Narnia fans, get ready to celebrate! After a long 13-year wait, The Chronicles of Narnia series is making a grand comeback. Netflix has officially enlisted Barbie’s Greta Gerwig to write and direct not just one, but two film adaptations.
According to The New Yorker, the 39-year-old director isn’t returning to work on another Mattel film anytime soon. Instead, she’ll venture into the high fantasy realm of C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia.
Netflix secured the exclusive rights to the beloved franchise in 2018, marking the first time a single company held the rights to the entire Narnia universe.
Last year, Netflix announced its ambitious plan to create multiple films and television shows from the Narnia IP, signing on Coco co-writer Matthew Aldrich as the creative architect to oversee all projects associated with the franchise. Mark Gordan, Douglas Gresham, and Vincent Sieber were also handpicked to join the Narnia adventure as executive producers for the films and producers for the upcoming shows.
Hollywood’s initial attempt to adapt The Chronicles of Narnia into films first took off in 2005 with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, directed by Andrew Adamson. The film was a box office sensation, raking in over $745 million worldwide against a $180 million production budget and even nabbing an Academy Award for Best Makeup.
The success continued with the second and third films, Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which collectively grossed $835.2 million. However, plans for the next installment, The Magician’s Nephew, hit a roadblock when Walden Media’s rights to the Narnia IP expired in 2011.
Netflix has been tight-lipped about its approach to adapting the seven-book series. The big question on everyone’s minds is whether Netflix will opt for a complete franchise reboot or concentrate solely on the remaining four books that haven’t been brought to life on screen.
While Greta Gerwig has already established herself as one of the more prominent female directors in Hollywood, this will be her first foray of a big IP adaptation. Her previous directorial works include Nights and Weekends, Lady Bird, Little Women, and the upcoming summer blockbuster Barbie.
Speaking of Barbie, there’s some bad news for Barbie fans in Vietnam. The highly anticipated comedy film has been banned in the country due to an image in the film that showcases the disputed map of the South China Sea.
As a result, fans will have to find alternative ways to catch the film, as it won’t be hitting theaters in Vietnam.
