Zack Snyder, for most of his career, has made movies under the banner of Warner Bros. But after the Justice League controversy, he decided to move away and shook hands with streaming giant Netflix. The partnership brought about projects like Army of the Dead and Rebel Moon, and soon, will also see the sequel to the latter this spring.
Recently, the director appeared for a chat in The Joe Rogan Experience and talked about his partnership with Netflix, his movies under the streamer, and of all things – the distribution model of Netflix. One of the most controversial directors of our time, Snyder made it sound like movies made under streaming platforms perform better financially than those that open in theatres. This might strain his friendship with another director, who has always championed theatre releases over streaming.
Zack Snyder’s Best Pal Might Not Like His Latest Comments
Zack Snyder‘s recent conversation with Joe Rogan has invited a lot of chatter about theatrical releases versus streaming. Snyder’s partnership with Netflix after his departure from Warner Bros. saw movies like Army of the Dead and Rebel Moon, the latter of which was obliterated by critics, scoring a below-average rating of 21% on Rotten Tomatoes. But the director has no regrets, praising the streamer’s distribution model for all their projects. Snyder said on The Joe Rogan Experience,
“That’s how crazy Netflix is. That’s the distribution model that they’ve set up,” further adding, “It’s not like a theater situation. You could turn it on your phone right now and watch it right here if you wanted. That’s how crazy it is. This model, this machine they’ve built, is really something else. It’s really crazy if you think about it.”
His comments about movies doing better business under streaming services instead of theatres might not be liked by one of his old friends. Yes, we are talking about Zack Snyder’s bestie, Christopher Nolan. Nolan has always been pro-cinema, so much so, that when Warner Bros., the studio he had worked with for a long time (since 2002’s Insomnia), decided to release Tenet on HBO exclusively instead of their initial plan of a theatre-only release. After his split from the studio following the controversy, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Nolan said,
“Some of our industry’s biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service.”
The polarising comments from Snyder and Nolan show the divide between people who prefer theater releases over those who choose streaming.
Fans React to Zack Snyder’s Stance on Streaming Media
With his recent comments about Netflix, it is easy to decipher how amazed Zack Snyder is at the streamer’s reach as compared to theatres. Many movies that get limited theatrical release, or are unable to find distributors, now have the chance to release their products to the audience through the means of streaming. While it is a good business plan, many still prefer the old-school way of going to theatres with friends or family, buying tickets, and getting to experience cinema on the big screen.
But Snyder thinks that his movie Rebel Moon, which was exclusively released on Netflix, did better numbers than Greta Gerwig’s 2023 release, Barbie, which was the highest-grossing movie of the year, and the highest-grossing movie of Warner Bros. in history. All because, according to Snyder, more people pushed some buttons on their screens. Talking on JRE, Snyder said,
“You think about Netflix, for instance, where you push a button. ‘Rebel Moon,’ right? Say right now it’s almost at 90 million views, right? 80 or 90 million accounts turned it on, give or take. They assume two viewers per screening, right? That’s the kind of math. So you think if that movie was in the theater as a distribution model, that’s like 160,000,000 people supposedly watching based on that math. 160,000,000 people at $10 a ticket would be…what is that math? I don’t know. 160,000,000 times ten. That’s 1.6 billion. So more people probably saw ‘Rebel Moon’ than saw ‘Barbie’ in the theater, right?”
Fans took to social media after his comments, and things have not been pretty.
This guy screams anti-cinema.
— Debraaj Choudhury (@debraajc) March 7, 2024
I'll just let him be happy and content with rebel moon. Even though I see this as bs.
— Eddie (@OHMYDIAZ) March 7, 2024
Zack, if audiences had to pay ten bucks to see your boring Star Wars derivative, you can go ahead and cut 3-5 zeroes off that audience count buddy.
— Bob Jeffers (@bobjeffers559) March 7, 2024
After Boy Math, Girl Math and Everythingelse Math … now there’s Zack Math.
— Sebastian Groebner (@SGroebner) March 7, 2024
Zack i love you bestie but what 😭
— sabrina 🦇 (@nightwaynes) March 7, 2024
This assumes people aren't also watching Barbie on home streaming as well
— ♥ Professor Stu♥ (@stubs451) March 7, 2024
netflix logic: x + y – z x 2 = half a billion people actually watched our film making it the most popular thing of all time and we will not prove our calculations to you…
— luca (@LucaGuadagnegro) March 7, 2024
People called out the director on his “math” and also pointed out that even if what he is saying holds true, Barbie is doing better than his Rebel Moon, as it has also been released on streaming platforms after a successful run in theatres.
Barbie is available for viewing on HBO Max.
