Netflix has never been a friend of the multiplex. For most of its existence as a film studio, the streamer has treated theaters as a reluctant pit stop — a brief, begrudging detour before content lands where it was always meant to: on your couch. That’s starting to change, and the company is making the shift in the most attention-grabbing way possible.

The streamer announced Friday that Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew will get a proper wide theatrical release on February 12, 2026, with a 45-day exclusivity window before it hits the platform on April 2. For a company that has historically treated theatrical runs as awards bait rather than a distribution strategy, this is a meaningful step.

Gerwig’s Narnia is the right film to make this bet on

There’s a reason Netflix picked this one to break the mold. The Magician’s Nephew — the origin story of the Narnia universe, adapting C.S. Lewis’ 1955 novel — has the kind of multigenerational, cross-cultural pull that demands a big screen. Gerwig, fresh off the cultural phenomenon that was Barbie, is arguably the most bankable director working today, and the Narnia IP carries decades of reader loyalty. If Netflix was ever going to trust a film to anchor a full theatrical run on its own merit rather than just Oscar eligibility, this is the one.

Theater owners are thrilled — and they should be

The exhibition industry has spent years watching streaming slowly erode its leverage, so the enthusiasm here is understandable. Cinema United president Michael O’Leary called it “welcome news,” and AMC’s Adam Aron pledged the chain’s full support. That’s not just PR warmth — these are businesses that have badly needed a streaming giant to take them seriously as a distribution partner rather than a checkbox.

Netflix’s tone has been shifting for a while. The company released a theatrical sing-along version of K-pop Demon Hunters last year, and CEO Ted Sarandos, amid the pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery, publicly committed to honoring the traditional theatrical window for WBD titles. The Narnia announcement feels like a company that’s finally reconciling with the reality that some movies are too big to debut on a 55-inch TV.