Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew: 11 Things to Know Before the 12 February UK Release

By the Filmoria News Desk

Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew is Greta Gerwig’s $280 million Netflix adaptation of C.S. Lewis’s 1955 prequel novel, and it opens in cinemas and IMAX worldwide, including the UK, on 12 February 2027, with IMAX sneak previews from 10 February. It then streams on Netflix UK from 2 April 2027. The first trailer, scored to Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven”, arrived on 13 October 2026 and has split fans down the middle.

This is a ranked list of the 11 most important things to know about Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew before it reaches UK cinemas on 12 February 2027. Items are ordered by how directly they affect a UK viewer, starting with release dates and how to watch, then the trailer, story and cast, and finishing with the production, budget and the debate around Gerwig’s take.

1. UK Release Date: 12 February 2027 (Netflix, Cinemas and IMAX)

What makes it stand out: It’s the first Netflix film ever to get a full, wide, global cinema release rather than a token qualifying run.

Key data: IMAX sneak previews from 10 February 2027, wide release in IMAX and standard cinemas on 12 February 2027, then Netflix on 2 April 2027.

Why it matters: UK audiences will be able to see it on the biggest screens available for around seven weeks before it lands on their Netflix subscription.

The date you need is Friday 12 February 2027. That’s when Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew opens “in IMAX and wide globally in cinemas”, to use Netflix’s own wording, and the UK is part of that global rollout. Two days earlier, on Wednesday 10 February, IMAX screens start sneak previews. Netflix hasn’t yet listed which British venues will run those previews, so keep an eye on the BFI IMAX at Waterloo and the big Odeon and Cineworld IMAX sites once tickets go on sale.

The timing is smart. Mid-February in the UK means half-term for a lot of schools, and a family fantasy landing right before a week off is about as old-fashioned a release plan as you can get. Which is the point. This film was originally meant to play only briefly in IMAX over the American Thanksgiving weekend in November 2026, then go straight to Netflix on Christmas Day. That plan is gone.

Ticket prices haven’t been announced, and there’s no BBFC certificate yet either. Given the source material, a PG or 12A feels likely, but nobody has confirmed it, so treat any rating you see online as guesswork until the BBFC publishes its decision.

2. The Netflix Window: Cinemas First, Streaming on 2 April 2027

What makes it stand out: Netflix agreed to a standard exclusive cinema window, something it had refused for years.

Key data: The delay was announced on 1 May 2026; AMC’s chief executive Adam Aron said the film is committed to a 49-day exclusive window, with Netflix streaming from 2 April 2027.

Why it matters: If it works, it could change how Netflix releases its biggest films, and give UK cinemas a share of streaming-era blockbusters they’ve mostly missed out on.

When Netflix pushed the film from late 2026 into 2027, the headline was the delay. The real story was what came with it. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos confirmed a fully exclusive theatrical run, and AMC’s Adam Aron said the film was committed to a 49-day window before it hits the streamer. Some reports put it at 45 days; count from 12 February and 2 April lands at 49.

Exhibitors were delighted. Aron said AMC in the US and Odeon across Europe would “throw everything we have into the mix” to support the release, and the US trade body Cinema United welcomed it too. Odeon is AMC-owned, which is why its support matters here: it’s one of the UK’s biggest chains. Not everyone was convinced. Regal reportedly baulked at the shorter-than-traditional window, according to trade coverage.

Gerwig had pushed for this. She was reportedly unhappy about the idea of her Narnia films being limited to Netflix, and she later framed the move as giving the film a proper global cinema release. One report also linked the delay to a cast member’s injury that paused production for several weeks, though that hasn’t been confirmed by Netflix and we’ve only seen it in a single source.

3. What the First Trailer Reveals (13 October 2026, Netflix)

What makes it stand out: It’s scored to Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven”, a song the band almost never licenses.

Key data: The trailer premiered on 13 October 2026 on an IMAX screen at AMC Lincoln Square in New York and reportedly passed 34 million YouTube views in two days.

Why it matters: It’s the first real look at Gerwig’s Narnia, and the reaction to it is shaping the whole conversation about the film.

Netflix didn’t just drop the trailer online. It launched it at a morning event in New York, on the IMAX screen at AMC Lincoln Square, with two behind-the-scenes featurettes and a long on-stage conversation between Gerwig and Stephen Colbert. Colbert, now between jobs after The Late Show, made a couple of jokes about that, and also asked the obvious question: how on earth did they get “Stairway to Heaven”?

