Watch the First Trailer for Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician's Nephew
The Narnia film franchise is set to return to the big screen next year, releasing its very first trailer yesterday:
Narnia: The Magician's Nephew is scheduled to open in theaters on February 12, followed by a Netflix streaming release on April 2. Written and directed by Greta Gerwig (Little Women, Barbie), the film adapts The Magician's Nephew, the sixth novel in the Chronicles of Narnia book series. Because the story takes place chronologically before the other books, it serves as a fresh reboot for the film franchise. Former James Bond star Daniel Craig plays the Magician; Sex Education star Emma Mackey plays the White Witch (Jadis); two-time Academy Award-winning actress Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady) voices the lion Aslan; and the remaining cast features BAFTA Best Actress winner Carey Mulligan (An Education), Ciarán Hinds (Belfast), and child actors David McKenna and Beatrice Campbell. David McKenna plays Digory Kirke, the "magician's nephew" who grows up to become Professor Kirke from the first published novel, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (a role played by Jim Broadbent in the 2005 film adaptation). Additionally, Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt—who composed the music for Barbie and won an Oscar for Best Original Song with "Shallow" from A Star Is Born—will handle the film's score.
On a daring quest to save a life, two friends are hurled into another world, where an evil sorceress seeks to enslave them. But then the lion Aslan's song weaves itself into the fabric of a new land, a land that will be known as Narnia. And in Narnia, all things are possible.
The Narnia series previously launched a three-film franchise starting in 2005 with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, followed by Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The first installment grossed over $700 million, ranking third at the worldwide box office that year and winning an Academy Award for Best Makeup. Unfortunately, the critical and commercial returns of the second and third films failed to match the opener, leaving a planned fourth installment unproduced. This time, Netflix has partnered with Sony Pictures to give the film a proper global theatrical release, breaking away from their usual direct-to-streaming or limited-release strategy. It remains to be seen how the film will perform at the box office. Greta Gerwig’s past directorial efforts—Lady Bird, Little Women, and Barbie—have all earned multiple Academy Award nominations, with Barbie grossing a staggering $1.4 billion to become the highest-grossing film of its year. Whether The Magician's Nephew can replicate that massive success is a question on everyone's mind.
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Photo and Source: Netflix