In what has been the worst kept secret in the world since Woody Allen played Michael’s Pub in NYC, Greta Gerwig’s streaming adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ Narnia, is getting an exclusive two week Imax global run in 90 countries across 1,000 auditoriums in advance of the pic’s drop on Netflix.
Narnia will release in Imax on Thanksgiving Day 2026 and debut on Netflix on Christmas Day 2026. No definite and clear word yet if Narnia goes wider or if the streamer will scream their grosses to the sky like they do their global viewership numbers, but the last time Netflix made a big splash on screens over Thanksgiving was for Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Movie, in 2022 which made $15M in its first week exclusive run in what was a limited (less than 900 theaters), largely sold out stunt, a month before winding up on the service.
It has been out there that Gerwig has been yeaning a theatrical run for Narnia, the question is whether Netflix completely caves to a wide release. Rival motion picture studio executives welcome the day when Netflix finally commits to a wide theatrical run with a window, but alas, at the end of the day, the big screen has been used as a device to remind subscribers to watch at home. In addition, Netflix has used theatrical to qualify their titles with the Oscars. The Netflix operates and books big screen classic venues The Paris in NYC and the American Cinematheque Egyptian Theatre in LA.
It’s not the first time that Imax has teamed with Netflix or for that matter a streamer. Imax worked with Netflix on the day-and-date release of 2016’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny. They also were involved in a select Imax run of Paul Thomas Anderson’s musical short Anima in June 2019. Imax was also part of streamer Apple’s wide theatrical releases for Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon.
“The partnership underscores the value of Imax as a global event platform and reinforces its relationships with the world’s greatest filmmakers. It also demonstrates Imax’s commitment to bringing unique events and experiences to its fans and exhibition partners around the world,” reads a bulletpoint in a release.
In 2018, Netflix announced it would develop new series and film projects based on C.S. Lewis’ beloved The Chronicles of Narnia series and brought Gerwig on board in 2020. It’s Gerwig’s following up to delivering Warner Bros. their highest grossing movie ever, Barbie ($1.44 billion) which also scored an Oscar win for Billie Eilish and Finneas original song “What Was I Made For?”
