Greta Gerwig's 'Narnia' Is Netflix's First Major IMAX Debut
When Netflix transitioned to streaming originals in 2013, it made the move to " disrupt" the entertainment industry. It's certainly done that: destroying cable, sending multiple successful production studios into bankruptcy, and changing how the average person consumes television. But it's also been forced to concede that its ideas failed on many fronts — including adding commercials, live-streaming broadcasts, and moving away from binge drops (while refusing to admit they are absolutely terrible for most shows). Now, Greta Gerwig has won a significant victory, forcing Netflix to put her big-budget Narnia films in theaters for a six-week run, a tacit admission that "straight to streaming" is the new "straight to DVD."
Netflix has been weirdly stubborn in admitting its "we don't need theaters" schtick is backfiring the same way binge-releasing highly-anticipated seasons of Stranger Things and Bridgerton has hamstrung their most significant hits by reducing the amount of cultural oxygen they receive. (Deciding to randomly split the seasons into two or three parts without consulting your show creators is not a solution.) In the last year, Netflix has lost out on multiple high-profile projects it was bidding on — and offering millions of dollars more for — because it would not commit to doing a theatrical run of any meaningful length. (Putting films in the theaters for a week is not a meaningful amount of time.)
Among the movies that Netflix's stance has lost are Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights, which chose Warner Bros. instead despite being offered an order of magnitude less money, and Peter Morgan's Patriots. The latter was supposed to become a Netflix film after the streaming service sponsored its Broadway limited run, but it is now in limbo because Morgan wants a theatrical release to give it a chance at Oscar gold. And Daniel Craig, star of the Knives Out series, may be unable to pull the third film, Wake Up Dead Man, from Netflix's grasp. However, after that nonsensical "one week release" for Glass Onion, he's openly campaigning to anyone who will listen that Netflix needs to put the film on the big screen for a real run.
