Rebel Moon — Part 1: A Child of Fire is a Netflix film directed by Zack Snyder and written by Snyder, Shay Hatten, and Kurt Johnstad. The film was produced by Deborah Snyder, Zack Snyder, and Wesley Coller of The Stone Quarry and Eric Newman of Grand Electric. It was shot with a 2.40 aspect ratio.
Contrary to popular belief, Rebel Moon did not start as a Star Wars project, nor is it an adaptation of any previous media. Rebel Moon was initially conceived by director Zack Snyder during his time at ArtCenter College of Design and went through several iterations of possiblilities and development before landing on Netflix as two PG-13 movies and two R-rated movies nearly 30 years later.
The first film ran in four theaters (Paris Theater in New York City, Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles, TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto, and Prince Charles Cinema in London) for one week before the Netflix release from December 15, 2023.[2] The movie's official release date was December 22, 2023, with a PG-13 rating, however, it was released five hours before the standard time of 12:00AM PST, resulting in a Devember 21 evening release for many time zones. A direct sequel, Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver, was filmed alongside the first and will arrive on Netflix on April 19, 2024. Both films will be released with director's cuts (Chalice of Blood and Curse of Forgiveness), each with 45-60 minutes of extra footage that was recorded solely for the extended cut. The director's cuts are scheduled to be released in August 2024 with an R rating.
Plot[]
The story is set in motion when a peaceful colony on the edge of the galaxy is threatened by the armies of a tyrannical regent named Balisarius. Desperate people dispatch a young woman with a mysterious past to seek out warriors from neighboring planets to help them make a stand.
Official press release synopsis
See also: Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire/Transcript
Cast[]
Production[]
Development[]
News of the project's existence was being reported as early as January 2013.[3] Originally conceived as its own IP during Zack Snyder's days in college, he later pitched it as a movie set in the Star Wars universe. The purchase of Lucasfilm by Disney halted talks of production. Deborah Snyder considered this to be the best thing for the movie, noting that they wouldn't want it held back by the limitations of existing IPs. They continued work on the movie, hoping to sell Warner Bros. on the concept, then, after production on Justice League, Snyder became unsure if he would want to return to feature films and began considering Rebel Moon as a series, instead. They later decided that a movie would be a better place to start, citing how easy it would be to lose track of the scope of a series and the fact that it would be easier to achieve the required budget for a movie.[4] A decade after the Star Wars spinoff talks, Snyder pitched the film to Netflix as an original intellectual property, no longer connected to Star Wars. He said he hoped the film might launch a broader franchise. On July 6, 2021, Rebel Moon was officially announced as a film for Netflix's streaming service. Zack Snyder would direct it himself with his wife, Deborah Snyder, and their production partner, Wesley Coller producing through The Stone Quarry. Eric Newman (who previously worked with Snyder on Dawn of the Dead) would also be producing through his studio, Grand Electric, which would bring in Sarah Bowen to executive produce.[5] Snyder and Kurt Johnstad (300) developed the story with the first 100 or so pages of the script, while Shay Hatten (Army of the Dead) came aboard to help speed up the process of finishing the screenplay, resulting in a 216-page script.[6]
On September 2, 2021, Snyder confirmed he was working on the script for Rebel Moon.[7] It was later revealed that the screenplay ended up at 172 pages, which would have been roughly three hours once filmed. When Scott Stuber with Netflix pointed out that movies over two hours don't do as well on the platform, Snyder offered to make two movies instead.[8]
The first film was one of 23 to utilize a California Film Commission tax credit, itself estimated to have received a $18,488,000 credit when it went into production in early 2022. It was slotted for 117 days of filming with $83 million in approved spending.[9] Approved spending typically accounts for about two-thirds of a film's total budget, implying the A Child of Fire budget was about $125 million.
According to the October 2021 Production Weekly report, filming began in Inyo County, California. Inyo is a popular filming location, with about 400 films having been filmed there, including the first two Star Wars films.
