ZACK SNYDER SIGNS FIRST-LOOK DEAL WITH NETFLIX

Zack Snyder is going to follow up one of the most-watched movies ever on Netflix with... several more years of movies for Netflix.

Zack Snyder's Justice League and Army of the Dead director’s production company, The Stone Quarry, has signed a two-year first-look deal with Netflix. It includes Snyder’s next movie, the recently announced sci-fi film Rebel Moon, and could also include an Army of the Dead sequel, which Snyder is currently developing with screenwriter Shay Hatten. Here was the comment from Snyder’s producing partner, Deborah Snyder, on the news, via The Hollywood Reporter:

''For us, it was so important to find a partnership that was based on mutual respect. The creative process works best when everybody trusts each other and you can take chances and be creative. For us, we don’t usually play it safe. The content we make is a little bit edgier. And I think it’s important to have a good partnership and hear each other.''

While Army of the Dead 2 wouldn’t happen until after Rebel Moon at the earliest, Snyder’s company already has an Army of the Dead prequel that’s due on Netflix in a matter of months. Army of Thieves features Matthias Schweighofer’s safecracker Ludwig as he takes on a huge assignment. Snyder’s also producing an Army of the Dead anime spinoff that’s expected on Netflix in 2022. As for Rebel Moon, Snyder’s described it as his homage to Star Wars and Akira Kurosawa, set on some kind of space colony that recruits warriors to help them fight off an invasion by some by bad guys.

The company previously had a deal with Warner Bros., the studio for whom Snyder guided, either as director or producer, most of the DC superhero offerings in the modern age of comic book movies. That deal ended in 2019 and the duo spent time considering with whom they wanted to tie a knot.

“For us, it was so important to find a partnership that was based on mutual respect,” Deborah Snyder says. “The creative process works best when everybody trusts each other and you can take chances and be creative. For us, we don’t usually play it safe. The content we make is a little bit edgier. And I think it’s important to have a good partnership and hear each other.” She adds, “And Netflix has given us a lot of freedom. But they’ve also embraced the idea of trying new things and not necessarily waiting for a success before moving ahead. A consumer isn’t going to be waiting two years for more and that is exciting, I give them a lot of credit for developing that partnership and trust.”

The deal keeps the Snyders working with Netflix film head Scott Stuber, who oversaw Snyder’s debut feature, Dawn of the Dead, in his role at the time as vice chairman of Universal. He was also instrumental in bringing Army to the streamer. “I’ve known Zack and Deb for years and was fortunate to be part of Dawn of the Dead, his first film,” added Stuber in a statement. “I have since had the privilege of watching his career grow and see the evolving impact of his work. To see him return to his roots with Army of the Dead, which is now one of our most popular films, and build a world out of these characters with the upcoming Army of Thieves and anime series, is amazing to see. We’ve only scratched the surface of what’s still to come and create with Zack, Deb, Wes and everyone at Stone Quarry.”

Yes, Snyder will be spending more time in the Army-verse. On the docket is a sequel he is developing with the first movie’s co-writer, Shay Hatten, something he would tackle after Rebel Moon. And Moon, which hopes to go into production in early 2022, is also envisioned as something that can launch sequels and series. Between those two original properties, The Stone Quarry has plenty of material with which to work. (Moon is being produced with Eric Newman’s Grand Electric company.) But that’s not all. Among the projects being developed is an action vehicle for Damon Caro — Snyder’s second unit director and stunt coordinator on numerous of movies — who would make his feature helming debut. While the company has not abandoned working with established intellectual property, especially in the comics field, from which Snyder has had some of his biggest successes, the duo are feeling regenerated by original ideas.

“Zack is really good at world building,” says Deborah Snyder. “We’ve done that with the comics for so long that to do something original is the ultimate challenge and we’re up for that.”

The deal with Netflix is another feather in the Snyder cap for 2021. The year began with the March release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the director’s original version of the much-maligned 2017 Justice League movie that was an amalgam of his and Joss Whedon’s(mostly) work. The splashy opening generated plenty of buzz while the recent international release on DVD and Blu-ray saw the movie fly to the top of the sales charts in several countries, France and Brazil among them. And Tuesday, when Netflix disclosed quarterly earnings, the company revealed that 75 million member accounts worldwide tuned in for Snyder’s Army in its first four weeks of release. (Netflix’s viewing metric counts two minutes of viewing time of a series or movie — long enough to show “the choice was intentional,” as the streamer puts it — as a view.) That proved to be more than the streamer’s initial projection of 72 million.

That’s all great news for Snyder fans, unless you’re one of the Snyder heads who just wants him back making superhero movies or continuing the SnyderVerse. This deal will keep from doing that for at least the next couple years.