The Passion of The Christ — a run for their box-office gold.

One segment of society rallying behind The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is evangelical Christians, the same group whose grassroots support helped turn The Passion into a surprise blockbuster hit last year. In October, 145 churches nationwide hosted “sneak previews” of the movie in which ministers were invited to watch about 10 minutes’ worth of clips from the film.

Much of the evangelicals’ enthusiasm is based not just on the spiritual undertones of Narnia, but on Mr. Lewis’ legacy of writings that defend and explain the Christian faith, including Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters.

Unlike the grassroot rallies for The Passion, however, Christians aren’t alone this time.

“The buzz is pretty strong. If this film does what everyone thinks it will do, they’ll be talking about a sequel after the opening weekend,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc., a box-office tracking firm in Los Angeles.

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Signs of possible Narnia-mania abound as Disney prepares for the Dec. 9 premiere of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, including:

• New editions of The Chronicles of Narnia are rolling off the presses, with both HarperCollins, the mainstream New York publisher, and Zondervan, the Christian publishing giant based in Michigan, releasing separate boxed sets for children and adults and audio versions of the books.

• A virtual library of commentaries and critical analyses is being published in time to capitalize on the publicity surrounding the Disney Studios release. Some of the books offer scholarly treatises on Lewis’ writings, while others provide guides for Narnia novices. Two of the new guidebooks are by Bruce Edwards, a Bowling Green State University professor and a noted Lewis scholar.

• Disney’s Buena Vista Games division has produced a new video game called “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe,” while Zondervan’s gift division, Inspirio, is hawking official Disney-licensed building blocks, book covers, framed maps of Narnia, and glass plaques featuring Aslan, the lion-hero of the title widely viewed as a symbol of Christ.

• “Just Read, Florida!,” a state-sponsored literacy program that offers prizes to children for reading Narnia, has been assailed by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The Rev. Barry Lynn, AU’s director, called government involvement in the program “just totally inappropriate” because Lewis’ book “is simply a retelling of the story of Christ.” He is asking Florida officials to include non-religious books in the program.

• Some local pastors, including the Rev. Glenn Teal of CrossRoads Community Church and the Rev. Lawrence Cameron of Pilgrim United Church of Christ, are planning sermon series based on Narnia.

Meanwhile, SermonCentral.com, is sponsoring a Narnia sermon contest with the grand prize being atrip for two to Mr. Lewis’ old stomping grounds in London and Oxford, England.

• Two discs featuring music in or inspired by The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe have been released, one for mainstream music fans and the other for the Christian market.

Mr. Cameron, who hosted one of the Disney sneak previews last month at Pilgrim UCC in West Toledo, said he sees broad-based support for the movie among area ministers.

“We had 40 different churches represented,” Mr. Cameron said this week, “and they all received advance kits, which included posters and fliers and some information about Narnia. Disney is really promoting it among Christian churches and they see the movie as being larger and of more general interest than The Passion.”

With Disney investing its name, money, and clout in a story penned by one of the leading literary figures of the 20th century, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe undoubtedly will reach millions of viewers around the world.

What they’ll see, many observers say, is an unmistakable allegory of the Gospel message — with Aslan the lion representing Jesus and the witch of the book’s title representing evil.

Lewis said his primary goal for writing the Narnia books was to entertain children, but that his faith kept bubbling to the surface while he wrote, Mr. Teal said.

Some moviegoers may not see past the surface story to discover any underlying religious messages, but Mr. Cameron said the subtleties and symbolism offer golden opportunities for Christians to “connect the dots” for those who don’t see the parallels.

“It’s being billed by some groups as the largest evangelism tool that ever hit America,” said Mr. Cameron, Mr. Teal concurred that the Narnia movie could be an effective tool for evangelism.

“I think it’ll be bigger than The Passion for most churches because it comes in a little under the radar screen. It’s less overt in its message.”

With seven books in the Narnia series, there is strong potential for sequels. The key factor will be how the box-office numbers stack up, said Mr. Dergarabedian.

“Every studio’s hope is that a movie like this can become a franchise,” he said.

That’s why Disney is doing everything it can to put people in the seats, including making an appeal to evangelical Christians, Mr. Dergarabedian said.

“This is not an overtly religious movie, a la Passion of The Christ, but I think Disney is saying that this is the type of movie that has a broad-based appeal and certainly can appeal to a religious or faith-based audience,” he said. “They want to make audiences aware that this is acceptable and palatable to entire families.”

When The Passion of The Christ played in movie theaters, many ticketbuyers had not attended a Hollywood film for 10 years, either because of disinterest or in protest of the sex, violence, and lack of morals prevalent in movies, Mr. Dergarabedian said.

Disney apparently aims to inspire the same people to see The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

“This is another effort to get those people out of their homes and into the movie theater,” he said.

The strategy may alienate some people who don’t want anything to do with a “religious movie,” Mr. Dergarabedian said, but the The Passion showed Hollywood that the Christian audience is one worth courting.

“The potential benefits outweigh the downside,” he said.

Contact David Yonke at:dyonke@theblade.com or 419-724-6154.

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