It sounds like this week or next, Greta Gerwig’s going to be filming some scenes for The Magician’s Nephew with IMAX cameras. This is pretty typical of IMAX-released films going way back, that some sequences in movies released on IMAX screens will have sequences that take up more of the screen. If you don’t know why, it’s because IMAX screens are much taller than a traditional movie theater screen, so there’s a lot of room for more.
There have been many films that have sequences shot for IMAX, including many Marvel films. You can see some examples on Disney+. There are several, but for example, Captain America: Brave New World, when you go to the listing, you can either click “play,” or go down to the bottom of the screen where you’ll see the typical options for “suggested,” “extras,” and “details.” However, between extras and details, you’ll see another option: “versions.” When you click on that, you’ll see Captain America: Brave New World as well as IMAX Enhanced – Captain America: Brave New World. The description reads “IMAX Enhanced features IMAX’s expanded aspect ratio for some or all scenes, as originally presented in IMAX theaters.
Many people, when they find out I have a Narnia website, will ask me how many Narnia books there are, because they honestly don’t know, or don’t recall. Here’s part of an interview with IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond, who also doesn’t know how many Narnia books there are, as you’ll see or read below, discussing the Narnia film, as well as if they are planning to do any more IMAX deals very quickly, like the one they made with Netflix for this Narnia film.
So, when you announced that deal with Netflix for Narnia, you said you weren’t in a rush to do any more of them. Is that still true?
I’d like this to be the first one because Greta has a certain vision, and she’s filming it with IMAX cameras. As a matter of fact, if this was next week, I’d know more because I’m going to see where she’s filming.
The way she describes it—the scope and scale—I think once she realized she was making this for streaming, she called up and said, “Rich, I think this is bigger than just streaming. I think we could create a franchise.” And one of the things IMAX is really good at is creating franchises.
We don’t see ourselves just as a theater. We see ourselves as a platform, and our platform really helps build loyalty and these franchises. I think Netflix realized there are eight or nine books—they’re not just launching a movie; they’re launching a long-range franchise.
I’m incredibly excited. I wish I could tell you more of what she’s doing, but she would probably have my head cut off if I did. Narnia people know it as a kids’ story, a Christmas story. She’s going to make it appeal to a much broader demographic in a more modern way. I think the IMAX core audience is going to like it a lot.
I’m really excited. I think the numbers could be bigger than people realize. You’ll remember we did Oppenheimer, which was a biopic about a physicist, and it did $160 million in IMAX even with competitors in other theaters. So, if this is well executed—which it will be—and there’s great music around it, I think it’ll be an amazing experience.
As you may not already know, in addition to some sequences being shot on IMAX, they are filming the rest of the movie in 35mm VistaVision.
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