Greta Gerwig has done it again — this time by beating her own record. The trailer for her Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew has been viewed more than 481 million times in its first seven days, according to the tracking company WaveMetrix, sailing past the first-week numbers of the Barbie trailer. Yes, that Barbie — the one Gerwig also directed.

Netflix revealed the figure after its earnings call this week, and it’s the best news the streamer’s film division has had in a month defined by executive upheaval: film chief Dan Lin’s dismissal, roughly 1,000 layoffs, and the shock exit of chief content officer Bela Bajaria.

A Cosmic Lion, Led Zeppelin, and 481 Million Views

What drove the frenzy? According to reports on the trailer’s reception, the footage shows a cosmic lion singing a world into existence — set to Led Zeppelin. It’s the kind of audacious, maximalist image that stops thumbs mid-scroll, and the numbers prove it: 481 million views in seven days is trailer-event territory, the kind of cultural moment that usually belongs to Marvel or a GTA game drop.

The Barbie comparison is especially pointed. The Barbie trailer’s first-week view count was itself considered a phenomenon in 2023, and it became the launchpad for a $1.4 billion box office run. Netflix executives will be hoping the Narnia trailer’s even bigger launch foreshadows similar enthusiasm — though a streaming film plays by very different rules than a theatrical release.

Netflix’s Film Division Gets a Win It Desperately Needed

Context matters here. The Narnia trailer record landed in the same week that Variety reported Netflix film chief Dan Lin had been dismissed after nearly three years in the job, following a brutal round of layoffs. For a division in the middle of a leadership rebuild, a trailer that outperforms Barbie‘s is a morale lifeline — proof the slate still has cultural firepower.

It also validates one of Netflix’s biggest creative bets: handing one of the most valuable fantasy franchises in literature to the director of Barbie and Little Women. C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books have been waiting for a definitive screen adaptation for decades, and Gerwig’s maximalist, music-driven approach — a singing lion, classic rock, cosmic creation imagery — is about as far from safe as a studio film gets.

What We Know About ‘The Magician’s Nephew’

The Magician’s Nephew is the sixth-published but chronologically first book in Lewis’s Narnia series — the origin story of the wardrobe, the White Witch, and Narnia itself. Gerwig’s version has been one of the most closely watched productions in Hollywood, with Netflix treating it as a flagship theatrical-streaming hybrid title.

No release date has been confirmed in the reports on the trailer record, and Netflix has not yet announced whether the film will follow the streamer’s usual limited-theatrical window strategy or get a wider release. What is confirmed: the audience is already there, 481 million views deep.

The Bigger Picture: Trailers as Events

The Narnia number is part of a broader shift in how studios measure anticipation. Trailer view counts have become the box office tracking of the streaming era — imperfect, gameable, but impossible to ignore when they reach this scale. Beating Barbie‘s first-week record doesn’t guarantee a hit, but it does guarantee something studios will pay any amount of marketing money for: the world’s attention, for free, for a full week.

There’s also a delicious symmetry to it. Gerwig’s Barbie trailer trained the entire industry in how to launch a cultural moment — pink carpet premieres, meme-able imagery, a soundtrack that lived on the charts for months. Now she’s turned the same playbook on a fantasy epic, and the first numbers suggest the audience is even hungrier. If The Magician’s Nephew can convert even a fraction of those 481 million trailer views into opening-weekend streams, Netflix will have the defining film moment of its year — and the vindication its battered film division needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many views did the Narnia trailer get?

The trailer for Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew was viewed more than 481 million times in its first seven days, per WaveMetrix.

What record did the Narnia trailer beat?

It beat the first-week view count of the Barbie trailer — also directed by Gerwig.

Who is directing the new Narnia movie?

Greta Gerwig (Barbie, Little Women) directs Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew for Netflix.

Which Narnia book is ‘The Magician’s Nephew’?

It’s the chronologically first book in C.S. Lewis’s series — the origin story of Narnia, the wardrobe and the White Witch.

Related: For more franchise blockbuster news, read DC’s ‘Clayface’ universe release and reviews.

Outbound source: One Mann’s Movies — Movie News: 22nd October 2026.