The Big Picture
After taking over the world with 2017’s Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig made herself a household name and caught the attention of Hollywood’s high-brass. Since the critically acclaimed Saoirse Ronan-led film, Gerwig has continued to shine with projects including Little Women, and most recently, the box office crusher, Barbie. Firing off hit after hit, Gerwig is someone who any studio would be lucky to have attached to an upcoming project. While she hasn’t yet teamed with a streamer (in a solo directorial capacity), audiences were thrilled over the summer to learn that Gerwig would be working with Netflix on a new batch of The Chronicles of Narnia films. During an interview with Scott Stuber, Head of Netflix Film, at the grand reopening of the American Cinematheque at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood, Collider’s Steve Weintraub gained some more information surrounding Gerwig’s premiere team up with the streaming platform.
Digging into what subscribers can expect to add to their queues over the next year or so, Weintraub asked Stuber about the projects that he was most excited to see roll out. Unsurprisingly, the Netflix head gleefully mentioned working with Gerwig. “Well, I think people know that we’re aspirationally trying to get Greta Gerwig’s [The Chronicles of] Narnia together and get that movie, which will be next year,” he revealed. While little is known about how the Barbie helmer will adapt C.S. Lewis’ beloved books into an on-screen format, at this point, she’s attached to see two films through.
Though fans and Stuber have nothing but the utmost confidence in Gerwig’s vision behind The Chronicles of Narnia, the filmmaker has been very open about her anxieties. Back in July, she admitted, “I haven’t even really started wrapping my arms around it. But I’m properly scared of it, which feels like a good place to start.” Feeling the fear and doing it anyway is the best way to tackle any project as high of a caliber as this one, and it will be thrilling to see how Gerwig puts her own spin on the fantastical tale.
Netflix’s Dive Into Literary Catalogs
During their conversation, Weintraub also got curious about how the streamer handles its output of original IP versus stories that come from catalogs like Lewis’. “We’ve tried to be aggressive in those places you’ve noticed,” Stuber revealed, adding,
“We went out and got the C.S. Lewis library. We went out and got [Roald] Dahl, so we have an opportunity to make some of those animated features around Charlie and some of those great titles. We went out and got some of those video games.”
Already gaining speed with Dahl’s sprawling and colorful world of content, Netflix recently put out the Benedict Cumberbatch-led, Wes Anderson-directed short film, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. Promising that more is on the way, fans will need to stay tuned to see what Stuber and the rest of his team have up their sleeves. At this time, no more details surrounding Gerwig’s The Chronicles of Narnia have been released but, by Stuber’s comments, it would seem that plans will be moving forward in 2024. Check out the trailer for The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar below:
