Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew is reportedly being made on an enormous $280 million budget, placing it among the most expensive films in Netflix history. The reported figure underlines the streaming giant’s huge ambitions for its new adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ beloved fantasy world, which is scheduled to arrive in theaters in 2027 before moving to Netflix.
The $280 million budget figure was first revealed by Narnia cinematographer Seamus McGarvey during a recent appearance on a We Need to Talk About Oscar Podcast. While Netflix has not officially confirmed the production budget, the reported amount would make Gerwig’s Narnia one of the company’s costliest productions to date and place it close to the streamer’s biggest-budget movies, including The Electric State.
Netflix Is Betting Big on Gerwig’s Narnia
Netflix has officially confirmed that Gerwig is writing and directing Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew, marking the first screen adaptation of the book. The story explores the creation of Narnia and stars David McKenna and Beatrice Campbell alongside Emma Mackey, Carey Mulligan, Ciarán Hinds, Daniel Craig, Meryl Streep, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Denise Gough, and Susan Wokoma.
The reported $280 million budget represents a major increase in scale for Gerwig following the global success of Barbie. However, despite the project’s blockbuster budget, McGarvey has described the filmmaking approach in much more personal terms.
During a recent masterclass, McGarvey called the production
“the biggest budget hand-knitted project”
and said the team worked with
“a dream of poetry in our souls”.
His comments suggest Gerwig is attempting to combine the scale of a major fantasy spectacle with a more handcrafted creative approach.
Netflix is also giving the film an unusually extensive theatrical release. According to Netflix’s official Tudum, Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew will open in IMAX and theaters worldwide on February 12, 2027, with IMAX sneak previews beginning February 10. The film will then arrive on Netflix on April 2, giving it a 49-day theatrical window.
Gerwig has described the project as deeply personal, saying she first fell in love with The Magician’s Nephew as a child. She was particularly drawn to
“the gorgeously improbable but completely brilliant concept of a cosmic lion singing the world of Narnia to life.”
With its reported $280 million price tag, prestige cast, major theatrical rollout, and one of Netflix’s most celebrated filmmakers behind the camera, Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew is shaping up to be one of the streamer’s biggest movie events yet.
