These days, every film and TV studio wants its own big franchise. This has led to a flood of wannabe cinematic universes based on any book or comic series that manages to trend for more than five minutes. But with so many adaptations, sometimes it feels like the makers do not really care about the source or the fans who do. Enter Greta Gerwig. The filmmaker, who turned Barbie into a cultural phenomenon is now taking on the magical world of The Chronicles of Narnia. And she has already promised fans that this beloved franchise is in safe hands. 

The Netflix project, for which Gerwig has been working for years now, even before Barbie, has finally achieved what the director wanted. 

Netflix famously avoids theatrical releases. It is a well-known policy and one the studio sticks to religiously. But for a project as big as Narnia, that rule did not sit well with Greta Gerwig. Earlier this year, Puck reported that she raised concerns about the film skipping the theatrical fanfare it clearly deserves. Well, it seems Gerwig’s persistence paid off. The same outlet recently revealed that her Narnia adaptation is getting an exclusive IMAX release at the end of 2026. Netflix is now considering a three-to-five-week theatrical run on IMAX screens.

This could possibly start around Thanksgiving, before debuting the movie on its platform in time for Christmas. This compromise is huge for both sides. Gerwig gets the grand theatrical rollout she wanted, meanwhile, Netflix still gets to play the streaming-first game, framing the IMAX run as a premium, special event. But Netflix’s theatrical policies were not the only thing that kept Gerwig up at night.

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Gerwig’s sleep has been a little, well, interrupted by the pressure of doing justice to a franchise with millions of devoted fans as well. 

Adapting C.S. Lewis’s epic world, with all its beloved characters and sprawling lore, is a daunting task. And Greta Gerwig has been plotting her journey to Narnia since at least 2022. In an interview with the Inside Total Film podcast, she admitted to being completely enchanted by the folklore, the layered worlds, and the magic of C.S. Lewis’s stories. But as soon as the project was officially announced by Netflix, the sheer scale of the project hit her, and Gerwig admitted that she was “terrified” about taking on this challenge. 

That said, Gerwig did not let this moment of doubt linger for too long. She reassured everyone that her nerves did not mean she was backing out of the project. In fact, quite the opposite. She explained, "When I’m scared, it’s always a good sign.” Fans, meanwhile, are fully confident in Gerwig’s ability to deliver. They believe she will finally give the Narnia-verse the attention and cultural significance it has deserved for years.

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