The music is the first thing anyone mentions. Zeppelin rarely license their songs, and this one carries a lot of weight. Gerwig has linked it to the faith that runs through Lewis’s books, which fits a story where a lion literally sings a world into being.

Visually, the trailer goes big and cosmic. Reviewers picked out the image of a vast, star-made Aslan painting a universe into existence, Emma Mackey’s almost unrecognisable Jadis, and Daniel Craig as a frazzled Uncle Andrew. It’s much less cosy than the Walden Media films of the 2000s. The Film Stage described a “fantastical world”; the AV Club called it a “multiverse of wonder”. That word, multiverse, turns out to be part of the problem for some fans (see item 11).

A YouTube analytics tracker logged about 13.5 million views on Netflix’s main upload within a day or so, and several outlets reported more than 34 million views across platforms within two days. Either way, people watched it.

4. The Poster: “A Universe Begins” (12 October 2026, Netflix)

What makes it stand out: It sells the film with almost no characters at all, just a giant silhouette of Aslan made of stars.

Key data: Released on Netflix’s social channels the day before the trailer, it carries the tagline “A Universe Begins”, “A Film by Greta Gerwig”, “Only in Theaters February 12” and an IMAX credit.

Why it matters: Even sceptical fans liked it, and it confirmed that cinemas, not Netflix, are the headline in this campaign.

Netflix teased the trailer with a single image. Aslan in profile, huge, his mane trailing off into the stars. Digory and Polly are there too, small figures riding the winged horse Fledge through a band of light, but you have to look for them. Creative Bloq’s writer admitted the poster was winning them over to what they called a “controversial reboot”.

Look at the small print and you’ll see how deliberate the messaging is. “Only in Theaters.” “Experience it in IMAX.” For a Netflix film, that’s unusual, and it tells you how seriously the company is taking this release. A new Narnia logo had already appeared back in September, and Netflix has since added fresh widescreen artwork to its title page.

5. The Story: How Narnia Was Born (C.S. Lewis, 1955)

What makes it stand out: It’s the first screen version ever of The Magician’s Nephew, the origin story of Narnia itself.

Key data: Published in 1955, the novel is sixth in publication order but first in the chronology of the seven Chronicles of Narnia.

Why it matters: Starting here gives Netflix a clean slate, free of comparisons with the 2005 Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

If you only know Narnia from the wardrobe, this one’s a different beast. The book is set in London decades before the Pevensies. Digory Kirke, a lonely boy whose mother is seriously ill, makes friends with Polly Plummer, the girl next door. Digory’s Uncle Andrew is a vain, cowardly amateur magician who has made rings that can send people out of our world. He tricks Polly into touching one, she vanishes, and Digory has to go after her.

The rings take them to the Wood Between the Worlds, a quiet place full of pools, each one a doorway to another world. One leads to Charn, a dead city where Digory, against Polly’s warnings, wakes the Empress Jadis. She follows them back to London and causes chaos before everyone tumbles into a dark, empty world. Then a lion starts to sing, and Narnia is created in front of them.

That’s where the big set pieces come from: the birth of a world, talking animals waking up, the lamp-post growing out of the ground. It’s also where you learn where the White Witch came from, why there’s a lamp-post in the middle of a wood, and how a wardrobe ends up in an old professor’s house. Fans call that last bit the payoff, and Gerwig’s poster tagline, “A Universe Begins”, sums up the whole book in three words.

Underneath the fantasy is a story about a child facing his mother’s illness and a temptation to do the wrong thing for the right reason. If Gerwig nails that, the CGI arguments won’t matter much.

6. Cast and Characters (Netflix Press Release, May 2026)

What makes it stand out: Two unknown young leads from Belfast are surrounded by an unusually heavyweight British and Irish supporting cast.

Key data: David McKenna plays Digory Kirke, Beatrice Campbell plays Polly Plummer, Daniel Craig plays Uncle Andrew, Emma Mackey plays Jadis and Meryl Streep voices Aslan.

Why it matters: The casting choices, especially Streep as Aslan, are already among the most-discussed decisions in the film.

