Netflix Inc.'s production of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew, will get a full theatrical run early next year, marking an effort on behalf of the streaming company to address Hollywood's concerns about dwindling movie time in theaters.
The film, directed by Greta Gerwig, will be released on Imax Corp. screens and globally in theaters on Feb. 12 and on Netflix on April 2, the companies said on Friday. The film was originally planned to have a two-week run beginning over Thanksgiving 2026.
Written for the screen and directed by Gerwig, the Narnia story is the first-ever adaptation of C.S. Lewis's The Magician's Nephew, the sixth book published in the beloved Chronicles of Narnia series, although the events come first chronologically. The star-studded cast includes Daniel Craig, Meryl Streep, Emma Mackey and more. Netflix acquired the film rights Lewis' books in 2018 and expects to spend at least $175 million and likely more on the film, which could be the first in a franchise.
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Netflix has long resisted putting its films in theaters for more than a brief window, preferencing its leading streaming platform instead. But co-Chief Executive Officer Ted Sarandos has publicly come around in recent months, in part as Netflix wooed Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. as a takeover target, before ultimately ceding the winning bid to Paramount Skydance Corp. earlier this year.
Gerwig, who directed the blockbuster Barbie movie in 2023, also pushed for Narnia to be released in theaters. Gerwig previously turned Louisa May Alcott's Little Women into a hit that grossed $218.9 million worldwide.
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