Bloomberg: Netflix’s ‘Narnia’ Adaptation to Exceed $200 Million Under New Film Strategy
As Netflix reshapes its film strategy under the leadership of Dan Lin, The Chronicles of Narnia adaptations are set to be one of the streaming giant’s most ambitious projects.
According to Bloomberg, one of the standout elements of this shift is the reported budget for Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Narnia films, which is expected to “almost certainly” exceed $200 million — the movies will be among Netflix’s most expensive projects under its new strategy.
Read the full article here.
The new Netflix movie strategy: Less is more
Known for his previous work at Warner Bros. and productions like The Lego Movie, Lin is tasked with improving the quality of Netflix’s film slate while controlling costs. The core of Lin’s strategy is simple: make fewer films but focus on developing higher-quality projects in-house.
This move represents a sharp departure from Netflix’s previous approach under former film chief Scott Stuber, who frequently acquired films from other studios and overspent to lure big stars and produce a high volume of movies, many of which struggled to leave a lasting cultural impact.
Netflix will still release 25 to 30 films per year, but Lin plans to prioritize specific genres and lower the budgets of most projects while reserving larger investments for select high-profile films — such as Narnia.
How will Narnia be impacted?
For fans, the key question is how Dan Lin’s new strategy will shape the upcoming Narnia adaptations. While Netflix has yet to confirm the specific release plans for the films, all signs point toward a streaming-first approach — even as Greta Gerwig reportedly pushes for a theatrical release.
Despite Gerwig’s concerns, Netflix’s leadership seems firmly committed to keeping its flagship projects on its platform. Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-CEO, reaffirmed last week during the company’s earnings call that streaming remains the core of Netflix’s business model.
“I’m just going to reiterate: We are in the subscription entertainment business, and you can see in our results, it’s a pretty good business. It appeals to a very large segment of consumers and fans,” Sarandos said. “Our top 10 films that premiere on Netflix all have over 100 million views, among the most watched films in the world. It’s our desire to keep adding value to our consumers for their subscription dollar. We believe that not making them wait for months to watch the movie that everyone’s talking about adds that value.”
Netflix added 5.1 million paid subscribers to reach 282.72 million globally in the third quarter of 2024. That marks year-over-year growth of more than 14%, per Variety.
With a budget that will likely surpass $200 million, Narnia is set to be one of Netflix’s most significant gamble in its “tentpole” strategy. However, even with this scale of investment, the question of whether the series can achieve the lasting cultural resonance that Gerwig and Netflix hope for will ultimately depend on more than just the size of their budget.
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I know some were speculating that the news about Gerwig pushing for a theatrical release was laying the groundwork for her backing out. Does this proposed budget make that less likely to be true?
I honestly don’t think she’s backing out since she made a pitch to Netflix that she wanted it.
$200 million, which is on top of what they paid for the rights to the series, is a mind-blowing amount of money.
Hard to see why Netflix wouldn’t want to recoup some of that cost with a theatrical release.
@col klink
Netflix would do everything in its power to keep Gerwig happy. Given she’s been involved with Narnia since 2020, there’s no way she’s oblivious to Netflix’s reputation regarding theatres so I doubt she’d make them an ultimatum over it.
Doesn’t mean she’s not disappointed in their decision though!