While Disney and other studios fret about streaming, it's been very good to the director of Army of the Dead for Netflix. Yet, Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon might become the original franchise the streaming giant needs to survive the next phase of the Streaming War. Netflix scored a double coup by financing Knives Out: Glass Onion from Rian Johnson. Since the first film was a theatrical release, Netflix put it out for just a week in theaters, and it made a respectable box office take. With his sizable online fanbase, Zack Snyder could probably beat $15 million in a weekend with Rebel Moon.
Most of the big hits on Netflix are licensed properties like Arcane from Riot Games or The Sandman and Lucifer from Warner Bros. While the zombie space is pretty well occupied, Rebel Moon has the chance to be the Game of Thrones-meets-Star Wars some fans have been hoping for. Star Wars for adults looks more like Andor than House of the Dragon, which means this is a perfect space for something new to make a foothold. It may be the most important movie of Zack Snyder's career, but it's also a big deal for Netflix. Even if they don't put it in theaters, if it captures an audience, it truly could be the next "big thing" for sci-fi.
Rebel Moon Began as a Star Wars Pitch - But Derivative Doesn't Always Mean Bad
When announcing the film, Snyder said the idea was born as a pitch for a Lucasfilm project set in the Star Wars universe. It didn't happen, which freed the director to make it more of his own thing. Rebel Moon can be all the things Star Wars cannot, especially since it isn't bound by so much canon. It's like The Orville, a show that never denied that it's an unofficial spinoff of Star Trek, to the point where former Trek producer Brannon Braga works on the series. Seth Macfarlane's space adventure series told classic Trek stories at a time when Star Trek: Discovery expanded what those stories meant.
Even Andor, the most "serious" Star Wars project, featured crossover legacy characters and had to fit into the pre-established canon. In fact, since 2019's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the only new stories fans have gotten have been on TV or in print. Lucasfilm hasn't even done a one-hour "Special Presentation" like Marvel. So, for fans who want a feature-length "Star Wars-like" story or those who want that kind of story but with f-bombs, beheadings and other un-Disney graphic content, Rebel Moon can scratch that itch.
Beyond this, Netflix needs to break out characters to spawn fanart and, eventually, merchandising income. Filming only just wrapped on Rebel Moon, and even if Netflix greenlit a sequel tomorrow, it would still be at least two years before a second installment could debut. Star Wars worked because fans spun out theories and daydreamed about what "the Clone Wars" were and how Vader "betrayed and murdered" Anakin. To do that, Rebel Moon has to tell the right kind of story.
Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon Sounds Like a Classic Star Wars Adventure
The official Rebel Moon synopsis reads, "A peaceful colony on the edge of the galaxy is threatened by the armies of a tyrannical regent named Balisarius. The desperate civilians dispatch a young woman who has a mysterious past to seek out warriors from nearby planets to help them challenge the regent." Change the names, and it's The Phantom Menace, but Padmé must escape Naboo to find the Jedi, Jar-Jar, R2D2 and Anakin. A place is threatened by an oppressive force, and a hero has to seek the help of other heroes. It provides a clear premise with a resolution that offers the potential to ask more questions than give answers.
With A New Hope, George Lucas thought he'd never have the chance to make his big space opera. So, he put the third act of his third movie in the first. But the success of that film stymied him so that all he could do was "the Death Star, but bigger and incomplete" for Return of the Jedi. All the heroes have to do in Rebel Moon is liberate one little-old planet. Yet, the quest to recruit the team can introduce new worlds akin to the Mos Eisley Cantina or Jabba's Palace. Again, this is not making a "carbon copy" of Star Wars because that saga was assembled using ideas and elements from the dawn of cinema serials to millennia-old myths.
The advantage that Rebel Moon has over other sci-fi that fizzled like Jupiter: Ascending is Snyder's loyal fanbase. His supporters stick with him through thick and thin and will be prepared the moment Rebel Moon releases. The trick for Netflix is if he can leverage their support, even though the film's success may mean he'll never have time for anything else.