Narnia Replacement Announced for IMAX
Door Jam: May 25, 2026
With Netflix moving Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew from the week of Thanksgiving to February, IMAX had an empty weekend.
This is a rare occurrence because studios often negotiate those slots months or even years in advance. They covet exclusive IMAX windows to generate extra box office through the higher ticket price.
Last week, IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond told the J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Telecommunications Conference that the theater chain was “on the verge” of replacing Narnia on the Thanksgiving weekend.
Gelfond shared some information about Narnia at the conference, including asserting that IMAX played a role in securing the movie’s wide theatrical release.
“The final thing I would say is Narnia itself. So as you know, February is traditionally a very weak month; it’s moved to Super Bowl week, which is traditionally a very weak date … we have been working hard with Greta, as you recall from the press release, you know, I think we played a role in Netflix agreeing to open it up very wide. We still have an exclusive for the first couple of days going forward. They are going to lean in with a lot of marketing to it. So if I’m right, and we have a really good replacement, the movement today looks like not the best thing, but I think people will be comfortable that it’s not only good for us, but good for the whole business, because we help turn that into a “Day and Date” release wide.”
Some had hoped Disney would move Avengers to Narnia’s previous slot. Currently, Marvel Studios can’t open Avengers: Doomsday in IMAX because Dune 3 secured the mid-December release date. But Disney remained on their release date without IMAX. Instead, Narnia may have moved, but Netflix kept the spot.
Variety reported, “The Adventures of Cliff Booth, the unofficial title for the sequel to Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, will debut in IMAX this Thanksgiving.”
Netflix secured the rights to the movie and will give it a similar debut to what it had previously planned for Narnia. Cliff Booth will get an exclusive two-week run on IMAX screens starting Nov. 25. It will land on the streamer on Dec. 23.
While we still don’t know how faithful an adaptation or even how good a movie Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew will be, it is certainly proving to be a historic and consequential movie.
I had already shared this news in our new paid subscriber chat. I will share the latest news there first, as well as some great Lewis quotes and any Lewis or Tolkien book deals. This week, we’ll also discuss what we most appreciated from our read-along of The Magician’s Nephew. Become a paid subscriber.
Not Safe But Good
C.S. Lewis quote of the week
The first demand any work of any art makes upon you is surrender. Look Listen. Receive. Get yourself out of the way. (There is no good asking first whether the work before you deserves such a surrender, for until you have surrendered, you cannot possibly find out.)
The Problem of Printers
Bad C.S. Lewis book covers
Through the sands of time … man is abolished or something.
Behind the Wardrobe
Sneak peek at the bonus articles
Lots of talk on Netflix’s Narnia adaptation
How Dante inspired Lewis and other writers
U.K. mints a Tolkien coin with a hidden feature
Upcoming video game offers the chance to fully explore the Middle-earth map
A surprising comic book movie influenced Hunt for Gollum movie
And more!
