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Netflix's ARMY OF THE DEAD directed by Zack Snyder (TBD)
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Zack Snyder’s zombie extravaganza Army of the Dead remains Netflix’s most-watched film this week (and one of their most-watched of all time), with good reviews (read mine here) and positive audience reactions proving the decision to turn Army into a franchise with prequels, sequels, and spinoff series was a smart one. I had a chance to speak with Army of the Dead producer Deborah Snyder, touching on a variety of topics including the popularity of zombie fiction, the influences and inspiration for the film, building genre franchises, and the Snyder fanbase.

 

MARK HUGHES: Zack Snyder’s remake of Dawn of the Dead helped jumpstart the modern zombie craze in the early-2000s, alongside 28 Days Later. Why do you think zombie movies are so resonant with audiences, particularly in the last 20 or more years as it’s surged into the mainstream?

 

DEBORAH SNYDER: Well, I think the thing is, it’s social commentary at its core, right? And I think it shows us the best of humanity and the worst of humanity. And sometimes I believe some of humanity might be worse than the zombies — they’re not necessarily the bad guys in these films.

 

So I think there is a fascination with that. For me, when things are at their worst, what does that bring out in people? And you really see, as I said, either the worst or the best comes out. You see people at their core, and how they react to situations. You know, that human experience is quite fascinating, and that’s the lure of it.

 

MH: It seems like just when zombie fiction had played out its popularity and there wasn’t much new to do with them, here comes Army of the Dead with a fresh approach that feels fun and new again. You were on Sucker Punch with its Nazi zombies, and now your producing Army of the Dead, so can you talk about what attracts filmmakers to zombie projects and what attracted you to Army of the Dead?

 

DS: Well this particular movie, I think, just the longline— Okay, what if there’s a zombie apocalypse and they put a wall around Vegas to contain the problem, and the money is left in the casino? So a team goes in to get the money, and instead of facing the FBI or the police, they’re facing a horde of zombies. That’s a pretty fun thing, you know.

 

We’re genre filmmakers and we love genre, and this film in particular is very genre-aware. It knows it’s a zombie movie, and it knows it’s a heist movie, and to have those things collide is a really fun idea.

 

But at the same time, like Dawn of the Dead, it knows how to have fun but it never makes fun. And it also doesn’t let you off the hook, you know — the stakes are real. Like it can be fun and play, and there’s moments of levity and humor, but at the same time it’ll punch you in the stomach with something super-serious and you’re like, “Oh wait, yeah there’s still this problem that’s going to happen.” And I think the duality is really interesting.

 

Also, this story is all about the characters. The father-daughter relationship is really the heart of this movie, but each of the characters has their own arc, you know. For me, the scripts live and die by their characters and the depths of them. Especially in a genre or action film, I don’t want them to be one-dimensional. And I think we have a lot of rich arcs and character development in this film.

 

MH: You mention being genre fans and genre filmmakers, and Army of the Dead takes inspiration from and gives nods to some of the great genre films. Aliens for example—

 

DS: Aliens, yes, and Escape From New York—

 

MH: —yeah, there are wonderful homages in there. And there’s a moment I won’t spoil but when it happened I was like “oh my god Die Hard!” and loved it. So Army of the Dead takes inspiration from the best and from many iconic genre films and moments. Are there any particular inspirations or homages in the film that are your personal favorite?

 

DS: It’s funny, because we talked about Aliens, and that to me is really great. Zack as a filmmaker is such a student of film, and he loves movies so much. We watch movies together, we watch them as a family, and our kids are younger so a lot of these movies they can’t see, but we try to introduce them to these classic films they haven’t gotten to see. So these homages show the love of these films, and that’s great.

 

But I feel like all of these things, whether it’s mythology or social commentary, it just gives the film more depth. And what’s great about a lot of the films we make is, on one level it’s entertaining and you can enjoy the ride. But on another level it’s a deeper dive and you can talk about it, and kids have written papers on films we’ve done. There’s stuff to mine, stuff to see over and over.

 

Because as a filmmaker, I want to have something to say. Even if sometimes you might want something lighter and more fun, I still think there can be something to say. So rather than, like, oh we watched the movie, let’s go grab a dinner and then don’t talk about it, I’d rather go to that dinner and analyze it, like “what about that reference” or “this reminded me of that.” I think that’s the thing I love about the films we make, they have all of that.

 

MH: That’s a good segue, speaking of the mythology. As Army of the Dead plays out, we find out backstory, and a prequel film is already announced along with an animated series, and the film leaves the door open to sequels. Is this a property you went into as a producer thinking of the longterm potential for franchising and merchandising going forward for a while, with films and animation and games across many platforms?

 

DS: Initially, we were just trying to make this film, you know, and do it the best we can while in the process of making it.

