Narnia Trailer Shatters Record With 481M Views in 7 Days

The Narnia trailer didn't just beat Greta Gerwig's own record — it obliterated it. According to WaveMetrix data reported exclusively by Deadline after Netflix's earnings call, the trailer for Narnia: The Magician's Nephew pulled 481.3 million views in its first seven days, roughly doubling the 240 million her Barbie trailer drew over the same span. It is one of the biggest trailer launches in movie history.

The footage debuted on 13 October at an IMAX sneak-peek event in New York, where Gerwig was joined on stage by Late Show host Stephen Colbert to talk through her vision for C.S. Lewis's 1955 prequel novel. Then the internet did the rest: the trailer trended at No. 1 on X, is still the top trending movie trailer on YouTube, and traffic briefly crashed the film's official site, NarniaFilm.com.

By the numbers: every record the Narnia trailer beat

The WaveMetrix comparison list reads like a hall of fame of recent mega-trailers — and Narnia cleared all of them:

• Narnia: The Magician's Nephew — 481.3M views

• Barbie (Gerwig's own) — 240M views

• Wonka — 237.2M views

• The Super Mario Galaxy Movie — 281.6M views

That makes it the fastest-collected trailer audience of Gerwig's career and one of the rare trailer records not attached to a Marvel, Star Wars or Avatar property. Netflix, notably, made sure the whole world saw it: the streamer backed the launch with global paid media across TikTok, Reddit, Meta, X, Snap, Pinterest and YouTube, plus connected TV and NFL programming.

"Stairway to Heaven": a licensing first

The trailer made music history too. It marked the first time Led Zeppelin has ever licensed "Stairway to Heaven" for a film trailer — a song the band has guarded for decades. Guitarist Jimmy Page publicly called Gerwig "a powerhouse in the world of cinema", adding that he was thrilled she chose the song for her film. Gerwig told Colbert she was "so moved that they allowed me to use the song", noting the band members revere Lewis and recognised the story's spiritual core. For a film about Aslan singing a world into being, the choice of the most famous rock ballad ever written is not subtle — and it worked.

A tale of two reactions

Not everyone is sold. A NarniaWeb poll of more than 4,000 fans found 46% more optimistic about the film after the trailer — but 35% less optimistic, with detractors grumbling the footage looks like "Thor: Narniarok". On Netflix's own YouTube upload, dislikes have climbed steadily even as views exploded, sitting at around 65,000 against 99,000 likes at last count. That split is honestly healthy: 481 million views buys attention, and a fierce fan debate keeps the film in the conversation for months.

The theatrical gamble: 49 days before streaming

The numbers matter because Netflix is treating this like a proper cinema event, not a streaming drop. The company is giving The Magician's Nephew a mega-wide theatrical release with an exclusive 49-day window before it reaches the service, with Sony handling theatrical distribution internationally. The film is dated for 12 February in theatres (IMAX sneak previews roughly two days earlier), with streaming expected around 2 April. (A handful of outlets cite a 45-day window and slightly different dates — we'll update as the studio locks them in.)

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told investors on the earnings call that "our theatrical strategy has evolved", and the Narnia campaign is the clearest proof yet: the trailer blitz, the IMAX event, the 49-day window and a reported $280M budget. The cast is equally heavyweight — Emma Mackey as Jadis (the future White Witch), Daniel Craig as Uncle Andrew, with Carey Mulligan, Meryl Streep (voicing Aslan), Denise Gough and Ciarán Hinds, plus David McKenna as Digory and Beatrice Campbell as Polly.

The book bump is already real: The Magician's Nephew climbed to No. 3 in Children's Classics on Amazon's Kindle Store. Gerwig has made the fantasy prequel that explains the lamppost, the White Witch and the wardrobe into an event — and the trailer numbers suggest February can't come soon enough.

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