Here’s who’s in it, based on Netflix’s confirmed cast list and the most reliable reporting:

• David McKenna as Digory Kirke. The boy who wakes Jadis and, years later, becomes the professor who owns the wardrobe.
• Beatrice Campbell as Polly Plummer. Digory’s neighbour and the steadier head of the pair. Both young leads are from Belfast, Lewis’s home city, which the Irish News was quick to point out.
• Daniel Craig as Uncle Andrew. The magician of the title. First-look photos had people calling it Craig’s weirdest role yet, and he looks almost unrecognisable.
• Emma Mackey as Jadis. The future White Witch. The Sex Education and Barbie actor is also hard to spot in the trailer.
• Meryl Streep as Aslan. Streep voices the lion. It’s the casting that’s drawn the most comment, and Gerwig has defended it without directly addressing Aslan’s gender.
• Carey Mulligan. Widely reported as Mabel Kirke, Digory’s sick mother. Mulligan has confirmed she’s in the film, though Netflix hasn’t formally named her character.
• Denise Gough. Reported as likely playing Letitia Ketterley, Uncle Andrew’s sister. Gough herself teased a “mean” role.
• Kobna Holdbrook-Smith as Francis. In the book, the London cabby Frank becomes Narnia’s first king.
• Ciarán Hinds, Susan Wokoma and Samantha Spiro in roles Netflix hasn’t disclosed yet.

It’s a very British cast for a very British book, and Craig in particular feels like a nice bit of mischief. He spent 15 years as Bond; now he’s a spineless magician who sends children off to do his dirty work.

7. Greta Gerwig’s Vision: A “Rock Opera” (Writer-Director)

What makes it stand out: Gerwig has said she conceived Narnia as “a world made out of music” and wanted the film to feel like a rock opera.

Key data: Gerwig signed in 2023 to write and direct at least two Narnia films for Netflix, after drafting her first script in 2020 and 2021; this is her first film since Barbie (2023).

Why it matters: Her last film made more than $1 billion worldwide, and her take here is far bolder than a straight storybook adaptation.

Gerwig’s connection to these books is personal, and she doesn’t hide it. “I don’t remember a time I didn’t know the books,” she told Variety. “I wouldn’t be who I am without these books.” At the New York event she called reading them a foundational experience of her childhood.

The rock opera idea is less strange than it sounds once you remember the source. In The Magician’s Nephew, Aslan doesn’t wave a paw and make a world. He sings it. Stars appear as he sings, then hills, then grass, then animals. Building the film’s identity around music, and a song as huge as “Stairway to Heaven”, follows directly from that.

She’s also spoken openly about Lewis’s Christian faith, which shaped every one of these books. That matters to a big part of the Narnia audience, who were nervous about what Netflix and the director of Barbie might do with it. The C.S. Lewis Company, for its part, said it was “incredibly moving” to see how deeply Gerwig had embraced Lewis’s world.

The origin of the project is a good Hollywood story too. Gerwig reportedly pitched herself to Ted Sarandos at a cocktail party, years before the deal was public.

8. The Crew Behind It (Ronson, Wyatt, Durran, Chinlund)

What makes it stand out: Gerwig has brought back key Barbie collaborators, starting with Mark Ronson on the score.

Key data: Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt compose; James Chinlund is reported as production designer, Jacqueline Durran as costume designer and Seamus McGarvey as director of photography.

Why it matters: This is a team that knows how to build a whole world and make it look and sound distinctive.

Ronson’s involvement was confirmed by Variety, and Andrew Wyatt, his Oscar-winning partner on “Shallow” and co-writer of Barbie’s “I’m Just Ken”, is credited alongside him. Since Gerwig wants the film to play like a rock opera, the score carries more weight than usual.

Jacqueline Durran is a big get for a period-set film. She’s won Oscars for Anna Karenina and Gerwig’s Little Women, and she also dressed Barbie. The Edwardian London of the book is right in her wheelhouse. James Chinlund is reported as production designer, and Seamus McGarvey, the Northern Irish cinematographer behind Atonement, is reported to be shooting it, though Netflix hasn’t officially confirmed his name.

On the producing side, Amy Pascal and Mark Gordon are credited alongside Vincent Sieber-Smith and Gerwig herself. Executive producers reportedly include Douglas Gresham, Lewis’s stepson, who has guarded the books for decades and was a producer on the earlier Walden Media films.

9. Made in Britain: Shepperton, Longcross, Cardington, Manchester and Bradford (2025 to 2026)

What makes it stand out: The whole film was shot in England, across three studios at once.

