Before coming to its own streaming platform, Netflix will release Barbie Director Great Gerwig’s Chronicles of Narnia adaptation to 1,000 or more IMAX screens on Thanksgiving Day 2026. The deal guarantees a run of two weeks minimum with an option for a third based on performance.
The Netflix Narnia adaptation will then have its streaming debut on Christmas Day.
Skandar Keynes as Edmund Pevensie in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), The Walt Disney Company
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Netflix has had a strategy of limited theatrical or film festival releases for movies with award potential, but Narnia will be the first narrative film that Netflix will release in the IMAX format. They previously released the 2024 documentary Skywalkers: A Love Story in IMAX. The large format release of this Narnia adaptation could indicate visual spectacle for the audience or simply that Gerwig has the clout to insist on it; similar to how Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson insisted that Amazon’s Red One be filmed in IMAX.
Aside from Gerwig’s most recent mega-hit, Barbie, she also has experience with literary adaptations.
Her 2019 version of Little Women enjoys broad acclaim from critics and fans with a 95% Tomatometer and 92% Popcornmeter score on Rotten Tomatoes.
She also co-wrote Disney’s upcoming live action reimagining of the classic tale Snow White…
Director Greta Gerwig at the Barbie movie reception at the British Embassy in Washington, DC. Photo Credit: UKinUSA, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Scott Stuber, who at one time headed Netflix’s film division, described Gerwig as the right choice to adapt a Narnia book because she, “… grew up in a Christian background.”
This is a fact that may be surprising to Christians, since Gerwig grew up as a Unitarian Universalist which admits persons of any belief system.
It would certainly have been a surprise to author CS Lewis, the former atheist turned conservative Anglican who died two years after the UUism’s founding.
William Moseley as Peter Pevensie, Liam Neeson as Aslan, and Anna Popplewell as Susan Pevensie in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), The Walt Disney Company
Amy Pascal (former co-chair of Sony Pictures Entertainment) has promised, “a very new take on Narnia. It’s all about rock and roll.” Projecting a likely price tag for a fantasy epic film in IMAX, Netflix is probably looking for something more successful than Christian rock.
There are two generally accepted orders for reading the Chronicles of Narnia series, the first being chronological by release date, rendering the order below:
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
- Prince Caspian
- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
- The Silver Chair
- The Horse and His Boy
- The Magician’s Nephew
- The Last Battle
If Netflix released according to this schedule, they’d be retreading ground already covered by previous miniseries and the Walden Media films.
Other fans prefer the narrative chronological order:
- The Magician’s Nephew
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
- The Horse and His Boy
- Prince Caspian
- The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
- The Silver Chair
- The Last Battle
This latter order may shed light on Pascal’s otherwise odd comments about rock and roll.
Liam Neeson as Aslan and Tilda Swinton as White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), The Walt Disney Company
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In The Magician’s Nephew, the readers witness Aslan lead the music of creation, which reforms the land and draws out the animals from it. Jason Isaacs also seems to think The Magician’s Nephew will come first if comments about his favorite books are to be believed.
Isaacs told The Week in November 2024 that, “I loved all the Narnia books as a kid. When Peter was told he wouldn’t be coming back, I understood something devastating about mortality. I picked this one [The Magician’s Nephew] because Greta Gerwig is about to make a film of it, which I can’t wait to see.”
Liam Neeson as Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), The Walt Disney Company
For what it’s worth, there are three major characters in the story who Isaacs, given his age and voice, could play in a faithful adaption.
Let us know in the comments what you think of this Netflix IMAX strategy or your hopes for the Narnia adaptation. And bookmark That Park Place to stay up to date on all the news that should be fun.
