"Trying his best at manifesting": Zack Snyder trolled online for claiming more people watched Rebel Moon than Barbie

Zack Snyder, the American film director and producer, faced backlash from netizens recently after he claimed that his directed film, Rebel Moon, had garnered more viewership than the Barbie movie.

The 58-year-old filmmaker appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast to talk about his latest Netflix original, Rebel Moon, which was released on December 22, 2023, as per People. He laid out his reasoning for thinking that his project was viewed more times than Greta Gerwig’s. He stated:

"You think about Netflix, for instance, where you push a button. Rebel Moon, right? Say right now it's almost at 90 million views, right? 80 or 90 million accounts turned it on, give or take. They assume two viewers per screening, right? That's the kind of math."

He went on to explain how about 160 million people supposedly watched the Netflix film. Meanwhile, Barbie is the highest-grossing film of 2023 and Warner Bros.'s top-grosser in history, as per The Independent. After his interview went viral online, several social media users mocked the filmmaker. One Reddit user reacting to Snyder's statement wrote:

Fans troll the producer. (Image via Reddit/@Fauxmoi)

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Zack Snyder mocked for statement comparing Rebel Moon’s viewership to Barbie

Zack Snyder, renowned for his work on Warner Bros., most famously, the Justice League movies, shifted to streaming in 2021 with the release of his zombie action movie Army of the Dead, as per Variety. The filmmaker's latest Netflix original, Rebel Moon, debuted in December 2023, garnering 90 million views on the streaming website.

A sequel to the film, called Rebel Moon: Part 2 The Scargiver, will be released on April 19, 2024. Zack Snyder appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, and the topic soon turned to the viewership of Rebel Moon and how it compared with the highest-grossing movie of 2023, Barbie, as per Complex. Snyder explained his side, saying,

"So you think if that movie was in the theater as a distribution model, that's like 160 million people supposedly watching based on that math. 160 million people at $10 a ticket would be…what is that math? I don’t know. 160 million times ten. That's $1.6 billion. So more people probably saw Rebel Moon than saw Barbie in the theater, right?"

Margot Robbie starred as the titular character in Barbie and produced the film alongside her husband, Tom Ackerley. There were two other producers from Mattel, Robbie Brenner and David Heyman, as per Variety.

The highly successful movie about equality and empowerment bagged $1.44 billion globally, as per Billboard. Netizens quipped about Zack Snyder's argument that his movie had more viewership and seemingly would have made more money if it was released in cinemas. Some of the reactions are given below.

With Netflix's undeniable global reach, highlighted by a study by Forbes, which indicates that the streaming platform has over 260 million subscribers as of February 2024, Zack Snyder talked about Netflix on the podcast, saying,

"That’s how crazy Netflix is. That's the distribution model that they've set up. I was at this thing the other day and we were talking about Rebel Moon 2. And they were like, 'Well, talk about Rebel Moon the first one.' I'm like, 'No, go f*cking watch it. I know you have it at your house.' It's not like a theater situation. You could turn it on your phone right now and watch it right here if you wanted."

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Rebel Moon is currently available for streaming on Netflix and has a 21% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, as per Variety.