After the sensational success of Barbie, director Greta Gerwig is taking on the challenge of a dormant but still beloved franchise. That would be the classic world of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, which is in development for Netflix. Details have been scarce regarding the upcoming project, but a new report from Bloomberg has shed some new light on the current plan for the first film’s release, and right now the movie is targeting a December 2026 release, so it’s still going to be a bit of a wait.
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The Bloomberg report tackles quite a few things regarding the movie industry’s evolving relationship with Saudi Arabia, and then it later tackles Netflix’s own growth and evolution, including a discussion of its recent live content like Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson and the upcoming Narnia franchise.
The report also discusses the approach to Narnia making it into theaters at any point, noting that negotiations are currently in progress for a theatrical release with Imax. The feeling is that everyone wants to make that happen, but Netflix is figuring out a way to get it done while also not setting a precedent.
In an interview with Time, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos teased a bit of what fans can expect from this interpretation of the franchise. Sarandos said “It won’t be counter to how the audience may have imagined those worlds, but it will be bigger and bolder than they thought,” though he also pointed out that it will also be “rooted in faith” like the original stories from Lewis.
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As for Gerwig, she’s dedicated to bringing this franchise to life on the screen the way Lewis delivered it on the page. “It’s connected to the folklore and fairy stories of England, but it’s a combination of different traditions,” Gerwig told Time. “As a child, you accept the whole thing — that you’re in this land of Narnia, there’s fauns, and then Father Christmas shows up. It doesn’t even occur to you that it’s not schematic. I’m interested in embracing the paradox of the worlds that Lewis created, because that’s what’s so compelling about them.”
The franchise’s first three books were previously adapted by Disney, bringing in 1.5 billion over the course of 2005’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, 2008’s Prince Caspian, and 2010’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Now a whole new generation will see these classic books on the big screen in 2026.
Are you excited for Chronicles of Narnia? You can talk all things movies and Narnia with me on Bluesky @KnightofOA!