Key data: Principal photography began in August 2025 and ran about six months, wrapping in London, with Shepperton Studios as the main base plus Longcross and Cardington.

Why it matters: It’s one of the biggest productions to shoot in the UK in recent years, and a significant job for British crews.

Filming started in August 2025 and was based at Shepperton in Surrey, with Longcross and Cardington running at the same time. That’s a lot of studio space for one film. Cardington’s giant airship hangars in Bedfordshire have been used for some huge sets over the years, so it’s a safe bet that’s where the biggest builds lived.

There was location work too. Manchester’s Victoria Baths hosted a short block of filming from 26 to 30 August 2025, and the production also shot in Bradford and around London. Set photos from those days gave the first glimpse of McKenna and Campbell in costume and of Mackey’s Jadis. The shoot officially wrapped in early 2026, and Netflix added the last batch of cast names around the same time.

For a story so rooted in London, it makes sense. The book’s middle act has Jadis loose on the streets of turn-of-the-century London, stealing a cab and terrorising passers-by. The Edwardian brick and tile of places like Victoria Baths do a lot of that work for you.

10. The $280 Million Bet (Netflix, Rights Bought in 2018)

What makes it stand out: AP reports a budget of $280 million, which would make it one of the most expensive films Netflix has ever made.

Key data: Netflix bought the global rights to all seven Chronicles of Narnia books in 2018; Gerwig is attached to write and direct at least two films.

Why it matters: Netflix needs this to launch a long-running franchise, not just a single hit.

The Associated Press put the budget at $280 million in its report on the trailer launch. Netflix hasn’t confirmed that figure itself, but if it’s right, the film sits among the most expensive the streamer has made. That number also helps explain the cinema release. A film that costs this much needs to feel like an event, and a cinema run earns money and attention in a way a quiet Netflix drop doesn’t.

The deal goes back to 2018, when Netflix bought global rights to the whole Narnia series from the C.S. Lewis Company. That’s seven books, and a lot of potential films and series. For years nothing much happened publicly. Then, in July 2023, reports said Gerwig would write and direct at least two Narnia films, and Netflix later confirmed it.

The obvious comparison is the earlier franchise. Disney and Walden Media’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was a huge hit in 2005, but the series lost steam and stopped after The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 2010. Netflix wants to avoid that drop-off, and starting with the origin story gives it room to plan.

11. The Backlash: Why the Trailer Split Fans (October 2026)

What makes it stand out: The reaction was loud in both directions, from fans who got chills to others who called it “an insult to both Lewis and Zeppelin”.

Key data: Complaints centred on the heavy CGI, the Marvel-style cosmic look, the rock soundtrack and Streep’s casting as Aslan.

Why it matters: How Netflix responds in the next trailer will tell us a lot about how confident it is in Gerwig’s version.

Not everyone loved it. A chunk of fans said the trailer didn’t feel like Narnia, looking more like science fiction than a children’s fantasy. The cosmic imagery led to comparisons with Marvel, which isn’t what most Lewis readers want to hear. One widely quoted fan comment called it “an insult to both Lewis and Zeppelin”, and the Streep casting drew its own wave of complaints.

Other people loved exactly the same things. Several outlets called it a visually dazzling, punk-rock delight, and the image of a lion painting a universe into existence got plenty of genuine excitement. Gerwig, for her part, has laid out her case calmly and hasn’t backed away from any of the big choices.

It’s worth remembering that the Barbie marketing was divisive at first too, and that turned out fine. A second trailer, with more of the story and more of the London scenes, is the obvious next step before February. Until then, the argument is really about tone, and nobody outside Netflix has seen the finished film.

Should You Be Excited?

Yes, with your eyes open. Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew has a hugely talented director who clearly loves the books, a cast full of serious British actors, and a release plan that treats it like a genuine cinema event. It also has a trailer that worried a lot of the people it most needs to win over. Twelve February 2027 is the date to circle. If you want the full-size version, the IMAX previews from 10 February are your best shot, and if you’d rather wait, it’s on Netflix UK from 2 April.

Sources: Associated Press, TheWrap, Screen Daily, What’s on Netflix, Film Music Reporter, NarniaWeb.

Frequently Asked Questions

📸 Follow us on Instagram for daily film, TV & gaming news: @filmoriauk