Army of the Dead

2021 American zombie film by Zack SnyderTemplate:SHORTDESC:2021 American zombie film by Zack SnyderThis article is about the 2021 film. For the 2008 film, see Army of the Dead (2008 film).

## Army of the Dead

### **Screenplay by**

* Zack Snyder
* Shay Hatten
* Joby Harold

### **Produced by**

* Deborah Snyder
* Wesley Coller
* Zack Snyder

### **Starring**

* Dave Bautista
* Ella Purnell
* Omari Hardwick
* Ana de la Reguera
* Theo Rossi
* Matthias Schweighöfer
* Nora Arnezeder
* Hiroyuki Sanada
* Tig Notaro
* Raúl Castillo
* Huma Qureshi
* Garret Dillahunt

### **Release date**

* May 21, 2021 (2021-05-21) (United States)

### **Budget**

$90 million

***Army of the Dead*** is a 2021 American zombie heist film directed by Zack Snyder, with a screenplay he co-wrote with Shay Hatten and Joby Harold, based on a story by Snyder. The film stars Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Ana de la Reguera, Theo Rossi, Matthias Schweighöfer, Nora Arnezeder, Hiroyuki Sanada, Tig Notaro, Raúl Castillo, Huma Qureshi, and Garret Dillahunt, and follows a group of soldiers who plan a Las Vegas casino heist amid a zombie apocalypse.

The film was announced in 2007, but spent several years in development hell at Warner Bros. before having the rights bought by Netflix in 2019. Snyder was announced as director, and the cast joined over the next several months. Filming began in July 2019, taking place in Los Angeles, New Mexico, and New Jersey, including at the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel. Chris D'Elia was originally cast in the film, but after several sexual misconduct accusations were made against him in August 2020, Tig Notaro was hired to replace his character and reshot his scenes using green screen and body doubles.

*Army of the Dead* was released in select theaters in the United States on May 14, 2021, before streaming digitally on Netflix on May 21. The film received praise from critics for "the action, humor, and diversity of the cast" but the runtime was criticized.

## Plot

In the United States, a military convoy is transporting an unknown payload from Area 51 when it is struck by a car driven by distracted newlyweds. The payload container is compromised, unleashing a superhuman zombie that dispatches the soldiers and infects two of them. The zombies head to Las Vegas where they begin an outbreak, forcing the government to quarantine the city off.

Scott Ward (Dave Bautista) is a former mercenary who aided the evacuation of Las Vegas earlier now runs a burger restaurant. He is approached by casino owner Bly Tanaka (Hiroyuki Sanada) and his associate Martin (Garret Dillahunt) about a job to steal over $200 million USD from the vault in his casino before the US military destroys the city with a tactical nuclear strike a day later. Ward ultimately agrees and recruits his former teammates Maria Cruz (Ana de la Reguera) and Vanderohe (Omari Hardwick), along with helicopter pilot Marianne Peters (Tig Notaro), German safecracker Ludwig Dieter (Matthias Schweighöfer), and Mexican sharpshooter Mikey Guzman (Raúl Castillo), who brings along his associate Chambers (Samantha Win). Martin joins the team to observe them. To help them infiltrate the city, they enlist the help of Ward's daughter Kate (Ella Purnell), who works at the quarantine camp just outside the city and became estranged from her father after he was forced to kill her mother when she had turned into a zombie. Kate directs them to Lily (Nora Arnezeder), who knows her way around the city. Lily also recruits Burt Cummings (Theo Rossi), the security guard for the quarantine camp, for undisclosed reasons. When Kate learns that Lily had escorted her friend Geeta (Huma Qureshi) into the city, Kate insists on tagging along to find her, much to Ward's objections.

When they enter the city, Lily shoots and wounds Cummings for sexually abusing female workers and refugees. She explains to the team that there are now two groups of zombies, the normal zombies and a more intelligent group known as Alphas, and that the only way to gain temporary safe passage is to offer a sacrifice. An Alpha female known as the Bride takes Cummings away to the Mt. Olympus casino where he is infected by the Alpha leader Zeus. Lily leads the team through a building to evade outdoor detection where they discover numerous hibernating normal zombies. Ward creates a path through the zombies with nightsticks. Chambers suspects Martin of ulterior motives, so Martin diverts her off path, causing her to wake up the zombies, forcing Guzman to kill her and the group of zombies by exploding her gas container.

