Netflix's Narnia Movie Budget Makes It One Of The Streamer's Most Expensive Movies Ever

3 hours ago 7

Published Aug 24, 2026, 2:21 PM EDT

Grant Hermanns is a TV News Editor, Interview Host and Reviewer for ScreenRant, having joined the team in early 2021. He got his start in the industry with Moviepilot, followed by working at ComingSoon.net. When not indulging in his love of film/TV, Grant is making his way through his gaming backlog and exploring the world of Dungeons & Dragons with friends.

Netflix is sparing no expense with Narnia: The Magician's Nephew.

Written and directed by Greta Gerwig, the new movie serves as a reboot of the film franchise adaptation of C.S. Lewis' novel series after the Walden Media-produced trilogy. The four-time Oscar nominee has amassed a star-studded roster for her new take on Narnia, adapted from Lewis' first chronological book, including Barbie's Emma Mackey as Jadis, who becomes the villainous White Witch, Carey Mulligan, Daniel Craig, Meryl Streep, David McKenna and Beatrice Campbell.

Now, on a resurfaced episode of the We Need to Talk About Oscar podcast, Seamus McGarvey made a surprising reveal about Narnia: The Magician's Nephew. The cinematographer, who previously scored Oscar nominations for his work on Atonement and Anna Karenina, confirmed the movie's production budget to be $280 million, officially making it one of Netflix's most-expensive movies of all-time.

Pevensie siblings stand guard with a sword in Chronicles of Narnia

Though the majority of their focus continues to be on TV productions, Netflix memorably began ramping up their big-scale film production in the late 2010s thanks to the likes of Bird Box being viewership hits, spending big dollars on Michael Bay's 6 Underground, Ryan Reynolds' Red Notice and Martin Scorsese's The Irishman. Even still, as these films started seeing lower reviews and audience turnout, the streamer also started pulling back on the more grandiose budgets.

This does, in turn, make it somewhat surprising to hear just how much Netflix is spending on their Narnia adaptation. If the $280 million budget is confirmed by the streamer at some point, it will officially make the fantasy film the second-most-expensive title in Netflix's history, coming up just short of the $320 million spent on the Russo brothers' The Electric State, and ahead of the aforementioned Irishman. Check out how Narnia's budget compares to Netflix's other most-expensive movies in the chart below:

Title

Production Budget

The Electric State (2025)	$320 Million
Narnia: The Magician's Nephew (2027)	$280 Million (Not yet confirmed)
The Irishman (2019)	$225 Million
Back in Action (2025)	$207.2 Million
Red Notice (2021)	$200 Million
The Gray Man (2022)	$200 Million
6 Underground (2019)	$150 Million
Heart of Stone (2023)	$150 Million
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024)	$150 Million
Damsel (2024)	$145.1 Million
White Noise (2022)	$140 Million

Interestingly, Netflix isn't the only place that Narnia: The Magician's Nephew is setting a new record with its production budget, but is doing so for the franchise as a whole. The most-expensive installment in the fantasy series had previously been 2008's Prince Caspian, which clocked in at $225 million, followed by The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at $180 million and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader at $155 million.

Despite being one of their most-expensive films yet, Netflix has already set itself up well to make back Narnia: The Magician's Nephew lofty budget. The film is getting the streamer's first-ever wide theatrical release, as well as its longest exclusive theatrical window of a minimum of 45 days, as well as having a global big-screen run and IMAX run, which could very well skyrocket it to also be Netflix's highest-grossing film of all-time.