Netflix and director Zack Snyder have unveiled the first official images from the production of the highly-anticipated zombie flick, Army of the Dead.
Though the film idea initially stalled out while being discussed with Warner Bros., Snyder found a supportive partner in the head of original films for Netflix, Scott Stuber.
In fact, the plot revolving around a group of mercenaries that attempt to rob a casino in the middle of zombie apocalypse has generated so much buzz that Netflix invested in a prequel film as well as an anime series to supplement the core film - banking on what seems to be the start of a potential franchise.
The prequel film will focus on the Ludwig Deiter character from Army of the Dead, played by Matthias Schweighöfer. The anime series will have David Bautista's character as the protagonist and will feature Snyder in the directorial role for two of the episodes. Shay Hatten, one of the writers for Army of the Dead has penned the script for both the prequel as well as the anime series.
As for the core film, Army of the Dead takes its inspirational cues from Snyder's work on his 2004 reboot of George Romero's Dawn of the Dead. Somewhere between Ocean's Eleven and 28 Days Later, the director explained the marriage of genres and how the film is likely to defy expectations.
“It is a full-blown, balls-to-the-wall zombie heist movie, so it’s genre-on-genre in a great way. So you expect pure zombie mayhem, and you get that, 100 percent. But also you get these really amazing characters on a fantastic journey. It’s going to surprise people that there’s a lot of warmth and real emotion with these great characters.”
Army of The Dead arrives later this year and stars the previously mentioned Bautista, Matthias Schweighöfer, Tig Notaro, Huma Qureshi, Omari Hardwick, and Ella Purnell.
