Netflix's Upcoming $280 Million High Fantasy Movie That Is One Of Its Most Expensive Of All Time Starts A New Era

Published Aug 26, 2026, 6:47 PM EDT Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more. Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics." Netflix is getting ambitious with its plan for a new fantasy movie that the streaming service hopes will serve as the start of a new era, but it will have quite the hill to climb to get there. Netflix's movie catalog has quite a few fantasy releases for subscribers. For instance, the animated movie Swapped has become one of Netflix's most-watched ever. Still in the animated realm, one of Netflix's biggest TV shows, Henry Cavill's The Witcher, had its world expanded in movie format. 2021's The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf and 2025's The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep served as animated spinoffs to the fantasy franchise. This clearly shows that the streamer is well aware of the franchise potential Netflix's Original movies of the genre have. In addition to that, Netflix's biggest movie of all time is also a fantasy release. That would be KPop Demon Hunters, which already has a highly anticipated sequel on the way and routinely appears on Netflix's charts a year after its release. Now, Netflix already has another major fantasy franchise in its sights, and it will come through the adaptation of a bestselling series of novels. A Compendium of Enchanted Cinema How Well Do You Know Fantasy Movies? “Magic always comes with a price.” 🪄SpellsWingardium Leviosa 🐉BeastsHere be dragons 👑KingdomsLong live the king ⚔QuestsThe hero’s journey 🔮MagicWhat lies ahead OPEN THE GRIMOIRE → 01 Across the Harry Potter films, the boy wizard is rarely without his loyal companion — a snowy owl gifted to him by Hagrid on his eleventh birthday. What is the owl’s name? AHedwig BErrol CPigwidgeon DCrookshanks ✓ Correct! Hedwig — the snowy owl Harry receives in The Philosopher’s Stone — becomes one of his most beloved companions. Errol is the Weasleys’ ancient, accident-prone owl; Pigwidgeon is Ron’s tiny hyperactive owl; and Crookshanks is Hermione’s ginger cat — not an owl at all. ✗ Not quite! The answer is Hedwig. Errol is the Weasleys’ clumsy family owl, Pigwidgeon is Ron’s tiny owl from later books, and Crookshanks is Hermione’s cat. Hedwig is the snowy owl Hagrid buys Harry for his birthday — even getting her own leitmotif from composer John Williams. NEXT → 02 In Rob Reiner’s 1987 cult classic The Princess Bride, the farm boy Westley answers Buttercup’s every demand with the same three words — which she comes to realize actually mean “I love you.” What does he say? A“As you wish” B“Inconceivable!” C“My only love” D“Anything for you” ✓ Correct! “As you wish” is Westley’s signature line — and the film’s emotional core. “Inconceivable!” is Vizzini’s catchphrase (prompting Inigo’s famous “You keep using that word…”). The other two were never in William Goldman’s script — the whole point is that three plain words carry all the meaning. ✗ Not quite! The answer is “As you wish.” “Inconceivable!” belongs to the Sicilian Vizzini. Buttercup slowly realizes that Westley’s endlessly repeated “As you wish” is really his way of saying “I love you” — one of the most quoted lines in fantasy cinema. NEXT → 03 The 2006 Spanish-language masterpiece Pan’s Labyrinth blends a fascist-era fairy tale with the grim reality of post-Civil War Spain, featuring the nightmarish Pale Man. Which director created this dark fantasy? AAlfonso Cuarón BGuillermo del Toro CPedro Almodóvar DRobert Rodriguez ✓ Correct! Guillermo del Toro wrote and directed Pan’s Labyrinth, designing the Faun and the eyeless Pale Man himself. He’d later win Best Director and Best Picture for The Shape of Water. Cuarón directed Prisoner of Azkaban; Almodóvar is Spain’s great melodramatist; Rodriguez is del Toro’s close friend but made Sin City and Spy Kids. ✗ Not quite! The answer is Guillermo del Toro. Alfonso Cuarón (a fellow “Three Amigos” of Mexican cinema) directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Pedro Almodóvar makes Spanish melodramas, and Robert Rodriguez made Sin City. Del Toro’s creature designs in Pan’s Labyrinth are now iconic. NEXT → 04 In The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), the four Pevensie children first stumble into the snowy land of Narnia by passing through what object? AA magic mirror BA wardrobe CA painting DA wishing well ✓ Correct! It’s a wardrobe — it’s right there in the title. Lucy hides inside during a game and finds the snow and lamppost of Narnia beyond the fur coats. A magical painting actually appears in the sequel, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; the mirror and well are red herrings from other fantasy tales. ✗ Not quite! The answer is a wardrobe — literally named in the title. Lucy Pevensie pushes past the coats and steps out into snowy Narnia by the lamppost. (A magical painting does pull the children into the sea in the later film The Voyage of the Dawn Treader — but not here.) NEXT → 05 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) made Oscar history as the first fantasy film to win Best Picture, sweeping every category it was nominated in. How many Academy Awards did it take home? A4 B7 C9 D11 ✓ Correct! Return of the King won all 11 of its nominations — tying Ben-Hur (1959) and Titanic (1997) for the all-time record, and becoming the first (and so far only) fantasy film to win Best Picture. Remarkably, it earned zero acting nominations yet still swept the board clean. ✗ Not quite! The answer is 11 — a perfect clean sweep. Return of the King tied Ben-Hur and Titanic for the most Oscar wins ever and broke fantasy’s long Best Picture drought. Fellowship of the Ring won 4 and The Two Towers won 2; the finale took everything it was nominated for. NEXT → 06 In the swashbuckling Pirates of the Caribbean films, Johnny Depp earned an Oscar nomination playing a swaggering, kohl-eyed pirate captain reportedly inspired by Keith Richards. What is the character’s name? AWill Turner BDavy Jones CCaptain Jack Sparrow DHector Barbossa ✓ Correct! Captain Jack Sparrow — Depp’s loose-limbed, rum-soaked performance earned a surprise Best Actor nomination for The Curse of the Black Pearl. Will Turner is the blacksmith hero (Orlando Bloom), Davy Jones is the tentacle-faced villain (Bill Nighy), and Hector Barbossa is the mutinous rival captain (Geoffrey Rush). ✗ Not quite! The answer is Captain Jack Sparrow. Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) is the earnest blacksmith, Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) is the squid-faced sea villain, and Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) is the cursed rival. It was Depp’s Sparrow — modeled partly on Keith Richards — who earned the Oscar nod. NEXT → 07 Jim Henson’s 1986 musical fantasy Labyrinth features a teenage Jennifer Connelly navigating a maze to rescue her baby brother from the flamboyant, wild-haired Goblin King Jareth. Which rock legend played Jareth? ADavid Bowie BTim Curry CMick Jagger DSting ✓ Correct! David Bowie played Jareth, writing and performing the film’s songs including “Magic Dance” and “As the World Falls Down.” Tim Curry famously played the demon Darkness in another Ridley Scott fantasy, Legend (also 1985-86). Jagger and Sting are rock icons but never donned Jareth’s glittering cape and wild wig. ✗ Not quite! The answer is David Bowie. Tim Curry played the towering devil Darkness in the rival fantasy Legend around the same time. Bowie not only starred as Jareth the Goblin King but composed and sang the soundtrack — “Magic Dance” remains the film’s signature number. NEXT → 08 In the 1984 classic The NeverEnding Story, the young warrior Atreyu journeys across the dying realm of Fantasia and befriends a furry, dog-faced luckdragon who carries him through the skies. What is the luckdragon’s name? AArtax BFalkor CGmork DBastian ✓ Correct! Falkor (Falkor the luckdragon) is the friendly, scale-and-fur covered dragon who aids Atreyu and Bastian. Artax is Atreyu’s horse, lost heartbreakingly in the Swamp of Sadness; Gmork is the wolf-like servant of The Nothing; and Bastian is the real-world boy reading the story who is ultimately drawn into it. ✗ Not quite! The answer is Falkor. Artax is Atreyu’s beloved horse (the Swamp of Sadness scene scarred a generation), Gmork is the menacing wolf-beast serving The Nothing, and Bastian is the bullied boy reading the book. Falkor is the soaring luckdragon — one of fantasy cinema’s most cherished creatures. REVEAL MY SCORE → The Grimoire Closes · Quest Complete Your Fantasy Rank 🔮 / 8 Archmage of the Silver Screen — or still lost in the labyrinth? ⤴ CAST AGAIN Barbie director Greta Gerwig is tasked with bringing The Chronicles of Narnia franchise to the big screen once again. There are many ways in which Netflix hopes to start a new era with Gerwig's first entry in the franchise, Narnia: The Magician's Nephew, which will be released in theaters on February 12, 2027. However, to succeed in its hard task, the Narnia franchise has a major hurdle to jump past. Greta Gerwig's Narnia Movie Has One Of The Biggest Budgets Of All Time According to a reveal on the We Need to Talk About Oscar podcast from cinematographer Seamus McGarvey, Narnia: The Magician's Nephew has a budget of $280 million. That is more than enough to bring this high fantasy world with the level of detail and cutting-edge VFX that are needed to make the franchise shine on the big screen before the film arrives on Netflix. However, that also raises a few major doubts about just how successful the movie needs to be. With a $280 million budget, it would need around $560 million to $700 million just to break even. That hefty production budget becomes even more worrisome when looking at all the movies that have been released in history. After all, Narnia: The Magician's Nephew has the 24th most expensive movie budget of all time, unadjusted for inflation. It stands between movies like Rachel Zegler's live-action Snow White at $272 million and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One's $291 million budget. Additionally, Netflix's upcoming high fantasy movie almost took the streamer's top spot when it comes to expensive budgets. Narnia: The Magician's Nephew stands at 2nd on Netflix with $280 million, losing to The Electric State's $320 million total. Netflix's Narnia: The Magician's Nephew Will Have A Hard Time Starting A New Era There are two key ways in which Narnia: The Magician's Nephew is meant to start a new era for Netflix. For starters, the movie is the first in Netflix history to receive a wide release in theaters. This is huge for a studio who keeps a streaming-first stance. As such, if Narnia: The Magician's Nephew becomes a box office hit, then the door could remain open for other high-profile Netflix movies to go the same route. Projects like Rian Johnson's Knives Out sequels and David Fincher's upcoming The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth would have benefited from that. Narnia: The Magician's Nephew releases in theaters on February 12, 2027, and on Netflix on April 2, 2027. The other way in which the Netflix high fantasy movie hopes to start an era is due to how the streaming service has planned eight live-action Narnia movies. However, with such a hefty budget, it has a massively hard task ahead of it to break even, let alone be a hit that sees Netflix's full vision for the franchise realized. While Gerwig's Barbie passed the $1 billion milestone, the highest-grossing Narnia movie to date was 2005's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, with $720.5 million, which is barely above Narnia: The Magician's Nephew's breakeven projections, casting this new era in doubts. Release Date February 12, 2027 Director Greta Gerwig Writers Greta Gerwig, C.S. Lewis Producers Mark Gordon, Amy Pascal, Rachel O'Connor Cast Carey Mulligan Mabel Kirke David McKenna Digory Kirke