Here, finally, is the first trailer for Greta Gerwig’s “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew,” which will get movie fans talking, and debating all day. What do you think?
What can I say? The visuals look colorfully vibrant, with tons of CGI. Led Zeppelin leading the way. This is far removed from the 2000s ‘Narnia’ movies. I'm not sure a punk-rock version of the book is the way to go, and it will surely rile up C.S. Lewis diehards, but at least Gerwig is trying something new here.
Many were surprised by Netflix’s decision to give Gerwig’s “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew” a wide theatrical rollout—a whopping 49-day exclusivity in theaters—on February 12, 2027, which happens to be Super Bowl weekend.
A few weeks later, The Town podcast’s Matt Belloni reported that he’d heard Gerwig’s “Narnia” might be “the most expensive movie Netflix has ever made.” It’s not like the streamer doesn’t spend an inordinate amount of money on some of its titles—every year, you’ll see a couple of $150–200M productions, most of them skipping theaters entirely—but “Narnia” goes beyond that. In a recent podcast, “Narnia” DP Seamus McGarvey casually remarked that the film had a $280M production budget.
Meanwhile, over at Netflix, things don't sound great for film chief Dan Lin. According to The InSneider, Lin just lost David Fincher, and Gerwig might not be far behind. Sneider reports that Lin had plenty of notes on early cuts of "’Narnia’ and promised to "fix" it in post. That apparently didn't sit well with Gerwig, who went to her CAA agent Bryan Lourd, who then called Ted Sarandos directly to complain. The result, per Sneider, is that there's now a buffer between Lin and Gerwig. When your top director needs a go-between just to deal with the head of film, that's not a great sign.
More curiously, reshoots with the main cast happened in August at Shepperton Studios. There’s something about Netflix not being satisfied with a recently tested cut of “Narnia,” although that’s just a rumor that cannot be confirmed, but the Lin-Gerwig story does hint at that being the case.
McGarvey more recently spoke at a masterclass about “Narnia,” with great glee, describing the production as “the biggest budget hand-knitted project,” and said that the filmmakers had “a dream of poetry in our souls” while working on the film.
“Narnia” is aiming for a PG rating and stars young performers David McKenna and Beatrice Campbell, while Meryl Streep, Daniel Craig, Emma Mackey, Ciarán Hinds, and Carey Mulligan round out the ensemble. It will feature heavy VFX and showcase lavish post-war 1950s locations—the latter notably different from the Victorian London setting of C.S. Lewis’ novel. Instead, it appears Gerwig has shifted the story to the mid-20th century. Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt composed the score.
Here, finally, is the first trailer for Greta Gerwig’s “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew,” which will get movie fans talking, and debating all day. What do you think?