Everyone expects Greta Gerwig’s Barbie to be a big hit, but it looks like the writer-director might be dipping her toe into another big franchise soon. Tucked away in a large New Yorker piece about the future of Mattel films comes a mention that Gerwig’s next job is to write and direct at least two Chronicles of Narnia films for Netflix.
The streamer, which is short on tentpole projects based on existing IP, acquired the rights to C.S. Lewis’ series of classic novels way back in 2018. They had previously been adapted as a series of three films (which, infamously, Andrew Garfield wasn’t considered handsome enough for). The first, Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, had been an enormous hit, grossing over $745 million worldwide (and being forever immortalized in the SNL sketch “Lazy Sunday”), but the sequel Prince Caspian, made significantly less, $419 million. Disney made the first two movies, but the third, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, was made by Fox (ironically acquired by Disney later) and made about as much as Prince Caspian, but that was it for the big-screen series.
Of course, Gerwig has a good pedigree regarding this sort of thing, having made the successful 2019 version of Little Women. With Barbie getting great buzz, Gerwig is in high demand, so it’s not surprising she’s being given the keys to a big franchise. Given that her movies have been so successful on the big screen, one might assume she’d opt for another theatrical tentpole. Still, Netflix may also give her the time, resources and freedom she needs to make these new adaptations into something exceptional. One imagines that with new technology, Aslan will look a lot more impressive now than he did back when Liam Neeson voiced him. Those were cutting-edge movies back in the day, but Gerwig, potentially, could make definitive adaptations of Lewis’ novels.
What do you think of Greta Gerwig jumping into the Chronicles of Narnia? Let us know in the comments!
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