In what has been the worst stored secret on the planet since Woody Allen performed Michael’s Pub in NYC, Greta Gerwig’s streaming adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ Narnia, is getting an unique two week Imax world run in 90 international locations throughout 1,000 auditoriums upfront of the pic’s drop on Netflix.
Narnia will launch in Imax on Thanksgiving Day 2026 (Nov. 26) and debut on Netflix on Christmas Day 2026. Presently, the opposite films booked round Thanksgiving 2026 are Lionsgate’s The Starvation Video games: Dawn on the Reaping and an untitled Warner Bros occasion title (each Nov. 20, 2026) and an untitled Disney animation film on Nov. 25, 2026. Over Thanksgiving (and into Christmas) there was an enormous jockey by studios for Imax and PLF screens with Moana 2 and Depraved. The identical might be true for subsequent yr’s vacation.
No particular and clear phrase but if Narnia goes wider or if the streamer will scream their grosses to the sky like they do their world viewership numbers, however the final time Netflix made an enormous splash on screens over Thanksgiving was for Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Film, in 2022 which made $15M in its first week unique run in what was a restricted (lower than 900 theaters), largely offered out stunt, a month earlier than winding up on the service.
It has been on the market that Gerwig has been yeaning a theatrical run for Narnia, the query is whether or not Netflix fully caves to a large launch. Rival movement image studio executives welcome the day when Netflix lastly commits to a large theatrical run with a window, however alas, on the finish of the day, the large display has been used as a tool to remind subscribers to observe at dwelling. As well as, Netflix has used theatrical to qualify their titles with the Oscars. The Netflix operates and books massive display basic venues The Paris in NYC and the American Cinematheque Egyptian Theatre in LA.
It’s not the primary time that Imax has teamed with Netflix or for that matter a streamer. Imax labored with Netflix on the day-and-date launch of 2016’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Future. In addition they had been concerned in a choose Imax run of Paul Thomas Anderson’s musical brief Anima in June 2019. Imax was additionally a part of streamer Apple’s extensive theatrical releases for Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon.
“The partnership underscores the worth of Imax as a worldwide occasion platform and reinforces its relationships with the world’s best filmmakers. It additionally demonstrates Imax’s dedication to bringing distinctive occasions and experiences to its followers and exhibition companions all over the world,” reads a bullet level in a launch.
In 2018, Netflix introduced it will develop new collection and movie tasks primarily based on C.S. Lewis’ beloved The Chronicles of Narnia collection and introduced Gerwig on board in 2020. It’s Gerwig’s following as much as delivering Warner Bros. their highest grossing film ever, Barbie ($1.44 billion) which additionally scored an Oscar win for Billie Eilish and Finneas unique music “What Was I Made For?”
