Zack Snyder Says ‘More People’ Probably Saw ‘Rebel Moon’ on Netflix Than Saw ‘Barbie’ in Movie Theaters: ‘That’s How Crazy’ Netflix’s Distribution Model Is
07.03.2024 - 15:44
/ variety.com
Zack Sharf Digital News Director Zack Snyder appeared on “The Joe Rogan Experience” and championed his recent pivot to Netflix. The 58-year-old filmmaker spent the bulk of his career making movies at Warner Bros., but he made the jump to streaming starting with the 2021 release of his zombie action movie “Army of the Dead.” Snyder’s latest Netflix original was “Rebel Moon,” which debuted in December and kicked off a new space saga for the streaming giant. A second “Rebel Moon” film arrives this spring.
During a two-hour conversation with Joe Rogan, Snyder marveled at the reach Netflix has compared to traditional film studios. He ran some math to prove his point and deduced that “Rebel Moon,” despite being panned by film critics, probably got seen by more people than Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” a box office powerhouse with $1.4 billion worldwide (which made it the highest grossing film of 2023 and Warner Bros.’ top grosser in history). “You think about Netflix, for instance, where you push a button,” Snyder said.
“‘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?” “That’s how crazy Netflix is,” Snyder continued. “That’s the distribution model that they’ve set up. I was at this thing the other day and we were talking about ‘Rebel Moon 2.’
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