Marcus Taormina, after working as the visual effects supervisor for Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead, confirmed that he would be returning to do the same for Rebel Moon.[10] Dody Dorn, who edited Zack Snyder's Justice League and Army of the Dead with Snyder in the past, also revealed she'd return as editor for Rebel Moon during an Irish Film & Television Academy event on December 9, 2021.[11]
On February 3, 2022, Production Weekly confirmed Rebel Moon would be released in two parts, filmed back to back from April 18 to November 4 of that year.[12]
On August 15, 2022, frequent The Stone Quarry collaborator, Jay Oliva, confirmed his involvement in the film via Twitter, including that his work had been completed early in the year.[13]
The release date of December 22, 2023, was revealed on January 18 of the same year. Netflix released a promotional teaser for their 2023 movies, finishing with some quick shots from Rebel Moon. Kora was revealed with an additional promo image to coincide with the announcement.[14] Later that day, Tom Holkenborg retweeted an article stating that he would be scoring the movie.[15]
Casting[]
On November 2, 2021, Sofia Boutella was announced to be starring as the protagonist of Rebel Moon.[16] On February 9, 2022, Deadline reported several more cast members, including Charlie Hunnam, Djimon Hounsou, Ray Fisher, Doona Bae, Jena Malone, Staz Nair, E. Duffy, Charlotte Maggi, and Sky Yang.[17] Shortly after the big reveal, The Hollywood Reporter noted some character details, including the name of Fisher's character, Blood Axe, the name of Hounsou's character, General Titus, and that Bae would be portraying a sword-wielding adversary.[18] Fisher first became aware of the project back when Snyder planned it to be a TV show. Snyder showed Fisher whiteboards for a "little space thing" he was working on.[19]
On February 28, 2022, Rupert Friend was announced to be portraying the lead antagonist, who would face off against Boutella's character, and also that Stuart Martin would be playing a secondary antagonist.[20]
On April 8, 2022, Cary Elwes, Corey Stoll, Michiel Huisman, and Alfonso Herrera were revealed to have been cast in the movie in a The Hollywood Reporter exclusive. Elwes would play the king of the galactic empire, while the other three roles were undisclosed.[21]
On May 16, 2022, Deadline reported that Ed Skrein would replace Friend's role as the film's antagonist due to scheduling conflicts. Cleopatra Coleman, Fra Fee, and Rhian Rees were also added to the cast in undisclosed roles.[22]
During Netflix Geeked Week 2022, Netflix revealed that Anthony Hopkins would be portraying JC-1435, a sentient Jimmy combat machine that once defended a slain king.[23]
Filming[]
While promoting Army of Thieves, Zack Snyder mentioned his plans to start filming Rebel Moon in May 2022.[24] It was later reported in Production Weekly that filming would begin March 1, 2022, and last for six months.[25] They eventually settled on a schedule of April 18-November 4, and began filming on April 19, 2022. Snyder released three photos to celebrate the start of production on April 19, including the first look at General Titus. Ray Porter, who would later portray Hickman in the movie, first recorded the film's script for Snyder to listen to while preparing each day's shoot. He read the script as he often does with audiobooks.[26]
On June 25, 2022, Green Meadow Growers posted about their work on Rebel Moon on their Instagram. Their company grows and sells plants at a large scale, at least in part for film production usage. The post included the first clear look at a full ship, the first look at the Veldtian farming village, and a few other photos and videos of the film setup. They later deleted the post.
ZERØ OPTIK produced four custom lenses for the filming of Rebel Moon.[27] RED Digital Cinema similarly invented a new camera sensor for Snyder's previous movie, Army of the Dead, for which ZERØ OPTIK built custom lens housing. RED Digital Cinema released a promotional mini-documentary about their V-RAPTOR XL 8k camera featuring Zack Snyder from the set of Rebel Moon. The video is available in the video gallery below.
Netflix filed for the "REBEL MOON" trademark on November 23, 2022. The trademark may be used on any number of products released in association with Rebel Moon, including action figures, electronics, dishware, books, and special events such as amusement park rides. Products and events were not confirmed at this time.[28]
On the morning of November 29, 2022, Snyder posted on Vero confirming there were two days left of filming. Filming wrapped on November 30, 2022, after 152 days of shooting.
Filming locations[]
Rebel Moon filmed in several locations around Los Angeles, including Blue Cloud Movie Ranch in Santa Clarita and Gillibrand in Simi Valley.
