Credit: ITMThe DC Extended Universe (DCEU) was a collection of movies littered with squandered possibilities. It became an infamous example of studio interference. While many critics and viewers may not have agreed with Zack Snyder’s vision post-Man of Steel, it still was a vision that needed to be seen through to the end or changed more gracefully. Snyder would get the last laugh, however, when he showcased his four-hour director’s cut, Zack Snyder’s Justice League in 2021. This rare opportunity has emboldened Snyder to want his upcoming film to get the same treatment.
Zack Snyder may be a polarizing director for many movie lovers, but there is no doubting his unique perspective on his projects. He created his own version of Superman in Man of Steel and the Justice League, constructed a series of surreal, visually stunning realities with his original film, Sucker Punch, and even orchestrated a cinematic zombie-verse with the Army of the Dead franchise. Snyder has cultivated a brand that has a passionate built-in audience.
He has now gone from a spectacle superhero franchise to a spectacle space opera with his latest project. Rebel Moon will center around, Kora (Sofia Boutella), a growing leader of a band of refugees and castaways. She seeks to protect her people from an invading force, so she sets out on a quest to recruit fierce mercenaries to help defend her once peaceful kingdom. They must clash with a bloodthirsty army of intergalactic conquerors, known as Imperium.
The outspoken director seeks to build another expansive universe for Netflix this time. Rebel Moon will be broken up into two films. Snyder originally wrote a 450-page compendium that explained the entire lore of the world and its characters. He expressed he has a growing timeline of events that will extend pass the two current movies as well.
Justice League‘s Snyder Cut was an anomaly that resulted from a huge three-year-long, fan-led social media campaign, coupled with a shortage of movie releases due to the COVID pandemic. It was unheard of for a major studio to allow director’s cuts, much less provide $70 million more to finish it. This ambitious feat must have given Zack Snyder “director’s cut fever” because he stated he has one ready for Rebel Moon.
He disclosed that, “The [Rebel Moon] director’s cut is close to an hour of extra content, so it’s a legitimate extended universe version. It is a settle-in deep dive, which I have notoriously done throughout my career. I don’t know how I got into this director’s cut thing, but what I will say about it is that, for me, the director’s cuts have always been something I had to fight for in the past.”
Snyder would continue to divulge that he purposefully shot multiple scenes just for a future director’s cut. This display of a confidence implies that Netflix would bring this dream to fruition one day. While this manifestation has yet to happen for a movie that has not even been released, the ever-expanding world to this dark, brutal sci-fi epic is expected to enthrall viewers. Critics have already labeled Rebel Moon a Rated-R Star Wars that will feature heavy violence, profanity, sex and assumedly lots of slow motion based off the new trailer.
Rebel Moon is due to premiere December 22, 2023 on Netflix.
What do you think of Zack Snyder’s comments? Will Rebel Moon be a hit for him?