IMAX and Netflix are teaming up for a bold new take on the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, and it’s shaping up to be one of the most ambitious fantasy releases of the decade. At a Cannes Film Festival roundtable interview attended by Collider’s Steve Weintraub, IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond confirmed that Greta Gerwig’s Narnia film will get an exclusive 28-day theatrical run — and only in IMAX theaters.
“IMAX is always trying to innovate and do new things,” Gelfond said. “I’m sure most of you know this, but over the last couple of months, we made a deal with Netflix where Greta Gerwig’s new film, Narnia, is going to be made for both IMAX and Netflix, and Netflix has put a 28-day theatrical window around that.”
That month-long exclusive run marks a major shift for the streamer, which has historically prioritized digital-first rollouts, but one of the conditions attached to Gerwig‘s deal to direct included a big theatrical release, and that’s what the Barbie director secured. Gelfond confirmed the rollout will be “global,” with one notable exception still pending: France.
“And before you ask your questions about France, which has specific rules about windowing, I think we’ll have to figure out a solution for France, which we haven’t figured out.”
French law currently requires a 17-month delay between a movie’s theatrical premiere and its streaming debut — a rule that has kept many streamers from embracing the country’s cinema model. It remains to be seen whether Narnia will find a workaround or follow a different release path in that market.
The partnership between Netflix, IMAX, and Gerwig signals a major milestone in the evolving relationship between theatrical and streaming. While Netflix has traditionally favored digital-first premieres, it’s shown a growing interest in theatrical experimentation, from Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery to Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon. But Narnia will be its most ambitious yet — filmed for IMAX and screened exclusively in the format worldwide before hitting subscribers’ screens.
Who Stars In Greta Gerwig’s ‘Narnia’?
Meanwhile, the casting news coming out of Gerwig’s adaptation is equally buzzy. Barbie breakout Emma Mackey has officially been cast as Jadis, the White Witch in the movie, which is set to be an adaptation of the novel The Magician’s Nephew. The cast looks like it will also include Meryl Streep (reportedly in talks to voice the noble lion Aslan), so it already feels like a huge deal. The 2026 release is being treated as an event film, with the rare 28-day IMAX-exclusive theatrical window simply highlighting the sheer scale.
As for other parts of the world, Gelfond confirmed that negotiations were underway regarding locations in which Netflix had not yet reached potential customers, noting that discussions were ongoing for a release in China. Gelfond added that Gerwig would be doing a world tour to promote the movie as a theatrical experience:
Netflix isn’t in China, but we’re still discussing whether there’ll be a theatrical run in China or not, but we’re incredibly excited about that because, as you know, Netflix has been resistant to theatrical releases. Some of the parts, as you guys cover this a lot, that you’ll find interesting is we have a separate marketing budget for the theatrical release, and Greta’s going to do a lot of her tours and junket around the theatrical release. So, this is not going to be like a traditional Netflix, where the theatrical release is an afterthought, because we’re in a unique position in that we’re in the studio world and we’re in the exhibition world. We were able to design a way of releasing it that makes it attractive for the theatrical side as well as the streaming side, and Netflix has told us that they’re going to market the film as both a theatrical release in IMAX and a streaming release. So, we’re incredibly excited about that.
via Collider