Blue Cloud Movie Ranch was selected in late 2021 to eventually contain the Veldt set, which was built outdoors with real wheat crops. Filming took place around the growth of the wheat. The lot used for the village was a parking lot filled with old cars used for previous sets when the Rebel Moon team took over and filled it with dirt and soil, then built the entire village on top of it. They built a stream and stone bridge and planeted a wheat field here, while a greenscreen wall was constructed at the edge of the field so they could extend the wheat out into the distance.[29] Most houses in the village were empty shells. Some were used for storage during production, while a few (the longhouse, granary, Hagen's house, and Den/Gunnar's house) had interiors for filming. Den and Gunnar's houses were filmed in the same structure, though it was redressed after filming Gunnar's scenes to represent Den's house.[30] Providence was filmed a short walk away from the village, roughly the size of a city block. The hallways leading to the Crown City Emporium of Pleasure and the docks were practical sets along with the Emporium exterior and interior and the city gate, while the city was expanded with CG.[31] The set for the Mara Falls caves was built on the other side of the greenscreen wall, so almost all of the Veldt sets were constructed at Blue Cloud.[32]
P.W. Gillibrand Company in Simi Valley also housed wheat fields, including nine acres of it that could be used for filming action scenes such as the battle of Veldt. A third wheat field, dubbed the "green wheat field" was also planted at Gillibrand.[33] This was also where the Neu-Wodi set was carved out and constructed.[34] The mining planet where Milius was kept as a slave by the Motherworld was also shot in Gillibrand, which already had a gravel quarry that they used.[35]
Sunset Gower Studios, at the corner of Sunset and Gower in Hollywood, is a television/movie production studio with relatively limited space (at least when compared with the others used for Rebel Moon) that was used to build the set of Kora's first conquest. The indoor set was a built as a strip that represented Kora's path through the battle with a greenscreen in the background.[36] The practical set builds, all of which included 2D or 3D extension work and/or full digital replicas in multiple states, included the environments of Daggus, Pollux, Sharaan, Issa's winter garden, the great hall, The King's Gaze docking bay, bridge, and cryochamber; the muddy battlefield and pillbox, Kai's Tawau-class freighter bridge, Gondival docks, buoy, and shore; the frozen koi pond of the astral plane, and the Motherworld palace and balcony.
Several props from other productions were also salvaged for Rebel Moon. The vats at Hickman's ranch on Neu-Wodi were from The Harder They Fall,[37] vending machines in the bowels of Daggus were from Bullet Train,[38] and an Iraq set built for American Sniper was still available at Blue Cloud, which was repurposed for Kora's homeworld.[39]
Post-production and release[]
In an exclusive with Slash Film published on March 24, 2023, Andy Koyama, the re-recording mixer for A Child of Fire and The Scargiver, confirmed that they were mixing audio for four features. Each of the two films would be getting extended R-rated cuts.[40] Then on June 6, 2023, Vanity Fair released an in-depth first-look article featuring promotional stills and photos along with descriptions of many new concepts that hadn't officially been revealed. Among these were brief descriptions of the backstories for several characters and the first look at Ray Fisher's Darrian Bloodaxe, Elise Duffy's Milius, Ed Skrein's Admiral Atticus Noble, and better looks at Michiel Huisman's Gunnar, Doona Bae's Nemesis, Staz Nair's Tarak, and the Scribe priests.[8]
Weta FX, Framestore, Luma Pictures, Mammal Studios, Scanline VFX, and Rodeo FX produced a total of 1,380 visual effects shots for the movie.[41]
The movie received a special early release, going live five hours ahead of the standard 12:00 A.M. PST release of most Netflix projects, making it available on December 21 for many time zones. Zack Snyder and Sofia Boutella hosted a countdown livestream on social media for about 45 minutes before the release. In its first three days, the movie received 23.9 million views on Netflix and easily reached the number one position for that week on the platform,[42] with another 34 million views and an easy top spot again the next week,[43] bringing the total to 57.9 million views in the first ten days. The next two weeks the movie reached the #2 and #8 positions, respectively. The movie again reached the number three position worldwide alongside the release of The Scargiver in April 2024. It ended at the fourth most-watched streaming movie for the April 19-25.[44]
Legacy[]
Awards[]
| Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | Best Visual Effects | Rebel Moon — Part 1: A Child of Fire | Shortlist[45] |
| Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild Awards | Best Special Make-Up Effects in a Feature Length Motion Picture | Fractured FX | Nominee[46] |
| Costume Designers Guild Awards | Excellence in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film | Stephanie Porter, Tamsin Costello, Nickolaus Brown | Nominee[47] |
| Excellence in Costume Illustration | Jason Pastrana | Won[48] | |
| ReFrame and IMDbPro | ReFrame Stamp | Rebel Moon — Part 1: A Child of Fire | Won[49] |
| The Webby Awards | Best Multimedia Storytelling | "A Companion Guide to Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire" | Won[50] |
Tie-in media[]
Zack Snyder first revealed several pieces of tie-in media for the Rebel Moon franchise on March 19, 2023, on The Nerd Queens' livestream. This included Rebel Moon: Wolf: Ex Nihilo: Cosmology & Technology, the art book for the film, which was later revealed to be the first of two to be followed by Rebel Moon: Wurm: Ex Materia: Heroes & Monsters. He first mentioned during the stream that there would be a graphic novel connected to the universe, and animated short, and character figures. The graphic novel, Rebel Moon: House of the Bloodaxe is a four-issue miniseries that released each month between A Child of Fire and The Scargiver that tells the story of the Bloodaxe family before the events of the movies. The animated short, a short film about the Kali, is still in the works, while The Seneschal, a podcast about the history of the JCs, was released alongisde the director's cuts. Many character figures were produced by multiple companies.
