Netflix debuted the first trailer for Narnia: The Magician's Nephew in New York on Tuesday, and Greta Gerwig made the launch feel like a theatrical event, not a streaming tease. The first public look at Narnia arrived in an IMAX theater atop AMC Lincoln Square on the Upper West Side.
Gerwig said she was tearing up after the trailer debuted. That reaction fits the scale of the rollout: she and Netflix used IMAX to introduce the project before a crowd that saw the film as a big-screen event from the start.
Gerwig's IMAX pitch
Before Tuesday, Gerwig said she only knows how to make movies for theaters, and she told Ted Sarandos that imagining the theater was part of her process. Sarandos answered with a directive Gerwig repeated on stage: "Make the movie for the biggest screen you can imagine."
Gerwig Debuts Narnia Trailer on IMAX Stage also pointed to how Netflix framed the launch around scale, using an IMAX theater rather than a standard promo drop. That choice turns the trailer into more than marketing; it signals how the company wants viewers to read the film's size before release day arrives.
Stairway to Heaven in Narnia
The trailer begins with David McKenna's Digorey Kirke wondering about his uncle Andrew, who is played by Daniel Craig, before the children learn that magic is real and are sent to Narnia with a magical ring. It also shows talking animals and a flying horse, which Gerwig said was her favorite scene to film.
Led Zeppelin had long been reluctant to license its music for movies and TV, yet Gerwig built the trailer around "Stairway to Heaven." She said she showed the film to Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, and that they allowed her to use the song after seeing "the heart of the film"; she also called it the "story of the movie."
From Childhood Books
Gerwig said the Chronicles of Narnia books were some of her favorites from childhood and shaped who she became. She also said she made a beeline for Ted Sarandos at a cocktail party after Netflix acquired the rights to the Chronicles of Narnia books, then told him that The Magician's Nephew should be the first film.
About 20 minutes later, Sarandos asked whether she wanted to write it. That quick turnaround left Netflix with a filmmaker who wanted to lead with the prequel, and with a trailer launch that already pushes the project as a premium theatrical-scale title instead of a routine streaming release.
The only real question left is when Narnia: The Magician's Nephew will reach viewers; Tuesday's reveal gave the first footage, but not the release date. For now, the message is simple: Netflix wants this one seen big, and Gerwig is treating the theater as the point, not the afterthought.
