Zack Snyder had a breakthrough directorial debut with “Dawn of the Dead” (2004), distributed by Universal. He then moved over to Warner Bros., beginning a 10-plus year run. 2007’s “300” was a blockbuster. 2009’s “Watchmen” didn’t do quite as well but still had a theatrical impact. He followed that up with 2010 animated feature “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole”. It only earned $140 million worldwide (including just $55.7 million domestically), but its week to week drops weren’t significant. Mid to late September has been a popular time to release animated films over the years, as families are looking for an escape from being involved in the ‘back to school’ universe. (Just look at this month, with “Transformers One” and “The Wild Robot”).
About a half-year later came “Sucker Punch”. And then it was the start of the DCEU slate for Snyder, helming 2013’s Superman revival “Man of Steel”, followed by 2016’s “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” and 2017’s “Justice League”. (The “Snyder Cut” would be released on HBO Max a few years later.) Snyder also served as writer and producer of “300: Rise of an Empire” (2014), executive producer of the 2016 and 2021 “Suicide Squad” movies and first “Aquaman” (2018), and producer on juggernaut “Wonder Woman” (2017) and 2020 sequel “Wonder Woman 1984”.
Snyder moved over to Netflix, directing “Army of the Dead” and producing “Army of Thieves” (both in 2021) and directing both parts of sci-fi epic “Rebel Moon”, which debuted on the streamer over the past year. His latest project for Netflix is the adult animated action adventure series “Twilight of the Gods” (now available). I had the chance to speak with Snyder about the show and ended our conversation by asking him if he’d ever consider directing another animated feature — that could play either in theaters or on streaming (or maybe both). Here’s what he told me:
“Yeah, I would do another feature-length animated film. Absolutely. I love the freedom and the incredible way that the characters can express [themselves]. It’s a really rewarding and visually limitless place to work.”