Following the massive success of Army of the Dead, Zack Snyder’s blossoming relationship with Netflix has just got stronger as his directorial adventure has just been revealed.
Snyder’s next project will be an epic sci-fi fantasy called Rebel Moon and will produce and co-write the script alongside Army co-screenwriters Shay Hatten and Kurt Johnstad. Both Snyder and Johnstad will receive story by credit.
The film will be produced by his longstanding producing partner and wife, Deborah Snyder, under their production banner Stone Quarry.
This has been a lifelong passion project for the filmmaker and will answer the question of “what would a Zack Snyder Star wars movie look like.”
The story will follow a young woman with a mysterious past to seek out warriors from neighbouring planets to help a peaceful colony on the edge of the galaxy take a stand against the armies of a tyrannical regent named Balisarius.
Telling The Hollywood Reporter, “This is me growing up as an Akira Kurosawa fan, a Star Wars fan.
“It’s my love of sci-fi and giant adventure. My hope is that this also becomes a massive IP and a universe that can be built out,” Snyder added.
The last sentence will be music to Netflix’s ears. They’re putting a lot of money on creating original IP and universe builders for the streaming wars and hope the solid numbers of Army will continue for future projects.
The origins of Rebel began as a Star Wars pitch that Snyder had been developing over a decade ago and would’ve been a more mature take on the world George Lucas created. Still, nothing serious happened following Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of LucasFilm in 2012.
Since there were discussions of turning it into a series before the filmmaker decided that making a feature film was where it had its true potential.
“I’ve spent the last two or three years building out this universe. Every corner has to be painted in. I’ve been doing designs, constantly drawing and really cultivating its fertile ground to make this world fully realized,” stated Snyder.
What this announcement does is silences those of us who want to see the Snyderverse of DC Films restored for the short term because it’s just great to see Netflix giving a creator of Snyder’s talent free rein.
We’ll also be seeing more from his zombie world following Army, which was viewed by 72 million people in its first four weeks (according to Netflix). Because even before it was released, Snyder and Stone Quarry have a prequel movie (titled Army of Thieves) and Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas anime series in production.
Rebel will hopefully be in production early 2022, with Snyder adding, “I’ve been working on this on the side for so long, it’s pretty far along.”
If this the case, I won’t be surprised if casting announcements happen soon for this Seven Samurai inspired sci-fi epic.
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