One of Netflix's fledgling attempts to create its own franchise of sci-fi action movies is no more, according to the director who kicked off the effort.
2021's Army of the Dead, directed by Zack Snyder, was a zombie movie set in an overrun Las Vegas. It was expected to spawn many spin-offs, sequels and prequels, including an animated TV show, but after a single prequel (2021's Army of Thieves, which was set before the zombie outbreak), news went quiet.
However according to Snyder, Netflix isn't going forward with the franchise. Speaking to The Wrap to promote his new directors' cuts of the two Rebel Moon movies for the streamer, the action legend confirmed that plans for the animated series and future movies (including Planet of the Dead, the anticipated third movie which was in development) have all been cancelled.
This news might not be a huge surprise given that it's been nearly three years since the last Of The Dead movie, and given Snyder's recent projects, but it is a shock for people who were following this attempt by Netflix into franchise-making.
Netflix made a huge song and dance about Army of the Dead when it came out: it was one of the first of the streamer's movies to see a major theatrical release, and the streamer also released a making-of documentary and book. The movie was a hit when it came out, peaking as the most-watched movie on the streamer in the US, and so future projects seemed all but assured.
One reason that Netflix may have opted not to progress with Planet of the Dead is that Zack Snyder had seemingly re-focused his attention to create another sci-fi franchise for the streamer. He director the two parts of Rebel Moon, which came out in December 2023 and April 2024 respectively, as well as longer and R-rated directors' cuts of both which hit the streamer on Friday, August 2.
While the two original Rebel Moon were popular on the streamer, that wasn't the case for the directors' cuts, which didn't even reach the top 10 most-watched movies list in most regions. Critics tore up all four movies, particularly the first cuts, with part one A Child of Fire sitting at 22% on Rotten Tomatoes and part two The Scargiver even lower at 17%.
On X (Twitter), some fans have been speculating that Rebel Moon's poor reception has led to Army of the Dead's poor reception:
I wonder why. I will tell you, Rebel Moon was a disaster. It may have been pretty but it was a jumbled mess.August 7, 2024
This line of reasoning make sense, as the director's films are often incredibly expensive and the streamer may not want to pay lots of money for another movie that's decimated by critics.
But other than the two Rebel Moon directors' cuts, Sndyer's movies have proven popular with fans, and so perhaps there are some behind-the-scenes reasons that the director didn't mention.
Netflix isn't hasn't commented on the future of Army of the Dead's sequels, nor for that matter has it confirmed if Rebel Moon will continue, despite Snyder doing plenty of interviews to talk about how he wants between two and four more movies for the world. The streamer rarely makes a statement when it's cancelling a show, so we may have to take Snyder's word that Planet of the Dead is no more.
