As you know, Greta Gerwig is helming an adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia for Netflix. There has been talk that Gerwig was demanding her new film have a theatrical release. After months of negotiations, Netflix is now giving Gerwig what she wished for.
According to Deadline, Netflix has finalized a deal for Gerwig’s ‘Narnia’ adaptation to be unveiled in IMAX globally for Thanksgiving on November 26, 2026 before ultimately streaming on the platform on Christmas Day.
However, there are conflicting reports as to the duration of the theatrical run. Deadline says it’s two weeks and Puck’s Matt Belloni claims it’s four weeks in 90 countries. Regardless, this exclusive theatrical run will be on 1000+ IMAX screens. The report goes on to describe Gerwig’s vision as a “very new take” on the franchise
This plan is slightly better than the one Rian Johnson got for “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” which had been given a short theatrical run (5 days) in November 2022 before streaming on Christmas. With that said, the deal Gerwig is getting isn’t comparable to what her “Barbie” received in the summer of 2023.
I bet Gerwig regrets signing on to make these two Narnia movies for Netflix. She couldn’t have known that “Barbie” would go on to become this giant cultural success.
Gerwig signed on to direct ‘Narnia’ months before “Barbie” was released in theaters, sometime in late 2022. I don’t think she realized at the time how big “Barbie” was going to be. After “Barbie,” she could have gotten carte blanche on whatever passion project she wanted to do next, but ‘Narnia’ was already under contract and has now turned into her follow-up effort.
‘Narnia’ is supposed to start production this year, but we still have no cast announcement to report. We don’t even know which of CS Lewis’ stories Gerwig will adapt to the screen. Actor Jason Isaacs recently told The Week that one of the books Gerwig is adapting might be “The Magician’s Nephew.”