Netflix’s Ted Sarandos Discusses ‘Narnia’ IMAX Release
During Netflix’s fourth-quarter earnings call, co-CEO Ted Sarandos shared details about their upcoming ‘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.
I really can’t wait to see some teaser or other promotional content. On a different musical note, one thing I am hoping for is a good soundtrack. I don’t think anything can top what Harry-Gregson Williams did, but if it could reach that same level it would be the minimum. Something I believe isn’t talked about enough that can truely help make or break a movie. I personally want composer James Newton Howard (composer of the Hunger Games and other notable fantasy and Sci-Fi movies) I would love a NarniaWeb take on this subject! What a time to be alive!!
“…so we can talk about how great this movie is, more so than which screens it’s at.”
Yes, please! So when will you be providing more information about the movie Mr. Sarandos?! We’d love to talk about that!
I’ll love it if Netflix is willing to show us some concept art. The main reason I was more eager than worried about the first Narnia movie back in 2005 even though the director of Shrek sounded like a weird choice was that I saw so much cool looking concept art.
And even if the concept art for Netflix’s Narnia looks bad, well, at least then I’ll be able to temper my expectations accordingly and won’t be disappointed.
I echo what @Col Klink says. I really hope this production releases little bits and teases of the making of the film, like movies did in the 2000s. Production diaries were so fun to view back in the day, while not really spoiling anything about the movie.
Netflix typically does little to nothing of the sort, from what I’ve observed. They make their films and drop a trailer a month out from release, and the film is posted to their website and that’s about it. Since Gerwig is such a popular director and these books are so beloved, I hope there is a lot more hype and press throughout the making of and leading up to the release. Sarandos always speaks in glowing terms about this project, so fingers crossed they treat it with more fanfare than so many previous forgotten projects in the Netflix catalogue.
Hmmm… I hope we will also talk about how great this new movie is, I really do. For now though, you’ll need to earn my trust.
Christmas Day release sounds like LWW to me, but I could be wrong.
Hi @Prince Norin. To me, a Christmas release just suits the Narnia stories in general. I am not alone in this opinion, as many people believe that the Prince Caspian movie’s box office suffered from being a Summer release and not a Christmas release.
Why Christmas? I think there are a few elements: The references to Christmas in LWW, the appearance of Father Christmas and the winter setting. The Christian themes of all the books. (Christmas is a special celebration for Christians, and the Narnia book series has a lot of Christian fans due to the themes therein.) And then there are just the whole magic and fantasy elements that people associate with the season of Christmas (kind of like The Polar Express and The Santa Clause and The Nutcracker).
Now let’s get to casting announcements!
Also, the holiday season is just a great time for wide-released family movies in theatres. I wouldn’t read too much into the release date meaning they’re doing one book or another.
1,000 or so screens worldwide is not a lot. I wonder if we’ll hear about box office results as Netflix has historically held those close to the chest.