While Zack Snyder missed out on a theatrical debut for his director’s cut of Justice League due to the pandemic, his latest passion project is faring much better. In a surprising move from Netflix, the streaming giant is releasing Army of the Dead in theaters a full week before it makes its Netflix debut. The zombie heist film will have an exclusive theatrical run starting May 14 and will mark Netflix’s first stab at a large scale cinematic release. Via Variety:
Notably, Cinemark, one of the country’s biggest theater chains, has agreed to screen the movie. It is booked at 200 Cinemark locations, making “Army of the Dead” the first Netflix film to score a wide release at a major theater chain. The movie will play at roughly 600 theaters in total, including iPic, Landmark, Alamo Drafthouse, Harkins and Cinépolis. Other major circuits, specifically AMC and Regal, will not be offering the film.
Of course, with all good news, there’s always a bit of bad. During a recent interview with The Sunday Times, Snyder revealed that Army of the Dead will be noticeably lacking in zombie penis. “We had a sequence where one of the male strippers had a huge penis with a bite taken out of it,” Snyder said. “We thought that was too much.”
While the film has been hotly anticipated after dropping a badass trailer featuring a zombie tiger, the big question now is whether horror audiences will accept a zombie film that doesn’t feature undead, full-frontal nudity. It’s a gamble to be sure.
(Via Variety)
