Intro for June 22, 2026

Dear Gossips,

For the entire history of Netflix releasing original films, I have been a straight up hater on the idea of them ever investing in the theatrical business in a meaningful way. This comes after multiple conversations over many years with different people of increasing levels of power within the company who all echoed the same sentiment—it’s not our business model, and whatever theatrical releases we agree to, is just to keep the talent happy. Every filmmaker thinks they’ll be the one to change Netflix’s mind, but no one ever did, not even greats like Jane Campion and Martin Scorsese. Then came Greta Gerwig, wielding her post-Barbie power.

Netflix has finally taken a plunge into theatrical distribution in a big way, partnering with Sony for a global, wide release of Gerwig’s Barbie follow-up, The Magician’s Nephew (adapted from C.S. Lewis’s novel, which is a later entry into The Chronicles of Narnia). Netflix will handle the domestic/North American distribution, which will be a wide release with the film playing in major theater chains including AMC, Regal, Cinemark, and Cineplex, among others. Sony will handle international distribution.

The film was previously set for a holidays 2026 release on 1,000 IMAX screens, which was touted as a wide release but there are only about 1,800 IMAX screens in the whole world. That would amount to a limited release, in actuality. Then the film was moved to a February 2027 release date, which comes with the wide global release of the film with a 45-day exclusive window for theaters. The film will then premiere on Netflix in early April.

So, this is a little bit of a good news/bad news situation. The good news is, Netflix is finally showing some flexibility and becoming amenable to theatrical releases. Theatrical and on demand/streaming are NOT enemies, they do not HAVE to be, they can, in fact, work well together to make everyone more successful. We have a decade-plus of data now that shows that films that premiere theatrically first, even if they bomb, do better on streaming later. It’s good for streaming movies to have healthy theatrical releases.

This may also signal someone at Netflix finally realizing that there is no economic engine capable of powering the film industry like theatrical release, and they are the #1 suspect in the murder of said industry, and maybe they have finally decided to put down the candlestick and stop bludgeoning before it’s too late. It’s probably too much to hope for some level of collegial, inter-industry support from a company that is very reluctant to see itself as a film studio and not a tech company—which is it not, Netflix IS a film studio—but if Netflix repeats this kind of deal with a second movie, well. Perhaps someone finally realized that killing the golden goose is, ultimately, hurting everyone, even streaming platforms.

But the bad news is that bumping The Magician’s Nephew from the holidays, a HUGE movie-going/watching time, to February, a much less robust market, is not a sign of confidence in the film. It kind of makes me think part of what made this a good test subject for Netflix is that they’re already not expecting it to move the needle much. By making it their first wide theatrical release, though, any amount of business it does at the box office will now be seen as a win.

I hope this is not the case, I have enjoyed all of Greta Gerwig’s movies to date, but if Nephew had always been a theatrical-bound movie, a December to February push would not be a good sign. You don’t move films you expect to perform well out of the holiday frame. Perhaps the silver lining is that now the film will not have to compete with Dunesday, the December matchup of Dune: Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday.

Until I see something compelling with my own eyes, I assume this date move was to give The Magician’s Nephew a better chance of survival than in the already overcrowded December market. But moving to February, only slightly better than the January box office boneyard, isn’t a confidence builder. But hey, at least Netflix is finally experimenting with wide theatrical releases. That is a win for everyone.

Live long and gossip,

Sarah