The Army of the Dead franchise consists of American zombie-action horror installments, which serve as spiritual sequels to the 2004 re-imagining of Dawn of the Dead (1978). The franchise consists of a streaming release film that was also released in theaters for a limited time, and a spin-off prequel film, with future installments in various degrees of development.
The original film, entitled Army of the Dead, was stuck in development hell for a number of years until Netflix acquired the distribution rights from Universal and Warner Bros. Pictures; the film was released in May 2021. Though it was met with mixed critical reception, the movie succeeded as one of the most popular films of all-time from Netflix, with an estimated 75 million homes streaming the movie. A spin-off prequel film, titled Army of Thieves, was released later that year in October.
The franchise will continue with a prequel anime-styled television series titled Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas which is in post-production, as well as a film serving as a direct sequel to the original film called Planet of the Dead that is in development.
Development
Origin
Producer Eric Newman originally conceived plans to remake George A. Romero's 1978 cult horror film Dawn of the Dead. A fan of the original film, Newman asked Strike Entertainment's Marc Abraham to produce the remake with him. Abraham agreed, and the two secured the rights to the film from Richard P. Rubinstein, the original's producer. Rubinstein finally agreed to grant the rights after several years because he was worried "that somewhere along the way a studio would sanitize Newman's vision for producing a version with 'attitude'", as Romero's film was independently produced. In addition, the producer was impressed by Abraham's "long track record in keeping the creative integrity of the studio distributed films he has produced intact".
Newman and Abraham said that the new Dawn of the Dead is more of a "re-envisioning" of Romero's film geared toward younger audiences who had not seen the original. Newman stated that the production's goal is "to make the old fans happy and make a lot of new fans. Because that's the only reason we are doing it." He cited his favorite classic horror films Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), The Thing (1982), and The Fly (1986) as cinematic influences, explaining that these had "some amazing updates" which "add to rather than diminish the original films". In search of a screenwriter, Rubinstein hired James Gunn, an avid fan of the original, who began writing a draft. Michael Tolkin and Scott Frank did some uncredited work on Gunn's script. Rubinstein stated that Tolkin further developed the characters while Frank provided some of the bigger, upbeat action scenes. This was director Zack Snyder's directorial debut, and he storyboarded the film.
Production
In June 2008, after the financial and critical successes of Dawn of the Dead, a sequel was announced to be in development. Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. signed on as director, with a script from Joby Harold, based on an original story by Zack Snyder. The plot centers around a father who is determined to save his daughter from a quarantined and zombie-infested Las Vegas. Snyder described the film as a zombie movie on a larger scale. The project was scheduled to be a co-production between Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures. The film remained in development hell for a number of years, with Snyder later reporting that the studios involved "didn't want to spend that kind of money on a zombie movie, or just didn't take it that seriously."
By January 2019, Netflix acquired the distribution rights to the project from Universal and Warner Bros. with Zack Snyder returning as director. The filmmaker also serves as co-screenwriter with Shay Hatten, based on the story treatment previously written by Snyder and Joby Harold. Snyder stated that Dawn of the Dead is "a zombie movie...all the way with all of [the] tropes of the genre", stating: "I started to think of what were other genres that story didn't have room for." After having a meeting with Scott Stuber, head of original films at Netflix, Stuber signed on to produce the project immediately. Described as a spiritual successor and standalone sequel to the previous film, Army of the Dead is designed as a franchise launcher. The studio liked the concept enough to also green-light a four-hour anime-styled animated prequel television series, as well as a spin-off prequel film. Army of the Dead commenced principal photography in mid-2019, with a reported budget of $90 million. The film was scheduled to be released on May 21, 2021.