Netflix‘s upcoming reboot of a major fantasy series is stirring up some controversy in the movie business. News that Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew would get a limited MAX release excited fans of The Chronicles of Narnia who have been waiting for a new film adaptation for 15 years. However, Tim Richards, the founder and CEO of Vue Entertainment, one of Europe’s largest theater companies, had some harsh words about the arrangement.
“It risks undermining the very ecosystem that makes theatrical success possible,” Richards wrote in a public letter obtained by Variety. Richards objects to the exclusivity of the IMAX deal and has concerns about IMAX pursuing similar deals in the future. “As a result, Narnia will not be watched by audiences on 99% of cinema screens worldwide. It will only play on IMAX screens owned by operators willing to break established theatrical release windows.” Richards also claims that IMAX has threatened a “nuclear option” if theaters choose not to participate in the Narnia movie’s IMAX release.
Rumors suggest that Richards isn’t alone in his feelings; he’s just the first person to formalize his grievances against Netflix and IMAX. It’s understandable, given the box-office sensation that was Gerwig’s most recent film, 2023’s Barbie, which notably did not need an IMAX release to earn more than $1 billion worldwide. Now the struggling theater industry may be denied a repeat performance, since Gerwig’s next film will be restricted to IMAX screens and Netflix-enabled streaming devices.
Richards closed out his letter by framing the Narnia deal as taking choice away from the consumer. “The industry should never try to convince audiences that there is only one way to enjoy a great film,” he wrote.
Netflix’s Narnia Reboot Is a Prequel
The Chronicles of Narnia movies are based on the fantasy novels of C.S. Lewis. Three films were made in the early 2000s. Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Entertainment co-produced The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, based on the first book in the series, and its sequel, Prince Caspian. Disney dropped out of the third movie, based on the third book, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and was replaced by 20th Century Fox.
Netflix is taking a different approach by adapting The Magician’s Nephew, which was the sixth of Lewis’s seven Narnia novels but the first in the story’s in-universe timeline, serving as a prequel to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Reports also suggest that Gerwig has changed the era of the story, moving it from 1900 England into the 1950s. In theory, if the other Narnia stories were also to be shifted while maintaining their distance from The Magician’s Nephew, then the events of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe would occur sometime in the 1990s rather than in 1940.
Gerwig wrote and directed Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew. The film will star Emma Mackey, Carey Mulligan, Denise Gough, and Daniel Craig. It is set to debut on IMAX screens on Nov. 26, 2026, before coming to Netflix on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 2026.
- Created by
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C.S. Lewis
- First Film
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The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
- Latest Film
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The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
- First TV Show
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The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
- First Episode Air Date
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July 9, 1967