Back to All News
Origin Story: Army of the Dead'
Ori Marmur
VP Studio Film
Entertainment
25 May 2021
GlobalUnited States
Army of the Dead was a must make film for me after Zack Snyder first pitched it to us nearly three years ago. It was fresh, bold, edgy and had the potential to be something big. Netflix was the perfect place for this type of original storytelling and I wanted to make sure we had the opportunity to bring Zack's vision to the world.
Army of the Dead follows a group of mercenaries, who, after a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, venture into the quarantine zone to attempt the greatest heist ever .
Its liberating to have the freedom to take big swings with filmmakers you believe in, and together with the film's incredible team, we think we've made something pretty epic. To celebrate the film's Netflix debut, we wanted to share (no spoilers) why we went all in on this truly one-of-a-kind film.
A Zombie World Like You've Never Seen Before
Zombie-Action-Heist-Thriller-Horror-Comedy. What I love about Army of the Dead is that its all of my favorite types of movies mashed into one. And whatever genre youre into, you can likely find a taste of that here.
Usually, when you hear zombie movie you may think pale, moody, lifeless. This couldnt be further from Zack Snyder's zombie world, which pairs grit with levity and color set against a kitschy Las Vegas backdrop.
We also knew we wanted to bring in talent from around the world. It was important to us that audiences in Germany, France, Mexico, Japan and India could also see themselves in a summer tentpole. Too often this business is dependent on one big name to greenlight a movie. Here we had a diverse ensemble of international stars including Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Ana De La Reguera, Theo Rossi, Matthias Schweigh fer, Nora Arnezeder, Hiroyuki Sanada, Garret Dillahunt, Tig Notaro, Ra l Castillo, Huma S. Qureshi, Samantha Win, Richard Cetrone and Michael Cassidy.
Big Bets & Opportunity
When I first joined Netflix, there were a couple of phrases I consistently heard: Creative Excellence' and Freedom & Responsibility'. These may sound like corporate buzz words rarely put into practice. On Army of the Dead, we brought these concepts into every frame of the project.
For me, it meant empowering Zack to take the kind of big swings he is known for. For the company, it meant doing something unprecedented in traditional Hollywood - saying yes to a German local language prequel for Matthias Schweigh fer's character and an anime spinoff before ever seeing a cut of the film. Conventional wisdom says: make one and see how it does. Here, there was so much enthusiasm around the possibilities, we just kept going. Just as the film's multi-hyphenated genre makes it accessible for lots of different people and tastes, so does the future of the Army-verse.
Snyder Through and Through
Every aspect of this movie is guided by Zack's aesthetic and creative vision, something I find rare and special. Not only did Zack co-write, produce and direct the film, he was also the director of photography. He was rarely on set without his custom RED camera in his hands, surrounded by his trusted team all working together to make this film as thrilling as possible. Working with Zack on such a unique project where he pushes the envelope is a career highlight.
And as Zack said himself, there is no other cut - this is his cut, and we could not be more excited!
Army of the Dead is now streaming on Netflix.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
01/06/2026
Category line-up & sponsors announced
Photo: Paul Clarke
The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...
01/06/2026
New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed
Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...
01/06/2026
Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps
The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...
01/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
01/06/2026
SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026
1 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has secured Hyundai, Hisense, Macca's, Rexona, bet365, Com...
01/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...
01/06/2026
Adobe Announces Concept to Vector
Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026
0 Comments
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...
01/06/2026
Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton June 1, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Mardi 2 juin 14h00
FilmLight (ARRI), 10 rue Ren Boulanger, 75010 Paris
Rejoignez-nous pour d couvrir comment FLAPI (l'API FilmLight) peut transformer e...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
31/05/2026
Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona The Berklee graduate and faculty member will debut her choral symphony with...
31/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Wins 15 Awards at the Canadian Screen Awards - See Pho...
31/05/2026
Taiwan is home to more than 500 NVIDIA ecosystem partners. More than 1 million N...
31/05/2026
As factories move from isolated automation to plant-wide intelligence, manufacturers need AI systems that can connect live machine signals, quality systems, wor...
31/05/2026
The NVIDIA AI Cloud ecosystem is accelerating the global buildout of AI factory infrastructure. Partners are expanding capacity to meet growing demand from ente...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
Back to All News