When the team reaches Bly's casino, Ward and Kate turn on the power, Peters prepares a waiting helicopter on the roof and Dieter works on the vault. Martin and Lily watch for zombies outside when they are confronted by the Bride. Martin traps and beheads the Bride, taking her head. Zeus discovers her body and directs the Alphas to Bly's casino. A news report reveals that the government had moved up the nuclear strike, giving the team only over one hour to finish the job. When Dieter finally opens the vault, Ward discovers that Kate had left to look for Geeta. Ward and Cruz decide to go look for her when they are attacked by the Alphas and Cruz is immediately killed. Martin traps them in the basement, explaining that Bly had no interest in the money. Bly is working with the government to create controlled zombies and the Bride's head is their key. However, when he gets outside, he discovers that Lily had swapped the head for a money counter and is killed by a zombie tiger. Vanderohe attempts to fight Zeus but is easily overwhelmed so Dieter sacrifices himself to get Vanderohe safe in the vault. Ward, Lily and Guzman make it to the lobby where they are attacked by zombies. Guzman is overwhelmed so he detonates grenades on himself, killing the zombies and destroying the money they were able to claim. When they make it to the roof, they are confronted by Zeus. Lily distracts him with the Bride's head so Ward and Peters can escape. Zeus impales Lily, but she throws away the Bride's head before she dies.

Ward asks Peters to take him to the Mt. Olympus casino to retrieve Kate. In the casino, Kate finds Geeta, but they are attacked by an infected Cummings, who is killed by Kate. They end up cornered by Zeus, but Ward arrives to subdue him with an explosive. They make it to the roof and get on the helicopter, but Zeus survives and jumps onto the helicopter, leading to a fight between Ward and Zeus. Zeus bites Ward, but Ward is able to kill Zeus. The nuclear warhead strikes the city, with the blast sending the helicopter to crash, killing Peters and Geeta. Kate survives and finds Ward dying. Ward gives Kate a few hundred thousand dollars to start her life anew before dying and turning into a zombie, forcing a tearful Kate to kill him as a rescue helicopter arrives.

In the ruins of Las Vegas, Vanderohe had survived the blast and leaves with the money leftover in the vault. Taking a car to Utah, he rents a private plane to take him to Mexico City. On the flight, he begins feeling dizzy and the flight attendants notice his body temperature dropping. When he checks on himself in the bathroom, he discovers a bite mark on his arm from his fight with Zeus, realizing he will turn into a zombie himself.

## Cast

* Dave Bautista as Scott Ward, a mercenary and founder of the mercenary group - Las Vengeance.
* Ella Purnell as Kate Ward, Scott's estranged daughter who works with the World Health Organization.
* Omari Hardwick as Vanderohe, a soldier and philosopher.
* Ana de la Reguera as Maria Cruz, Scott's friend, and companion who is a mechanic.
* Theo Rossi as Burt Cummings, the former security guard taking advantage of the power he has obtained over the refugees.
* Matthias Schweighöfer as Ludwig Dieter, the German safecracker.
* Nora Arnezeder as Lily, the Frenchwoman known as the Coyote.
* Hiroyuki Sanada as Bly Tanaka, a billionaire that orchestrates the heist and rounds up the team.
* Garret Dillahunt as Martin, the right-hand man to Tanaka. The former head of security at his Las Vegas casino.
* Tig Notaro as Marianne Peters, a helicopter pilot primarily tasked with transporting the team. Notaro replaces Chris D'Elia due to claims of sexual harassment towards women, Snyder filmed with Notaro alone and used CGI to remove D'Elia.
* Raúl Castillo as Mikey Guzman, a sharp-shooter influencer.
* Huma Qureshi as Geeta, a disenfranchised refugee and single mother of two children, who is a friend of Kate.
* Samantha Win as Chambers, Guzman's friend, and companion.
* Richard Cetrone as Zeus, The Alpha Zombie.
* Michael Cassidy as Sergeant Kelly

## Production

The project was first announced in March 2007. Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Entertainment were on board to co-produce the project. Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. signed on to serve as director. By January 2019, after lingering in development hell for a number of years, Netflix acquired the distribution rights to the project from Warner Bros. with Zack Snyder directing. The filmmaker also serves as co-screenwriter with Shay Hatten, based on the story treatment by Snyder and Joby Harold. The film entered principal photography in mid-2019, with a reported budget of $90 million.

