THE DARK SIDE OF THE NARNIA ISN’T GOING TO LIGHT ANYONE’S FIRE: IMAX CEO: Greta Gerwig’s Narnia Is “Not Your Grandmother’s Narnia,” Will Feature Rock-Inspired Music.
IMAX held its first Investors Day presentation in New York, where CEO Rich Gelfond shared new details about Netflix and Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew, scheduled for release next November. His most revealing comments centred on the film’s musical direction.
According to Gelfond, Gerwig’s Narnia will feature a contemporary, rock-influenced sound, with artists like Pink Floyd and The Doors cited as examples of the tone fans can expect. The film’s score is being composed by music producer Mark Ronson, who recently worked on Barbie. Producer Amy Pascal made a similar remark in 2024, when she infamously described the project as “all about rock and roll.”
This is a real blockbuster movie that’s being made for [IMAX and Netflix] and you know, I guess I do have to talk a little about why I’m so excited about it. This is not your mother’s or your grandmother‘s Narnia. The music in it is unbelievably contemporary music, which IMAX fans like. I’m not gonna say specifically, but things like Pink Floyd and The Doors. You know that kind of music which people go to see in IMAX.”
I get what Gelfond is saying, and as someone who enjoyed the Narnia movies from the early 2000s, I’m dreading what Gerwig is going to do to the franchise. But considering that Jim Morrison died in 1971 and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon was released in 1973, for many moviegoers that sounds exactly like their parents or grandparents’ music. And as the leitmotif from another initially beloved franchise goes, I’ve got a bad feeling about this.