A month after making a controversial comparison between the biggest movie of last year and his own Netflix hit, director Zack Snyder straightened a few things out. Speaking to io9 recently about his new film Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver, Snyder gladly clarified a comment he made on The Joe Rogan Experience where he said more people saw the first Rebel Moon than Barbie.
“Say right now, [Rebel Moon has] like almost 90 million views … 80 or 90 million accounts turned it on, give or take,” Snyder originally said on Joe Rogan last month. “They assume two viewers per screen, right? That’s the math … so that’s 160 million people supposedly watching; 160 million people at $10 a ticket, that’s $1.6 billion. [Barbie made $1.5 billion.] So more people probably saw Rebel Moon than saw Barbie in the theater. That’s how crazy Netflix is— that’s the distribution model that they’ve set up.”
We asked Snyder if that statement was meant to suggest he believes theatrical distribution is less important these days than it has been in the past.
“Oh, no, I would say it’s kind of the opposite,” Snyder told io9. “What I was implying was, well, there are two things. One is I was just going by the numbers that I was given by Netflix. People are like, ‘Oh, well, Snyder’s crazy’ but literally I just am doing [math] with this, not anything else. If now we’re close to 100 million viewers, 100 million views times two is 200 million views … So, people are like, ‘Snyder’s delusional,’ and I am just like ‘I don’t know what to tell you.’”
Snyder also clarified that his Netflix math was referring only to Barbie’s theatrical numbers. Numbers, he’s certain, have since skyrocketed even further with streaming, rewatches, cable, and more. “Who knows what [Barbie’s] done on Max and all that,” he said. Even so, the question remains about the Netflix to theatrical comparison and he admitted there’s no comparison in terms of the impact.
“The cultural significance of Barbie was happening when it was in the theaters,” Snyder said. “That’s when we all took a bite of the Barbie apple, and happily. And so my only point is that I think there is a theatrical zeitgeist [and] even though maybe more people have eyes on something, the actual sort of cultural significance is dictated still by the theater.”
So, no. Despite what the headlines may imply, Zack Snyder doesn’t think Rebel Moon had a bigger impact than Barbie. He thinks more people maybe watched two seconds of it (or whatever Netflix’s metric is these days) for free than paid $10-plus to see Barbie in a theater—but, even if that’s the case, the theatrical release still rules.
We’ll have much more from Snyder and his new film Rebel Moon – Part 2: The Scargiver later this week. It hits Netflix Friday.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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