More than 20 years after C.S. Lewis’s beloved Chronicles of Narnia books became smash hit movies, starting with The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in 2005, Greta Gerwig and Netflix are coming together on a brand-new movie, The Magician’s Nephew, and it seems the celebrated director and the streaming giant are getting a bit of special treatment in one key and very unexpected way. Already, there had been plenty of chatter about Gerwig’s Narnia movie, especially following the reveal that there would be some changes made to the original story, such as a chance to Aslan’s eye color and the fact that Meryl Streep would be voicing the iconic character, suggesting a potential gender change in this story.
Earlier today, a brand-new trailer for the movie was revealed, getting the conversations circulating online all over again. With that trailer release, yet another update on the movie has arrived, this one perhaps the most surprising of all. Namely, as reported by Rolling Stone, Gerwig was given permission to use the song “Stairway to Heaven” by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, although they typically reject such requests. Per the same source, Gerwig explained, “I talked to them about a lot of the themes of the film…They saw the heart and the story and the drama in it.” Gerwig added, “It’s an epic song. It’s about the two paths of good and evil…It is a spiritual quest and a spiritual journey. So to me, this was a song that made sense to introduce the film to the world.” Ultimately, Gerwig is completely right, although the news still comes as a surprise and suggests something larger about The Magician’s Nephew.
Unsurprisingly, The Magician’s Nephew has already received its fair share of backlash. Yes, part of that was criticism of what seems to be Gerwig’s choice to make Aslan a female lion, but before that reveal came about, fans of the books or the previous movies were already pushing back on this new iteration of the franchise. That’s to be expected, especially with a franchise as beloved as this one, but so far, signs point to The Magician’s Nephew actually being one to watch. After all, it couldn’t be just any project that could land the permission to use “Stairway to Heaven.” Moreover, both Netflix and Gerwig are powerhouses, with the latter in particular having directed Barbie—the highest-grossing movie of 2023.
This may, therefore, be yet another example of a project that shouldn’t be counted out before it has even gotten a chance, although that seems to be an issue that is more and more common these days. Sure, some audiences will refuse to accept the changes to Aslan, and there are some questions about the adjustments made to the timeline as well (setting it much later than the original book is set, specifically), but there are some encouraging details coming out about Gerwig’s Narnia movie thus far, and it might actually end up surprising audiences when it finally releases next year.
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