- New interpretation of beloved book series slated to start in the summer
- Production could see two movies made back-to-back
- Director Greta Gerwig has a two-movie deal with Netflix to produce Narnia movies
Production on a new film adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia films is set to start in August in the UK, according to an update from Netflix.
The streaming service confirmed that production will begin in the late summer and is set to last for seven months.
Greta Gerwig, fresh from her success with Barbie – the biggest grossing film of 2023 – will be directing and writing the script. She has a contract with Netflix to produce two movies for the service.
CS Lewis’ beloved book series has been adapted into movies before. In 2005, there was The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, which was hugely successful, grossing $745 million at the worldwide box office. This was followed in 2008 by Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 2010. This latest adaptation has been in development for some years – Netflix first announced it had teamed up with The CS Lewis Company – which holds the rights to the Narnia series – back in 2018.
Gerwig previously talked about her nervousness in taking on the project to BBC Radio 4, due to her love of the books and wanting to do it correctly.
Given the long slated length of production – much longer than most films now take, which is usually 100 days or less – it has been speculated that the Narnia films will be shot back-to-back, although this has yet to be confirmed.
There are also no details yet on who will be cast in the film. In terms of a potential release date, late 2025 or early 2026 have been given as estimates.
