Not long ago, filmmaker Greta Gerwig surprised Hollywood by announcing that she would follow up her Academy Award-nominated Barbie by launching a series of movies based on The Chronicles of Narnia for Netflix. Now, it appears those movies might get not only a theatrical release — but an IMAX release as well. IMAX is reportedly interested in screening Gerwig’s Narnia films, provided Netflix can come to terms on a deal. Of course, that has historically been a sticking point, since exhibitors generally ask Netflix for concessions that the streaming giant is not willing to give.
Netflix has limited its theatrical runs to short, narrow releases aimed at qualifying the movies for awards consideration. Netflix has also purchased some theaters to accommodate for this. Major theatrical chains tend to want a longer window of exclusivity than Netflix is willing to provide.
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Bloomberg originally reported the rumor.
Netflix has kept their cards pretty close to the vest with plans for Narnia, although executives recently teased that the projects would be “bigger and bolder” than audiences expected. The streamer plans to adapt the entire seven-book series, and will spend a reported $175 million on the first installment.
Gerwig has reportedly committed to directing at least two of the movies.
“I’m slightly in the place of terror because I really do have such reverence for Narnia,” Gerwig told BBC Radio 4’s Today back in January. “I loved Narnia so much as a child. As an adult, C.S. Lewis is a thinker and a writer. I’m intimidated by doing this. It’s something that feels like a worthy thing to be intimidated by.”
The filmmaker added, “As a non-British person, I feel a particular sense of wanting to do it correctly… it’s like when Americans do Shakespeare, there’s a slight feeling of reverence and as if maybe we should treat it with extra care. It is not our countryman.”
Between 2005 and 2010, Walden Media produced a trio of Chronicles of Narnia films, adapting less than half of the seven books. Critical and box office reception to the franchise was mixed, and after the first two, Walden parted ways with original distributor Disney and started to work with Fox. A fourth film never got off the ground, but since Disney bought Fox, fans can watch all three of the 2000s-era Narnia adaptations on Disney+.
If they are pretty close to the source material, there are two likely starting points for the franchise: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the first Narnia novel written by Lewis and the most famous installment of the franchise; and The Magician’s Nephew, the sixth novel Lewis wrote but, as a prequel. That’s the first in The Chronicles of Narnia chronologically, and the one Lewis preferred to be read first. The Magician’s Nephew has never been adapted into live-action (it was to be the next film made in the Fox series after The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but the rights lapsed), which would give Netflix something fresh for viewers to enjoy without drawing comparisons to past adaptations.
