A leading figure in American independent cinema, Greta Gerwig seems to take a liking to big productions. While her Barbie, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, is expected in theaters on July 19, the director of Lady Bird and Dr. March's Daughters already has her eyes on a new franchise of size. According to the specialized press, the filmmaker was chosen by Netflix to resurrect The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. The platform recovered the rights to the classics of children's literature in 2018.
Greta Gerwig would have been commissioned to direct two feature films. No details have filtered out about the plot at the heart of these projects. A prolific author and friend of Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings), C. S. Lewis has written seven novels set in this mythological realm where animals are gifted with speech, where magic prevails and where the forces of good and evil clash. An eternal conflict whose effects are felt even in our world. Narnia allows only young souls with the purest hearts to penetrate into its bosom to defend it.
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Long unknown in France where they were published under the name The Chronicles of Narnia, The Chronicles of Narnia are a staple of Anglo-Saxon children's literature. Selling more than 100 million copies, this odyssey mixes Christian themes with figures and archetypes from ancient mythology and traditional British and Celtic tales.
A franchise, shooting star at the box office
In the midst of the Harry Potter wave that had brought Warner's rival studio to the top of the global box office, Disney had tried to explore this potential in two films. The Lion, the White Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian featured the Pevensie siblings. These four children fleeing the German bombing of London during the Second World War find refuge in an old mansion in the English countryside. During a game of hide and seek, they discover in the back of a cupboard an access to the wonderful world of Narnia where they are welcomed and guided by the benevolent and omniscient lion Aslan.
The quartet soon finds themselves on the front line of the great battle between Aslan and the White Witch, played by Tilda Swinton, who keeps the inhabitants of Narnia in a freezing winter and forbids any contact with humans.
If The Lion, the White Witch and the Wardrobe had collected, in 2005, 745 million dollars in revenue, Prince Caspian had disappointed with only 419 million for a production budget exceeding 200 million. Disney had buried the project of a third film that was eventually developed by Fox. Released in 2008, The Odyssey of the Dawn Smuggler raised $415 million. These results and mixed reviews ended the franchise. The adaptation of The Magician's Nephew was abandoned. Under-performances and a half-hearted legacy that Netflix and Greta Gerwig will have to forget.