Netflix Is Giving Zack Snyder's ARMY OF THE DEAD a Proper Theatrical Release
It looks like Netflix is giving Zack Snyder’s upcoming zombie heist action film Army of the Dead a proper theatrical release. The movie is set to play exclusively in movie theaters starting on May 14th for one week prior to its Netflix release on May 21st.
Army of the Dead will play at roughly 600 theaters in total, including Cinemark, iPic, Landmark, Alamo Drafthouse, Harkins and Cinépolis. However, AMC and Regal will not be offering the film.
Justin McDaniel, Cinemark’s senior VP of global content strategy, said the company was looking forward to collaborating with Netflix:
“Cinemark is excited to work with Netflix on our first wide release and provide movie lovers the opportunity to see ‘Army of the Dead’ in our theatres across the U.S. Zack Snyder fans will love seeing the action in an immersive, cinematic environment with larger-than-life sight and sound technology.”
Spencer Klein, Netflix’s head of distribution added:
“Following the success of our limited-run in-theatre tests with Cinemark for films like ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,’ ‘The Midnight Sky’ and ‘The Christmas Chronicles 2,’ we are looking forward to the wider theatrical release of ‘Army of the Dead.’”
The film follows a group of mercenaries into a zombie-infested Las Vegas as they try to pull off the greatest heist ever attempted. It’s set amid “a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, during which a man assembles a group of mercenaries to take the ultimate gamble, venturing into the quarantined zone to pull off the greatest heist ever attempted.“ What they aren’t expecting is the different breed of zombies that await them.
The story will focus on one “capable hero who assembles a team of undesirables to infiltrate an impregnable fortress (in this case, a Las Vegas casino) during an undead uprising.” That hero is played by Dave Bautista, and he will be joined by Ella Purnell, Ana De La Reguera, Theo Rossi, Huma Qureshi, Omari Hardwick, Tig Notaro, Hiroyuki Sanada, Garret Dillahunt, Matthias Schweighöfer, Raúl Castillo, Nora Arnezeder, and Samantha Win.
It’s also been explained that “a plague has been released from Nevada's secretive Area 51 military base. The U.S. government has managed to contain the outbreak by building a wall around an overrun Sin City. But there's still all that cash in zombie-infested casinos, if only somebody is brave (or dumb) enough to try to go and get it.”