Zack Snyder movies always had a bit of a video game flair to them. Whether it was the freeze frame slow motion action of 300, or the breathless pace of Dawn of the Dead, or the superhero porn of the DCU movies, it always felt like you could be watching a PlayStation cut scene. Now, he’s taking that idea to its logical conclusion with a video game version of the upcoming Rebel Moon show on Netflix.
This almost feels inevitable. After the 300, Snyder signed a deal with Electronic Arts to develop three original games for the company. Unfortunately, those games never made it to store shelves, but at least now we’ll get to see a Snyder game for real.
Rebel Moon, by the way, is an original sci-fi show that Snyder’s making for Netflix. It’s about a small colony waging a rebellious war versus a galactic empire.
The film’s inspired by the classic Akira Kurosawa movie Seven Samurai. Does this all sound a bit Star Wars-ish? Strangely enough, George Lucas based that movie on another Kurosawa film called The Hidden Fortress. Oh, and Snyder said the space opera was originally a Star Wars project he pitched to Lucasfilm after Disney bought it.
Snyder released a trailer for the upcoming movie today, and it looks pretty great. There are a ton of explosions, huge guns, spaceships, spider people with flaming swords, etc. Sure, it could be terrible, but it could also be incredible. Whatever you say about Snyder, he swings for the fences every time.
Here’s the synopsis:
“When a peaceful colony on the edge of a galaxy finds itself threatened by the armies of a tyrannical ruling force, Kora (Sofia Boutella), a mysterious stranger living among the villagers, becomes their best hope for survival. Tasked with finding trained fighters who will unite with her in making an impossible stand against the Mother World, Kora assembles a small band of warriors — outsiders, insurgents, peasants and orphans of war from different worlds who share a common need for redemption and revenge. As the shadow of an entire Realm bears down on the unlikeliest of moons, a battle over the fate of a galaxy is waged, and in the process, a new army of heroes is formed.”
That’s quite the elevator pitch. Snyder’s developing the game along with Super Evil Megacorp, the company that partnered with Netflix recently to make exclusive games. The company released a statement explaining what it was going for with the upcoming release.
“Building worlds is our passion and the opportunity to collaborate on this one has been a dream come true, making us equal parts excited and terrified by the creative challenge ahead. Our studio has learned a great deal about cooperative play from Vainglory, Catalyst Black, and TMNT: Splintered Fate and we are intending to take all of those learnings and push them to the next level.”
The game will be a “four player co-op action game” and it will be “exclusive to Netflix members.” Considering all the games cited by Super Evil are mobile games, it will be interesting to see just how exactly this one’s going to play out. We just don’t know much about Netflix gaming yet.
Rebel Moon Part 1: A Child of Fire lands on Netflix on December 22, and Part 2: The Scargiver premieres on April 19. We’ll keep you posted on a release date for the game.
Published: Aug 22, 2023 04:29 pm