Greta Gerwig debuted the first trailer for Narnia: The Magician's Nephew on Tuesday, and she did it on an IMAX stage at AMC Lincoln Square on New York's Upper West Side. The rollout made Netflix's fantasy project feel built for a theatrical launch even though the film sits inside a streaming company’s slate.
The trailer begins with David McKenna's Digorey Kirke worrying about his “mad” uncle Andrew, played by Daniel Craig, before the children are carried into Narnia with a magical ring. It also shows talking animals and a flying horse, the scene Gerwig said was her favorite to film.
Led Zeppelin on the trailer
The preview is cut to Led Zeppelin's “Stairway to Heaven,” and Gerwig said Robert Plant and Jimmy Page allowed the use of the song after seeing the film. She said they understood her love for C.S. Lewis, and she described the track as the “story of the movie” and a “spiritual quest.”
That choice gives the trailer a clear commercial signal: Netflix is using a song with built-in recognition to sell a film that has not yet reached the public in full. For a project launching under the Netflix banner, the IMAX presentation and the song placement do the work of a conventional big-screen marketing push.
Ted Sarandos and the theater note
Gerwig said she only knows how to make movies for theaters, and she told Ted Sarandos that she begins by imagining watching the film in the theater. Sarandos told her, “Make the movie for the biggest screen you can imagine,” a line that now fits the IMAX debut exactly.
She also said that earlier conversation helped her land the writing-and-directing job, after she was introduced to Netflix when Noah Baumbach made Marriage Story for the streamer. Gerwig said she made a beeline for Sarandos after learning Netflix had acquired the rights to the Chronicles of Narnia books.
After Tuesday's debut
Gerwig said the books were childhood favorites and shaped who she became, which explains why she wanted The Magician's Nephew to be the first film. She also said she was “tearing up” after the trailer debuted, a small but telling reaction after a launch designed to sell scale, not restraint.
The open question is still the one that matters most to viewers: when will Narnia: The Magician's Nephew be released? Until that arrives, Tuesday's trailer is the clearest sign of how Netflix wants the project seen — as a theater-sized event, even before a date is on the board.
