‘Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew’ Netflix Release Date Revealed, Will Be Released in Theaters First

In an interesting development, Netflix has confirmed that the upcoming Narnia movie will be released in theaters first before hitting the streaming platform. Based on the second-to-last book in the series, Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew will be released in theaters starting February 12, 2027, worldwide, including IMAX. The film will exclusively stay in theaters for six weeks before it arrives on April 2, 2027, on Netflix across the globe.

Although The Magician’s Nephew, the second last book in C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series as per the release order, the story leads to the event of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. So, it's kind of a prequel and a film that has never been made before. It’s a standalone adventure that explains the creation of Narnia, the origin of the White Witch, and how the magical wardrobe later connects our world to hers.

Written for the screen and directed by Greta Gerwig, the cast includes David McKenna, Beatrice Campbell, Emma Mackey, Carey Mulligan, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, with Daniel Craig and Meryl Streep, Ciarán Hinds, Denise Gough, and Susan Wokoma. The film will feature an original score by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, the duo who previously collaborated with Gerwig on Barbie, with music supervision by George Drakoulias.

In the film set in 1900 London, curious children Digory Kirke (David McKenna) and Polly Plummer (Beatrice Campbell) are tricked by Digory’s eccentric Uncle Andrew (Daniel Craig) into using magical rings that transport them first to the eerie “Wood Between the Worlds,” then to the dying, ruined city of Charn. There, they awaken the powerful and evil Queen Jadis (who will later become the White Witch), played by Emma Mackey. Accidentally dragging her back through the worlds, the children witness Aslan the Lion singing the brand-new land of Narnia into existence. Digory must then complete a dangerous quest to plant a magical apple that will protect the young world from Jadis’s evil—while also learning about temptation, courage, and mercy.

“Working with Netflix to bring this film to life has been extraordinary, and IMAX continues to be an incredible partner. I cannot wait for people to see the film in theaters,” says Gerwig. “I was a child when I first read The Magician’s Nephew, and I fell in love with the gorgeously improbable but completely brilliant concept of a cosmic lion singing the world of Narnia to life,” says Gerwig. “I didn’t know that I would grow up to make films, but a universe built out of music is an idea that always lived in my heart. It is the honor of a lifetime to be asked to imagine it into being. Because of C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, I believed in magic and hidden worlds and adventure. I believed that anywhere could be enchanted and that anyone could be swept up into an epic. That wonder and awe were available to everyone, even ordinary people like me... It transformed me.”