With the arrival of certain projects, “the big red N” might be about to do something countercultural to its ethos as a company: a massive theatrical release. Yes, the company led by Ted Sarandos has already projected its content in the stands before, but it has always been with the clear intention of competing for prestigious awards like the Golden Globes or the Oscars. But of course, knowing that a few years ago Netflix was a faithful defender of the absence of advertising in its content, any rectification is possible in order to grow even more as a brand. And maybe it happens because bring to the big screen his most anticipated future feature films. Among them, the new adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia what prepares Greta Gerwig.
According to what the American media have reported in recent hours, the director of barbie and Netflix is reportedly in talks about a possible agreement which would allow the arrival of the Chronicles of Narnia in the cinema, notably through the IMAX Cinemas. A collection of 1,800 theaters across the United States, thanks to an exploitation agreement that would keep the film in theaters for up to three to five weeks, reaching the date of Thanksgiving from 2025, obtaining a first in the catalog of the company founded by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph. The format which corresponds to the abbreviation of Maximum image For many, it is the future of box office revenue in cinemas, where, thanks to extraordinary clarity and quality, the system represents a very spectacular attraction for audiences. With the addition of course a corresponding price increase at the entrance. At the time, Gerwig I did not have access to these parts for the film of his Mattel doll and the vast majority of them ended up in Oppenheimer (unfortunately for Tom Cruise and his latest Mission Impossible).
A sign of confidence with cinemas?
Since the rise of Netflix itself, cross declaration and there have been many criticisms of the company. The platform was very detrimental to what the exhibition represents for them and several filmmakers, on the other hand, expressed themselves quite opposed to the films not being viewed in cinemas. Therefore, what could a priori rejection mean? by rival studiosmaybe in this case it will start to be beneficial for the industry as a whole.
However, North American exhibitors may not be as enthusiastic as one might think. IMAX operates in approximately 400 North American cinemasalmost half of which are controlled by the AMC and unlike other services primeIMAX itself controls the programming and takes a portion of the revenue. Thus, some cinema chains prefer to have their own special screens before the Canadian brand occupies the majority of their market share.
In other words, if The Chronicles of Narnia firsts in more than 1,000 roomsexhibitors could program them as they wished. But on the other hand, some American analysts They believe that an exclusive premiere in IMAX harms all the other agents in the chain, with insufficient presence in this format to really make money:
“It becomes wealth for a few and excludes everyone,” a disseminator of the study explained to the media. IndieWire. So it remains to be seen whether IMAX would be willing to abandon any of its planned future partners to include a brand that actively avoids supplying movies to theater owners.
“The Chronicles of Narnia”: release date
We know little or nothing about the version of The Chronicles of Narnia that Gerwig is preparing. The only thing we know at the moment is the most likely participation of Saoirse Ronanbut the literary arc that it will adapt is unknown, nor of course the release date. Although the main reports speak of 2026.
Finally, showing the film in theaters would create a complicated precedent in terms of streaming. Well, many great filmmakers would similarly start demanding that their stories land in theaters. For the moment, Netflix has not commented on the matter, but the company’s important agreements with celluloid personalities of Gerwig’s stature will surely force the terminal to be much more flexible with their policy than they would like. On the other hand, some of its biggest competitors, like Amazon, are making a massive commitment to bringing their original film content to theaters.
