Netflix's first trailer for Narnia: The Magician's Nephew pulled in more than 481.3 million views in its first seven days, according to Deadline, which cited tracking data from WaveMetrix. That total more than doubles the first-week number for Greta Gerwig's own Barbie.
The trailer debuted October 13 at an IMAX event in New York, so the measured week closed October 20. In the book, Digory and Polly hop between worlds with magic rings. Netflix moved its footage with a bigger travel budget.
How the Numbers Stack Up
WaveMetrix put Barbie's first-week trailer total at 240 million views. Wonka drew 237.2 million, and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie reached 281.6 million over the same seven-day window.
Deadline also pointed to Project Hail Mary, whose trailer drew about 400 million first-week views and was billed as the biggest launch on record for an original film. Narnia cleared that mark by roughly 80 million.
The reported totals count views, not unique viewers, and none of the coverage breaks the figure down by platform. Netflix also gave the trailer plenty of help. Deadline reported a worldwide paid push across TikTok, Reddit, Meta, X, Snap, Pinterest and YouTube, plus connected TV and NFL programming.
The trailer hit No. 1 on X and topped YouTube's trending movie trailers, according to NarniaWeb, which added that the traffic briefly knocked the official NarniaFilm.com site offline.
What the Fans Are Saying
Reach and reception are separate scoreboards, and NarniaWeb went looking for the second one. The long-running fan site ran a survey across its social media channels and collected more than 4,000 responses.
Forty-six percent said the trailer made them more optimistic about the film, while 35% said it made them less optimistic. Asked about Gerwig's creative direction overall, 40% reported mixed feelings, 32% said they disliked it and 28% said they liked it.
Seventy percent still said they would definitely or probably see the movie in theaters. The poll drew from a self-selected group of dedicated Narnia fans, so it tracks that crowd rather than moviegoers at large.
The trailer landed in the middle of an argument that was already running. Meryl Streep's casting as the voice of Aslan has drawn criticism from some longtime readers, though the lion roars without saying a word in the footage, per the Associated Press.
In the AP's report on the debut, Gerwig said faith "has been a thread through all of my films" and added, "I would not be who I am without these books." C.S. Lewis's stepfamily has backed her too. As CBM reported, the Greshams issued a statement through Netflix praising her "sincere passion for the Narnia series," though that statement predates the trailer.
What's in the Trailer
The footage follows Digory Kirke (David McKenna) and Polly Plummer (Beatrice Campbell) into strange new worlds. Daniel Craig plays Digory's Uncle Andrew, Emma Mackey plays Jadis, the future White Witch, and Carey Mulligan plays Digory's mother, Mabel. Ciarán Hinds is also in the cast.
The music has drawn its own share of attention. The trailer runs on a heavily remixed version of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven," with the rights coming from Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. Gerwig has called Narnia "literally a world made out of music," and the marketing team took her at her word.
What's Next
Narnia: The Magician's Nephew opens with IMAX previews on February 10, 2027, followed by a wide release on February 12. Netflix handles theaters in the U.S. and Canada, Sony Pictures Releasing International covers most overseas markets, and the film arrives on Netflix on April 2.
Did the trailer leave you more optimistic or less, and will you see The Magician's Nephew in theaters next February?