It’s a happy coincidence for Zack Snyder that his directorial debut Dawn of the Dead and Netflix’s recent blockbuster Army of the Dead are both zombie movies and two of his most well-received efforts in terms of the critical consensus and audience reaction, as well as being the only pair of his nine feature-length directorial outings to date that weren’t produced by Warner Bros.
Based on a multitude of comments from the filmmaker in the wake of HBO Max’s Justice League, there’s clearly some lingering bitterness dwelling in the two parties, with Snyder being more open about his relationship with the studio than ever now that he’s no longer in their employ. However, insider Daniel Richtman is claiming that WB are experiencing a bit of seller’s remorse after handing Army of the Dead over to Netflix, with the tipster intimating that the execs regret selling it off.
“WB feels like an idiot for selling Army to Netflix,” he says.
Army of the Dead was first announced to be in development way back in March 2007, with Snyder only attached to produce. The following year, Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. was revealed to be sitting in the director’s chair, and he remained loosely involved for the next four years before any plans to bring the apocalyptic actioner to life were shelved permanently.
Having sat on the concept for a dozen years and done absolutely nothing with it, all while continuing to make movies with Zack Snyder at the helm, it would certainly be strange for Warner Bros. to suddenly find themselves lamenting the loss of Army of the Dead as the one that got away even though they repeatedly told the former steward of the DCEU that they weren’t interested in producing it, to the extent that they also knocked back an offer from Legendary Pictures to co-finance the production. But in any case, it certainly worked out well for Netflix in the end.