Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew and the origins story

The subtitle names the source novel

Gerwig writes and directs the feature. The publisher identifies Lewis’s 1955 book as its source. A search for The Chronicles of Narnia can surface the book series as a whole and screen works with different source stories. The Magician’s Nephew is the distinguishing phrase for this adaptation.

Use the full film title for the screen work and the author and book title for the novel. In a discussion of adaptation, keep those two records separate so an observation about Lewis’s text is easy to distinguish from a description of the film.

The origin of the world is the story clue

The official C. S. Lewis site places The Magician’s Nephew sixth in publication order and first in story order. That explains why editions can number the same book differently. Netflix’s creation premise uses the early point in the story, while 1955 identifies the publication of Lewis’s novel.

For the film identity, look for Gerwig’s screen credit. The cast announcement also names David McKenna and Beatrice Campbell. These are secondary checks when a listing has shortened the full title.

A precise Narnia reference

Save the subtitle and whether you are referring to the novel or Gerwig’s feature. When the question is story order, record the creation premise rather than treating publication and story chronology as a single order.