 

But as we made it and started to create this world, the first thing we developed was we have this six episode anime series [Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas] that’ll be on Netflix that goes into the backstory of where the pathogen came from and where the zombies came from. Because when we come to our film, it’s already six years after— you know, the title sequence is kind of when it all happened, our team was going in and rescuing people, but where did it come from? And we hint that it came from Area 51, but what does that all mean?

 

A lot of times you talk about creating these things, but nobody’s bold enough and they want to see if the first thing works first, before spending all of this money on other things, right? But Netflix really allowed us [to pursue multiple things right off the bat]. We pitched them this backstory idea where we see our characters and see where it comes from, and they said “yes” and they let us start making that.

 

Then, as we started seeing the popularity and people really loved Dieter’s character, so we came up with this idea of asking, “Where did he come from?” He’s German, and I think a great thing about Netflix is it has such a global footprint, there’s more subscribers internationally than in the states. So what if we did something for the international market that is a heist romantic comedy taking place during the time of the pandemic but it doesn’t have a lot of zombies in it. And they let us do that too [with Army of Thieves]!

 

So it’s great. There’s no dates attached yet to when these come out, but rather than having these come out four years later— like, with the success of Game of Thrones they want to do prequels, but how many years later? We’re going to be able to get something out as soon as this year, that’ll be a prequel. The animated series takes a little bit longer, but it’ll still be right on the heels, which I think is really fun.

 

And each of them stand on their own. So like, if you saw the anime you might like it, but you didn’t see Army of the Dead, and then you can see Army of the Dead and then you want to see Dieter’s backstory in the other movie Army of Thieves. They all have their own personalities, but they’re all in the same world.

 

MH: What you mention is something we consistently see in your films. When you and Zack put a film out, there are younger fans who haven’t seen Excalibur, or who haven’t seen Aliens. And when he talks about inspirations, and you talk here about mythologies and inspirations, something your films together have done is send younger fans to seek out those other films and inspirations when you tell them about it and tell them they should watch them too. James Gunn’s films remind me a lot of the films you and Zack make, like both filmmakers as directors have a similar eye and sense of humor. Army of the Dead felt a lot like that, it reminded me of some of the sensibilities of Dawn of the Dead for example. You remind your fans of the depth and history of genre cinema, and encourage that appreciation and expanding their appreciation of other filmmakers like Gunn and David Ayer. It’s a fanbase that is encouraged to look beyond the confines of their usual habits and familiar things, to find and appreciate the greatness of art that inspired you and inspired other filmmakers your fans love.

 

DS: I think what’s so great about our fan community is that they’re willing to take that deep dive. To me, the most interesting thing about films is when there’s something on the surface, if you dig deeper you find a richness and mythology to it deep down at its core.

 

That’s something Zack has always played with as a director, the idea of mythology and symbolism. Because we love cinema, there’s a lot of references to movies and other inspirations he had at the time of making it.

 

It’s amazing the conversations around our movies, the fans get that. They see there’s this symbolism and mythology, and they want to learn more about it.

 

The same thing could be said about a film like 300 — to take something that’s historical and present it in a different way. Most people, I would say, didn’t know the battle of Thermopylae. I feel like it inspired many fans to then learn about this historical battle. So I think it’s great when these films can transcend themselves and take on another importance, to inspire people to ask questions about other things and then go out and find the answers.

 

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The Netflix film leads the Nielsen rankings for May 17-23, while 'Jupiter's Legacy' falls hard in its third week.

 

Zack Snyder’s movie Army of the Dead racked up a sizable opening weekend audience for Netflix. Jupiter’s Legacy, meanwhile, plummeted in its third week of release.

 

Army of the Dead topped Nielsen’s streaming charts for the week of May 17-23. The zombie movie racked up 913 million minutes of viewing time for the week, equivalent to about 6.17 million full plays of the 148-minute film.

 

Army of the Dead was far and away the most viewed title on Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ and Amazon’s Prime Video for the week. The previous No. 1, Jupiter’s Legacy, fell by 60 percent from 1.02 billion minutes of viewing time to 405 million — a steep drop that may give some insight into Netflix’s decision to scrap the series a month after its debut.

 

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Filmmaker Zack Snyder’s newest film, the zombie heist movie Army of the Dead, is the latest example of how audiences cannot resist a good scare. The Netflix film dominated the Nielsen streaming movie charts in the U.S. for the week of May 17 to 23, edging out Disney’s animated Raya and the Last Dragon and Cruella, a live-action telling of the origin story behind the 101 Dalmatians’ villain. 

 

“While it may seem, in a way, counterintuitive that people gravitate toward horror films when over the past year, there have been so many tragic events in the world, I think it’s the fantasy element,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst  at media analytics company Comscore. “People understand these are just movies and not really necessarily related to real life.” 

 

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When Gunn and Snyder teamed up on Dawn of the Dead, it was zombie flick perfection. It had a serious horror tone vs Army’s strange lighter one. Army didn’t work for me and I was looking forward to it all year. Now I have no interest in any of the spin-offs but will watch them eventually. 

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It was still garbage

Edited by Beige
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