Zack Snyder Says Rebel Moon Seen By More People Than Barbie

Snyder appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast about his film going straight to streaming.

He said, “Say right now it’s almost at 90 million views,” and “They assume two viewers per screening.”

Snyder continued his estimate, saying, “So you think if that movie was in the theater as a distribution model, that’s like 160,000,000 people supposedly watching based on that math.”

Zack Snyder continued estimating that at $10 per ticket that the film would have brought in $1.6 billion, which is more than Barbie’s record-breaking take of $1.4 billion.

He concluded by saying “So more people probably saw ‘Rebel Moon’ than saw ‘Barbie’ in the theater, right?” Snyder went on to say how the barrier to entry for watching a Netflix film is quite a bit lower than going to the movies, which means it’s easy to draw in viewers.

While Zack Snyder might not be wrong about the streaming model making it easy to watch movies from home without much commitment, his estimation that Rebel Moon could have made $1.6 billion is a pretty flawed point.

While it seems like Snyder was just throwing out those numbers to make a point about the ease of watching streaming movies, it’s undeniable that his film wouldn’t have made as much as Barbie if they both were in theaters.

Snyder made movies about some of the most recognizable superheroes in the world with Man of Steel, Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Justice League, and none of those films cleared $1 billion at the box office.

Not only that but Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon was critically panned, while Barbie was one of the most critically acclaimed movies of the year. Barbie is also nominated for multiple Oscars and became a theatrical phenomenon this summer.

It’s safe to say that even if Rebel Moon wasn’t competing with any other movies at the theater, it wouldn’t have come close to making the $1.4 billion that Barbie made.

Zack Snyder’s logic about more people seeing Rebel Moon than Barbie also doesn’t really consider the fact that Barbie is now on streaming. Barbie brought in 1.2 million viewers on its first four days of streaming on Max.

Snyder may be right that Netflix is a lower barrier to entry to watch a movie than going to the theater, but now Barbie is on streaming too and there have undoubtedly been millions of people watching since it hit the platform.

But, Zack Snyder did make sure to give Barbie some love during his podcast appearance, saying that he “loved” the movie and that he even liked the joke about the Snyder Cut in the movie.

Snyder was referring to a funny moment in the film when the Barbies snap out of their brainwashed state under Ken’s patriarchy, and one Barbie says, “It’s like I’ve been in a dream where I was really invested in the ‘Zack Snyder Cut of Justice League.”

It was a solid dig that called out the social media push to get the Snyder Cut of Justice League released (which did end up working, surprisingly).

So, it doesn’t seem like Zack Snyder has a chip on his shoulder about the Barbie joke since it’s all in good fun. But, he should probably accept the fact that not as many people were into his film as they were into Barbie. You can stream Rebel Moon on Netflix and Barbie on Max now.