A figurehead of 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 The Daughters of Dr. March already has her eyes set on a major new franchise. According to the specialized press, the filmmaker was chosen by Netflix to resuscitate The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. The platform recovered the rights to children’s literature classics in 2018.
Greta Gerwig would have been in charge of directing two feature films. No details have leaked out about the plot at the heart of these projects. Prolific author and friend of Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings), C. S. Lewis wrote seven novels set in this mythological realm where animals are gifted with words, 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 the young souls of the purest hearts to enter her bosom to defend her.
Long ignored in France where they were published under the name Le Monde de Narnia, The Chronicles of Narnia are a staple of Anglo-Saxon children’s literature. Sold in more than 100 million copies, this odyssey mixes Christian themes with figures and archetypes from ancient mythology and traditional British and Celtic tales.
In the midst of the Harry Potter surge that had brought the rival Warner studio to the top of the world box office, Disney had tried to explore this potential in two films. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian featured the Pevensie siblings. These four children fleeing the German bombardments 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 at the bottom of a cupboard an access to the marvelous world of Narnia where they are welcomed and guided by the benevolent and omniscient lion Aslan.
The quartet soon find themselves on the front line in the great battle between Aslan and the white witch, camped by Tilda Swinton, who keeps the inhabitants of Narnia in a freezing winter and prohibits all contact with humans.
If The Lion, the 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 which was finally developed by Fox. Released in 2008, The Odyssey of the Dawn Treader raised $415 million. These results and the mixed reviews ended the franchise. The adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew was abandoned. Counter-performances and a half-hearted legacy that Netflix and Greta Gerwig will have to make people forget.