### Casting

Dave Bautista was cast in April 2019, while Ella Purnell, Ana de la Reguera, Theo Rossi, and Huma Qureshi joined the cast in May.

In July 2019, Garret Dillahunt, Raúl Castillo, Omari Hardwick, Chris D'Elia, Hiroyuki Sanada, Nora Arnezeder, Matthias Schweighöfer, Samantha Jo and Rich Cetrone joined the cast of the film. In August 2020, Tig Notaro was announced to replace D'Elia, who was cut from the film due to sexual misconduct allegations. As of March 2021, Notaro has been inserted into the film through a combination of reshooting scenes opposite an acting partner and also using digital compositing to insert her into the scene due to COVID-19 safety protocols restricting Synder from reshooting scenes with the cast.

### Filming

Principal photography began on July 15, 2019, in Los Angeles, California, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Filming also took place at the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey which had been closed since 2014. Art Direction of the Film was done by Darshankumar Joshi, Geoffrey S. Grimsman and Brett McKenzie.

Snyder served as his own cinematographer, and shot the film with custom-made Red Digital Cinema cameras.

### Post-production

By March 2021, Snyder confirmed that work on the film had officially been completed.

## Release

*Army of the Dead* will be digitally released by Netflix on May 21, 2021. The film will also play in about 330 Cinemark theaters and 270 other locations the week prior to its digital release, just the second time Netflix allowed one of its films to be played in a chain theater following *The Christmas Chronicles 2*.

## Reception

### Box office

The film made $290,000 on its first day of release. *Army of the Dead* was projected to have a $1,000,000 opening weekend up from Roma, which made an estimated $200,000 in a 5-day Thanksgiving Opening, making it the biggest theatrical opening for a Netflix movie.

### Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 73% of 79 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "An ambitious, over-the-top zombie heist mashup, *Army of the Dead* brings Zack Snyder back to his genre roots with a suitably gory splash." According to Metacritic, which assigned a weighted average score of 56 out of 100 based on 26 critics, the film received "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by PostTrak gave the film an overall positive score if 83%.

Writing for *Variety*, Owen Gleiberman called the film "a stylishly grandiose, muscular but conventional popcorn pageant that's got something for just about everyone. It's a zombie movie. It's a heist thriller. It's a sentimental father-daughter reconciliation story." Alonso Duralde of the *TheWrap* wrote: "There's enough gore, mayhem, and decay in *Army of the Dead* to make for a satisfying zombie-movie experience, and while it's the best film Snyder has made since his last 'of the Dead,' it's also one that continually hints at the more satisfying work it might have been."

## Future

In September 2020, it was announced that a prequel film and an anime-style television series are in development to expand the franchise.

### Prequel

*Main article: Army of Thieves*Matthias Schweighöfer will direct and star in *Army of Thieves*, which takes place before the events of *Army of the Dead* and focuses on Schweighöfer's character, Ludwig Dieter. The film will also star Nathalie Emmanuel, Guz Khan, Ruby O. Fee, Stuart Martin, Jonathan Cohen, Noemie Nakai and Peter Simonischek which began development in October 2020. Filming wrapped in December 2020.
### Animated series

*Main article: Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas*The anime-style series will be titled *Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas* and will center around some of the characters from *Army of the Dead* during the early phases of the zombie outbreak.
## References

