Netflix’s Ted Sarandos Discusses ‘Narnia’ IMAX Release
During Netflix’s fourth-quarter earnings call, co-CEO Ted Sarandos shared details about the highly anticipated ‘Narnia’ film directed by Greta Gerwig. While confirming a two-week IMAX release for the first film, Sarandos downplayed the deal’s overall significance.
“Our core strategy is to give our members exclusive first-round movies on Netflix,” Sarandos explained. “The Narnia IMAX release is a release tactic. We routinely release movies at theaters a couple of weeks before to qualify for awards or to meet festival requirements and to prime the publicity pump a bit.”
In the case of Narnia, it’s a two-week special event. I think it’s very differentiated from other runs because I doubt anyone has a screen as big as an IMAX screen at home. But we’ve done variants of these releases many times, and doing it with IMAX greatly simplifies our release process as well.”
Ted Sarnados
A report from The New York Times revealed that negotiations over the release strategy were a key reason for the delays in starting production.
Mostly, I want to say I’m incredibly excited to be working with Greta on this movie. We’re super excited to get it into production so we can talk about how great this movie is, more so than which screens it’s at. She’s an incredible director and this is a really exciting project.”
Ted Sarnados
The first ‘Narnia’ film will debut on at least 1,000 IMAX screens worldwide, with the potential to expand to 1,800 depending on approvals in key markets like China.
The IMAX release will arrive in late November 2026, giving audiences a two-to-three-week theatrical experience before the film’s streaming premiere on Netflix on Christmas Day. Netflix is also considering expanding the theatrical run to standard screens after the IMAX window, further building anticipation for the holiday release.
