Narnia Meets Coraline In 2026’s Record-Breaking Fantasy Movie

Jul 16, 2026 - 07:08

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Narnia Meets Coraline In 2026’s Record-Breaking Fantasy Movie

Tilda Swinton as the White Witch holding a sword in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Updated Jul 15, 2026, 10:20 PM EDT

Matthew Rudoy is one of ScreenRant's Movie & TV News Editors. He covers the latest in movie & TV news, with a focus on major franchises like Star Wars, The Boys, and Game of Thrones, and also writes some features and reviews. He wrote lists for ScreenRant from 2017-2022, became a news writer in 2023, a senior staff writer in 2024, and an editor in 2025.

2026's record-breaking fantasy movie is The Chronicles of Narnia meets Coraline. The Narnia books written by C.S. Lewis are among some of the most influential and enduring in the history of the fantasy genre. The world-building, portal magic, moral lessons, and the narrative premise have paved the way for many other stories in the genre.

The books have been adapted into various mediums, including movies for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Greta Gerwig's Narnia: The Magician's Nephew movie is currently in the works, with the Academy Award-nominated filmmaker directing and writing the feature film. In a rare move for Netflix, it will have an extended run in IMAX theaters before debuting on the streaming platform.

Another fantasy story, albeit a much darker one, that continues to be popular is Coraline. Based on Neil Gaiman's novella, it was adapted into a movie in 2009 by the stop-motion animation studio Laika. While Narnia's wardrobe and other portals throughout the series lead to a magical land, a door in Coraline's home leads to a more sinister alternate universe that contains button-eyed versions of her family.

The commercial and critical success of Coraline led to Laika making more stop-motion movies, including ParaNorman, The BoxTrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings, and Missing Link. After a seven-year hiatus, their next movie is Wildwood, which is perfect for The Chronicles of Narnia and Coraline fans.

Wildwood Blends Narnia's Fantasy With Coraline's Animation

Wildwood is based on Colin Melloy's bestselling 2011 fantasy novel of the same name, and it contains many parallels to The Chronicles of Narnia. The protagonist is 12-year-old Prue, a teenager who enters a location known to outsiders as the Impassable Wilderness to save her baby brother, Mac, who was taken there by a murder of crows. She is accompanied by a classmate of hers named Curtis.

Similar to Narnia, the once thriving magical land filled with talking animals is now deeply divided and under threat from a charismatic and manipulative woman using her powers for evil. Rather than the White Witch/Jadis, in Wildwood, the villain is Alexandra Svik, also known as the Dowager Governess. She has an army of coyotes under her command and uses her charm to tempt Curtis, much the same way the White Witch tempts Edmund Pevensie.

Wildwood's voice cast features Peyton Elizabeth Lee as Prue, Jacob Tremblay as Curtis, and Carey Mulligan as Alexandra.

In addition to being fantasy, Wildwood is a coming-of-age story that makes the children the heroes, celebrating their strengths and growing from their mistakes, both in their ordinary world and in the magical one. While these elements are akin to Lewis' books, the movie adaptation will visually be akin to the stop-motion animation style of Coraline and Laika's other films.

Wildwood's trailer puts the striking animation on display, as do some of the behind-the-scenes videos that have been released, highlighting the hand-crafted detail and artistry that goes into every frame. The trailer establishes the story, characters, setting, and tone with minimal dialogue, relying on the animation to do the narrative heavy lifting instead. These elements are only part of the movie's ambition, though.

Wildwood’s Record-Breaking Runtime Makes The Fantasy Movie Even More Ambitious

Wildwood has reportedly broken an animation runtime record at a total of 139 minutes. If this runtime proves to be correct, it would be the second-longest American animated movie, only behind Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse's 140 minutes. The longest stop-motion movie runtime is Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio at 117 minutes, making Wildwood the record-holder in this category. The film is reportedly rated PG-13 as well.

Making a PG-13 stop-motion animated movie that's 139 minutes long is an ambitious and arguably risky move, especially at a time when seemingly surefire hits have not been performing well at the box office. The reported runtime and rating indicate how Laika is honoring the source material. The novel is over 500 pages long, and while it is appropriate for children, there are some dark and violent moments, along with heavy themes, much of which is already present in the trailer footage. This will likely also resonate with Coraline fans.

The Wildwood movie does not appear to be shying away from any of these elements but is instead fully embracing the source material, while visually adapting the story via gorgeous animation.

Wildwood releases in theaters on October 23.