NARNIA: THE MAGICIAN'S NEPHEW May Be in Trouble as Insider Claims "Everyone at Netflix Thinks the Movie Is Awful"
The first teaser trailer for Narnia: The Magician's Nephew gave fans a promising look at director Greta Gerwig's upcoming Netflix fantasy movie, but a troubling new report suggests things aren't going nearly as well as the footage would have us believe.
The teaser, which featured Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven," seemed to get a pretty positive response from fans of C.S. Lewis' beloved fantasy novels. I actually really liked what I saw! The footage looked great, and it got me excited to see what Gerwig has planned for Narnia.
Unfortunately, trailers can be deceiving, and if the latest rumors are accurate, Netflix may have a serious problem on its hands.
Hollywood insider Jeff Sneider previously reported possible tensions between Gerwig and former Netflix film chief Dan Lin, with the disagreement potentially tied to the movie's rumored $280 million budget.
Now, Sneider has shared some concerning new details in The InSneider, including claims that Netflix executives are extremely unhappy with the film.
According to one source: “It’s 100% true, and everyone at Netflix thinks the movie is awful. It’s a genuine problem,” That's a pretty brutal assessment, especially for a movie carrying such a massive price tag.
Another source reportedly compared the situation to director Ava DuVernay's 2018 Disney fantasy film A Wrinkle in Time, which reportedly lost the studio around $100 million.
Things apparently got even worse following a recent internal screening of Narnia. One insider described the reaction when the movie finished: "The lights came up, the air went out of the room. It was bleak."
According to Sneider, the disappointing screening prompted Netflix to take action. "The reaction to that test screening led Netflix to order reshoots, and a third source indicated that Narnia wouldn’t be the first time Gerwig needed an assist in post-production to 'find' her movie."
He continued: "I’m told that at least one individual — an experienced editor or director, or possibly both, and heretofore unreported — was brought into the editing room to 'save' Barbie, which initially had WB chiefs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy 'very worried.'"
Of course, Barbie went on to become a massive box office hit, so even if those claims are accurate, they also show that a troubled production doesn't necessarily mean the finished movie will be bad.
Sneider also claims that Gerwig may have wanted to walk away from Narnia after the enormous success of Barbie, but Netflix wasn't interested in letting its high-profile filmmaker leave the project.
He explained: "It’s my understanding that Gerwig tried to get out of doing Narnia following Barbie’s overwhelming success, but Netflix, understandably, wouldn’t let her out of the deal. After all, it had the hottest director in town. But I don’t expect Gerwig to return for the Narnia sequel — if there is one."
That's another concerning claim, particularly since Netflix originally brought Gerwig aboard to help launch a new era of Narnia adaptations.
For now, it's important to remember that these are unconfirmed insider reports, and we haven't heard anything official from Gerwig or Netflix addressing the alleged problems.
Reshoots and additional editing are common in Hollywood, and plenty of great movies have gone through difficult post-production periods before coming together.
With Narnia: The Magician's Nephew scheduled to arrive in theaters next February, Gerwig and Netflix still have some time to make adjustments.
I liked what I saw in that first trailer for the film. Gerwig is a talented filmmaker, and I'd love to see her deliver an awesome fantasy adventure that captures the magic of Lewis' books.
It would be a shame to see Netflix's ambitious Narnia franchise stumble before it even gets started. Hopefully, whatever issues the movie may be facing can be worked out, and we'll end up getting something special.