Zack Snyder has revealed that his new zombie action flick, ‘Army of the Dead’, will arrive on Netflix in winter 2020. The project is still filming, but Snyder spoke to 93.3 WMMR’s Preston & Steve Fun Size Podcast and revealed a few plot details about the film.
According to Snyder, the movie kicks off in Las Vegas, which has been walled-off from the zombie hordes with the use of shipping containers. But that barrier fails and the flesh-eaters swarm in. Six years later, the owner of one of the casinos hires a crew of “zombie soldiers” headed up by Dave Bautista to enter the quarantined area to retrieve his money from the casino safe. (It’s a little odd that money would still have value in the zombie apocalypse. Also, what does “zombie soldiers” mean? Are they intelligent zombies? Or are they just called that because they fight zombies? So many questions…)
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In addition to Bautista, the cast also includes Nora Arnezeder, Raúl Castillo, Rich Cetrone, Chris D’Elia, Ana De La Reguera, Garret Dillahunt, Omari Hardwick, Ella Purnell, Huma Qureshi, Theo Rossi, Hiroyuki Sanada, Matthias Schweighöfer, and Samantha Win.
Snyder co-wrote the screenplay with Joby Harold (King Arthur: Legend of the Sword), and Shay Hatten (John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum). Snyder had previously been attached to produce-only an earlier version of ‘Army of the Dead’ as a theatrical film for Warner Brothers, but that version fell apart due to budget concerns. (Shortly afterward, Snyder’s ‘Watchmen’ faltered at the box office.) According to Screen Rant, the earlier treatment included exploitative elements like zombies raping human women, which were described as “wannabe edgy for its own sake.”
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It looks as though ‘Army of the Dead’ will be Netflix’s big December tentpole release. The streaming service continues trying to compete with big-budget theatrical releases and has kind of succeeded. 2017’s ‘Bright‘ was not a good movie, but it was directed by David Ayer (‘Suicide Squad’) and starred Will Smith, and a ton of people watched it, leading to Netflix ordering a sequel, although that has stalled. Last year’s ‘Bird Box‘, directed by Susanne Bier and starring Sandra Bullock, became a viral sensation, with people recording themselves doing the “Bird Box Challenge” which led to a lot of injuries. But even so, it was a buzzy hit. (Once again, not a great movie.) This year’s big December Netflix release will be Michael Bay’s ‘6 Underground’, which stars Ryan Reynolds, so it looks like ‘Army of the Dead’ will be next year’s entry in this list.
What do you think of ‘Army of the Dead’ so far? Will you be tuning in next winter to catch this zombie heist movie?