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1. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Brandon Katz (May 10, 2021). "Zack Snyder Wants to Kick Off the Age of the Netflix Summer Blockbuster". *Observer*. Retrieved May 11, 2021.
2. ↑ Army of the Dead.
3. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Dan Auty (May 10, 2021). "Review Roundup For Army Of The Dead". *GameSpot*. Retrieved May 11, 2021.
4. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>"Snyder Raises Another Army". *Cinema Blend*. March 26, 2007. Archived from the original on April 17, 2021. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
5. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Sciretta, Peter (June 4, 2008). "Matthijs van Heijningen set to direct "Army of the Dead"". */Film*. Archived from the original on May 3, 2019. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Kit, Borys (January 29, 2019). Zack Snyder Returning to Movies With Zombie Action Pic 'Army of the Dead' (Exclusive). *The Hollywood Reporter*.
7. ↑ Fleming Jr., Mike (April 5, 2019). Dave Bautista To Star In Zack Snyder-Directed 'Army Of The Dead'. *Deadline Hollywood*. Penske Media Corporation.
8. ↑ Ella Purnell Joins Zack Snyder's 'Army of the Dead' as Dave Bautista's Daughter (Exclusive) (May 28, 2019).
9. ↑ Galuppo, Mia (July 15, 2019). Zack Snyder's 'Army of the Dead' Rounds Out Cast with Omari Hardwick, Chris D'Elia.
10. ↑ Kit, Borys (August 14, 2020). Tig Notaro to Replace Chris D'Elia in Zack Snyder's 'Army of the Dead' (Exclusive).
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Collis, Clark. Zack Snyder on possible DCEU return and why 'Army of the Dead' was his 'most joyful cinematic experience' (en).
12. ↑ Army of the Dead.
13. ↑ Radish, Christina (July 14, 2019). Ella Purnell Talks 'Sweetbitter' Season 2 and Zack Snyder's 'Army of the Dead'.
14. ↑ Crews ready Atlantic Club for filming zombie flick. *The Press of Atlantic City* (August 26, 2019).
15. ↑ Template:Citation
16. ↑ Mendelovich, Yossy (February 26, 2021). 'Army of the Dead' Trailer Is Out: Shot on RED Monstro by Cinematographer (and Director) Zack Snyder (en-US).
17. ↑ Trumbore, Dave (August 12, 2019). Zack Snyder Reveals Behind-the-Scenes Shot of 'Army of the Dead' as Filming Continues. *Collider*.
18. ↑ Squires, John (April 3, 2021). Colorful New Poster for Zack Snyder's 'Army of the Dead' Reminds You to Always Bet on Dead.
19. ↑ Miska, Brad (February 21, 2020). Zack Snyder's 'Army of the Dead' Shambles to Netflix on May 21st! [Poster].
20. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Epstein, Adam (May 5, 2021). "The pandemic is giving Netflix its long-awaited chance to be in movie theaters". *Deadline Hollywood*. Retrieved May 11, 2021.
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 D'Alessandro, Anthony (May 15, 2021). ‘Spiral’ Circling $9M+ Opening Weekend, Zack Snyder Netflix Movie ‘Army Of The Dead’ Opening To Est. $735K.
22. ↑ D'Aless, Anthony (2021-05-15). ‘Spiral’ Circling $9M+ Opening Weekend, Zack Snyder Netflix Movie ‘Army Of The Dead’ Opening To Est. $735K.
23. ↑ Template:Cite Rotten Tomatoes
24. ↑ Template:Cite Metacritic
25. ↑ Gleiberman, Owen (May 11, 2021). ‘Army of the Dead’ Review: Zack Snyder’s Zombies in Vegas Heist Thriller Is an Epic Meat-and-Potatoes Undead Flick. *Variety*.
26. ↑ Duralde, Alonso (May 11, 2021). ‘Army of the Dead’ Film Review: Zack Snyder Returns to His Zombie Roots, So There’s That.
27. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (September 3, 2020). Zack Snyder Netflix Zombie Pic 'Army Of The Dead' Spawning Film Prequel & Anime-Syle Series (en-US).
28. ↑ Rosario, Alexandra Del (October 1, 2020). 'Army Of The Dead: Lost Vegas': Netflix Anime Series Adds Joe Manganiello, Christian Slater, Vanessa Hudgens & More (en-US).
29. ↑ Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead Prequel Begins Production (en).
30. ↑ Zack Snyder's 'Army of the Dead' Prequel Movie Has Already Wrapped Filming (en-US) (December 23, 2020).
31. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (September 3, 2020). Zack Snyder Netflix Zombie Pic 'Army Of The Dead' Spawning Film Prequel & Anime-Syle Series (en-US).

## External links

* *Army of the Dead* at IMDb

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 Films produced
 See also