Army of the Dead theatrical release arriving before Netflix debut

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

We've been looking forward to the May 21st Netflix debut of director Zack Snyder's new film Army of the Dead, but it turns out that movie-goers will have a chance to see the movie a week earlier. Theatre chains Cinemark, iPic, Landmark, Alama Drafthouse, Harkins, and Cinépolis are all part of plan to get Army of the Dead into about 600 theatres for a one-week run starting on May 14th.

AMC and Regal are not participating in the film's theatrical release. Cinemark had previously opted out of releases like this as well, objecting because Netflix wouldn't offer the same theatrical window traditional studios do, which has usually been 90 days up to this point. (Several studios have indicated that the theatrical window is going to be much shorter from now on.) But Cinemark was won over this time.

Cinemark's Justin McDaniel had this to say: 

Cinemark is excited to work with Netflix on our first wide release and provide movie lovers the opportunity to see Army of the Dead in our theatres across the U.S. Zack Snyder fans will love seeing the action in an immersive, cinematic environment with larger-than-life sight and sound technology."

Written by Snyder with Joby Harold and Shay Hatten, Army of the Dead is an adventure film that takes place after

a zombie outbreak that has left Las Vegas in ruins and walled off from the rest of the world. When Scott Ward (Dave Bautista), a displaced Vegas local, former zombie war hero who’s now flipping burgers on the outskirts of the town he now calls home, is approached by casino boss Bly Tanaka (Hiroyuki Sanada), it’s with the ultimate proposition: Break into the zombie-infested quarantine zone to retrieve $200 million sitting in a vault beneath the strip before the city is nuked by the government in 32 hours.

Driven by the hope that the payoff could help pave the way to a reconciliation with his estranged daughter Kate (Ella Purnell), Ward takes on the challenge, assembling a ragtag team of experts for the heist. They include Maria Cruz (Ana de la Reguera), an ace mechanic and Ward’s old friend; Vanderohe (Omari Hardwick), a zombie killing machine; Marianne Peters (Tig Notaro), a cynical helicopter pilot; Mikey Guzman (Raúl Castillo), a go-for-broke influencer and Chambers (Samantha Win), his ride-or-die; Martin (Garret Dillahunt), the casino’s head of security; a badass warrior known as the Coyote (Nora Arnezeder) who recruits Burt Cummings (Theo Rossi), a slimy security guard; and a brilliant German safe cracker named Dieter (Matthias Schweighöfer).

Scott finds an unexpected emotional hurdle when Kate joins the expedition to search for Geeta (Huma S. Qureshi), a mother who’s gone missing inside the city. With a ticking clock, a notoriously impenetrable vault, and a smarter, faster horde of Alpha zombies closing in, only one thing’s for certain in the greatest heist ever attempted: survivors take all.

Snyder produced the film with Deborah Snyder and Wesley Coller. This is the first entry in a franchise. Netflix is already working on as prequel that was directed by Schweighöfer and centers on his character Ludwig Dieter, and the anime series Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas will serve as an origin story for Bautista's character Scott.