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The Imax-Narnia Nuclear Option

After plenty of negotiation, Netflix recently announced that it will give Greta Gerwig a two-week, Imax-exclusive theatrical run for her upcoming film. Everyone else, from the studios to the exhibitors, isn’t so happy.

Sarandos and Gerwig
When the Narnia deal was announced, most of the town immediately began to hope that it might represent a shift in Netflix’s longstanding policy against putting its movies in theaters. But co-C.E.O. Ted Sarandos shot that down immediately, saying the deal represented “no change at all” to the streamer’s strategy. Photo: Michael Kovac for AFI/Getty Images
Kim Masters
February 25, 2025

Last week, when Imax C.E.O. Rich Gelfond presented the company’s latest quarterly earnings report—which fell short of Wall Street expectations and caused the stock to dip 5 percent in after-hours trading—he had some additional, exciting news to discuss: Netflix had committed to showing Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Narnia film on at least 1,000 Imax screens for an exclusive two-week run starting on Thanksgiving weekend 2026. Netflix would then wait two weeks before debuting the film on Christmas Day. The only problem? Theater owners and studio execs, who are kind of essential to Imax’s business, wanted to throttle him.