Official trailer:
Teaser trailer:
Release date:
Army of the Dead was released on Netflix on May 21st 2021.
Background:
The Netflix-backed movie marked Snyder’s return to directing after a family tragedy meant that he left Justice League in 2017, with Joss Whedon doing reshoots and finishing post-production. According to industry insiders, Netflix specifically identified the zombie project and sought it out from previous owners Warner Bros., which might set a precedent for the studio selling other projects to the online streaming service.
In an interview in The Hollywood Reporter Snyder previously stated: “I love to honour canon and the works of art, but this is the opportunity to find a purely joyful way to express myself through a genre. It will be the most kick-ass, self-aware — but not in a wink-to-the-camera way — balls-to-the-wall zombie freakshow that anyone has ever seen. No one’s ever let me completely loose [like this].”
He added: “I love big action, I love big sequences. My movie brain starts clicking around and I was like, ‘We need to be shooting this now!’ Constructing these sequences really fired me up.”
Army of the Dead universe:
Variety reported that an untitled film prequel and an animated series relating to Army of the Dead are in development at Netflix. Shay Hatten, one of the writers of the screenplay for Army of the Dead, is writing the prequel as well as the animated series.
The prequel will be directed by and star Matthias Schweighöfer and will follow his Ludwig Dieter character from Army of the Dead. Meanwhile, the animated series, Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas, will focus on the origin story of Dave Bautista’s character and his rescue crew during the initial fall of Vegas as they confront the mysterious source of the zombie outbreak.
Snyder said: “I’m incredibly excited for the opportunity to partner with Netflix again as we expand the ‘Army of the Dead’ universe with both an international prequel, as well as exploring the visually dynamic world of animation. It’s been a great collaboration and we are thrilled that Netflix sees this as big of an IP as we do.”
At a press event to reveal the official trailer (below), Zack Snyder revealed more about the film to Bloody Disgusting and others:
“It’s kind of a genre-busting movie. It knows what it is, and it allows there to be a little bit of that kind of dry humour. Visually, it does the same thing. There’s a funny aspect to it.”
“Zombie animals were going to be part of it. The only creatures immune from the zombie virus are birds. We have two categories of zombies in the movie. The Alphas and the Shamblers. Our Alphas are the evolved version of zombies, they’ve taken another step. They’re much faster, and we kind of treat them like wolves… they’re sentient. They kind of fight in packs and kind of have a pack mentality.”
Main cast and characters:
Hiroyuki Sanada … Hunter Bly
Dave Bautista … Scott Ward
Ella Purnell … Kate Ward
Garret Dillahunt … Martin
Ana de la Reguera … Cruz
Nora Arnezeder
Samantha Win … Chambers
Theo Rossi … Burt Cummings
Michael Cassidy … Sergeant Cassidy
Omari Hardwick … Vanderohe
Tig Notaro … Marianne Peters
Matthias Schweighöfer … Ludwig Dieter
Filming locations:
Albuquerque, New Mexico (refugee camp)
Las Vegas, Nevada
Showboat Atlantic City, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Technical details:
148 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.78: 1
Audio: Dolby Atmos
Budget:
$90 million (estimated)
