According to Puck’s Matt Belloni, Greta Gerwig has been quietly raising the issue of giving her ‘Narnia’ films a theatrical release with Netflix’s newly-appointed film head, Dan Lin. However, Netflix isn’t budging and refusing Gerwig’s requests.
Given their scope and grandeur, Gerwig has allegedly voiced “concerns” about limiting her ‘Narnia’ movies to Netflix’s streaming platform. Belloni adds that Gerwig is “bummed” by the streamer’s theatrical model. Then again, she knew this when she signed on to direct these movies.
Then you have another report, courtesy of Empire City, with word that Gerwig might be trying to get out of her Netflix deal to direct ‘Narnia.’ Has she had enough? Gerwig has admitted to getting “recurrent nightmares” about the project. In another interview, she said she was “terrified.” Maybe she’s in over her head here.
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, but ‘Narnia’ has now turned into a major handicap for her.