IMAX CEO reveals Netflix and Greta Gerwig have 5+ Narnia movies planned

After the success of Barbie, Greta Gerwig is gearing up to enter the world of Narnia as the filmmaker is set to explore the Chronicles of Narnia for a reboot, and a little update tells us that she will most likely adapt all of C.S. Lewis' masterpieces in the franchise.

The book series consists of seven novels, out of which only three have been adapted for the screen. However, IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond told Wall Streeters that the studio is currently working on around eight films surrounding the novel. This means all of Lewis' novels might see a screen adaptation this time.

“This was a really great movie [for us] because I think there are like eight movies planned"

Gelfond further added on the complexity of the deal and said,

“That deal took a pretty long time to put together. Obviously, there’s a lot of different constituencies with different agendas that go in there. So we really had to construct something that would work for the exhibitors, that would work for Greta, that would work for Netflix, that would work for a lot of people. The right amount of windows. The right amount of playtime. … It’s a fairly complex deal to have met all the various constituencies.”

In 2018, the C.S. Lewis Company and Ted Sarandos, chief content officer at Netflix, announced that the rights to the new television and film adaptations of the Narnia books were bought by Netflix, who planned on creating a franchise around it. A year later in 2019, Matthew Aldrich was hired as the creative architect for the series, and in 2023, Greta Gerwig joined in as the writer and director.

Greta Gerwig's directorial projects

Greta Gerwig has been hailed as one of the best directors of the modern film scene, having worked on less, but significant, critically acclaimed projects, earning her four Oscar nominations for all the three films she has written and directed so far.

Greta Gerwig started off strong with Saoirse Ronan-starrer Ladybird, a coming-of-age film revolving around a rebellious teenage girl. The film earned five nominations for Academy Awards that year and has been hailed as one of the strongest debuts for a director in recent times.

She then went on to adapt two highly beloved projects on screens, Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, which ended up earning six nominations at the Oscars that year; and of course, 2023's biggest film Barbie, through which Greta broke records as the film became the highest-grossing movie directed by a woman.

Knowing her expertise in the field of adaptations, Narnia fans can rest assured that the series is in good hands. The first film in the franchise is expected to be released in November 2026 theatrically, after which it will be available to stream on Netflix from December 2026.