While Greta Gerwig moves from one major franchise to another, as she is hard at work on the long-rumored The Chronicles of Narnia remake, the beloved director’s new movie won’t be heading to a theater near you. Gerwig’s Narnia remake has been rumored ever since her incredible success with Barbie. Gerwig has partnered with Netflix for the multi-million dollar remake of C.S. Lewis’ acclaimed novels. However, the two parties aren’t seeing eye-to-eye on a release schedule.
According to What I’m Hearing (the newsletter written by Matthew Belloni), Greta Gerwig is pushing for a theatrical release for her Narnia remake. However, Netflix reportedly wants to release the movie directly to streaming. Gerwig, who rose through the ranks of the indie filmmaking scene, has obvious reasons for wanting a theatrical release. The director is a staunch defender of the theater-going experience, and understandably wants audiences to witness her second potential blockbuster on the big screen. That said, Netflix remains steadfast in its streaming-first content strategy, which also saw acclaimed directors like Martin Scorsese and Rian Johnson release their Netflix projects direct to the streamer’s library.
Despite Greta Gerwig’s concerns about Narnia‘s release plan, the report suggests that the relationship between the director and Netflix remains amicable. As a result, it shouldn’t give fans cause for concern about the long-rumored (and reportedly delayed) reboot being delayed once again. Although, expect this issue to become more public in the future, as it is expected that Greta Gerwig will continue to push for a theatrical release, with the report noting “she’s clearly bummed.” The details of the report have not been confirmed yet, but it’s safe to say that Gergwig has a reasonable point to be made with Narnia heading to theaters.
Greta Gerwig’s Chronicles of Narnia Needs a Theatrical Release
While Netflix has become adept at adapting beloved fantasy worlds into movies and shows, and releasing them directly to our TVs, it would be unfair for Narnia to forgo a theatrical release. Netflix are leaving the money on the table if Greta Gerwig’s Narnia is only released on streaming. While movies like Little Women and Lady Bird were decent commercial successes, Barbie painted theaters around the world pink, as it smashed through the $1 billion mark and gave everyone around the world uninspired Halloween costume ideas (jokes aside, it is an amazing movie). Of course, a large part of this success comes from the Barbie brand, as well as Margot Robbie’s perfect casting as the titular doll. Still, with the success came a whole wave of new fans and followers of Gerwig’s work. Netflix would be unwise to not capitalize on Greta Gerwig’s theatrical pull, which even extends to casual moviegoers, by not giving Narnia a theatrical release.
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As well as financial incentives, an event movie like The Chronicles of Narnia (whichever book Gerwig chooses to adapt) was tailor-made for the big screen. With Gerwig at the helm, releasing Narnia directly to streaming is the fantasy genre equivalent of premiering Denis Villeneuve’s Dune on a Smart Fridge. Not that we would know what that experience would be like, of course.