Netflix Chief Talks The “Narnia” IMAX Release

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has commented on recent reports that Greta Gerwig’s “The Chronicles of Narnia” has secured an IMAX theatrical release before its debut on the streaming service.

In mid-2023, “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig closed a deal to direct two films for the streaming service based on the famed “The Chronicles of Narnia” fantasy novels by C.S. Lewis which Netflix has had the screen adaptation rights to since 2018.

Last year came reports that Gerwig was growing frustrated with Netflix not budging on its stance on not releasing films in cinemas, bar the odd exception for awards qualifying purposes, and was considering walking from the project.

Then the talk changed when rumors sprang up that Gerwig and Netflix were talking to IMAX about a potential “Narnia” theatrical release, rumors that turned out to be true when it was announced last week Netflix and IMAX had locked down a deal. That deal sees Gerwig’s first “Narnia” film scoring an exclusive theatrical run on around 1,000 screens worldwide on Thanksgiving Day 2026 prior to the film hitting the streamer on Christmas Day.

Netflix has only guaranteed to play the film for two weeks so far, but many took it as a sign that Netflix may finally be thawing on its hardline stance on theatrical windows, and more films will follow

Sarandos, speaking during yesterday’s quarterly earnings call to investors, wants to make it quite clear that Netflix is committed to giving its slate a streaming release first and foremost.

He adds (via Deadline) that it was the sheer scale of Gerwig’s Narnia that made an IMAX release a priority:

“Our core strategy is to give our members exclusive first-round movies on Netflix. The Narnia IMAX release is a release tactic. We routinely release movies and theaters a couple of weeks before to qualify for awards, to meet festival requirements and to prime the publicity pump a bit.

In the case of Narnia, it’s a two-week special event, I think it’s very differentiated from other runs, because I doubt anyone has a screen as big as an IMAX screen at home.

Mostly, I want to say I’m incredibly excited to be working with Greta on this movie. We’re super excited to get it into production so we can talk about how great this movie is, more so than which screens it’s on. She’s an incredible director, and this is a really exciting project.”

Filming on the project is slated to commence in July. No one is quite clear about Gerwig’s plans for the novels, but there has been talk that she would combine them into one giant narrative rather than adapt individual stories from the seven-novel saga.

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