Aside from those, a novelization of the film was released shortly after the movie, written by V. Castro and titled Rebel Moon Part One - A Child of Fire: The Official Novelization, which was also released as an audiobook. Meanwhile, a Rebel Moon mobile game and tabletop RPG, Everyday Heroes RPG: Rebel Moon were revealed. The mobile game was announced at Gamescom 2023 along with the release of the A Child of Fire trailer, while the tabletop RPG was reveald through retailer preorders before being canceled. Snyder also revealed to Variety that he would be releasing a portraits book based on photos he took on the Rebel Moon set.
There were a few other promotions for the movie, including Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, Arby's, a tie-in game scenario for Farming Simulator 22 titled The Rebel Harvest: Save Veldt, and two beverage commercials directed by Eli Snyder, the second unit director for the movies. The first was "Liquid Death x Rebel Moon: Mandatory Beverage of the Motherworld Commercial" and the second was "F FUEL is for Farmers," and the two parody commercials show the two sides of the Veldtian farmer-Imperium conflict from the perspective of beverage promotions. Following this, Smith's chips brand ran a promotional campaign, Smith's Spud Surveillance, alongside their custom Rebel Moon-themed chips flavors.
Gallery[]
Music[]
| Song title | Artist | Location(s) |
|---|---|---|
| "Maman Tché" | Djimon Hounsou | Rebel Moon - Official Teaser Trailer |
| "Three Days" (Trailer Remix) | Jane's Addiction (remix by TOTEM) | Rebel Moon - Official Teaser Trailer |
| "Children of the Revolution" | T. Rex | Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire - Official Trailer |
| "Thunderous" | Diego Stocco |
See also: Rebel Moon: Part One — A Child of Fire – Music by Tom Holkenborg
External links[]
- Watch Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire on Netflix
- Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire on the Zack Snyder Wiki
References[]
- ↑ Jordan Farley (author). November 9, 2023. Total Film #344 p.50. "Made for a relatively thrifty $166 million - a steal when you consider that's a twofer. . ."
- ↑ Zack Snyder confirms a theatrical release date for A Child of Fire on VERO True Social.
- ↑ - "Zack Snyder Is Developing a Star Wars Film Outside the New Trilogy" - Vulture
- ↑ Jack Shepherd. "Zack Snyder's Justice League experience meant Rebel Moon was almost a TV show – but the Snyder Cut changed everything". SFX. Archived from the original on November 30, 2023. Retrieved on November 30, 2023. “'Justice League is four hours long, and so the idea of making an eight-hour TV show didn't seem like that big of a deal. I felt like I can direct all eight episodes and make a House of the Dragon thing.'”
- ↑ "Zack Snyder Sets Next Movie, Sci-Fi Adventure 'Rebel Moon', at Netflix" - The Hollywood Reporter
- ↑ Brian Davids. "'Rebel Moon' Co-Writer Kurt Johnstad Talks Part One's R-Rated Cut and Nonstop Action of 'Part Two'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on December 28, 2023. Retrieved on December 28, 2023. “Snyder's Army of the Dead co-writer Shay Hatten jumped on board, bringing the page total to 216, give or take.”
- ↑ Zack Snyder mentions working on the Rebel Moon script - Zack Snyder on Vero
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Anthony Breznican. "Zack Snyder Goes Galactic: Exclusive First Look at Rebel Moon". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on June 6, 2023. Retrieved on June 6, 2023. “This time the 300 and Justice League filmmaker is creating not just one world but a sprawling menagerie of planets, full of cyborg warriors with molten-metal swords, giant half-humanoid arachnids, and ancient robots that seem to have emerged more from medieval times than the future.”
- ↑ "'Beverly Hills Cop 4' Among 23 New Features to Film in California" - The Hollywood Reporter
- ↑ "Army of the Dead" & "Bird Box" VFX Supervisor Marcus Taormina Joins Film U on Friday at 2PM EST! - FilmmakerU on YouTube
- ↑ IFTN event featuring Dody Dorn
- ↑ Production Weekly confirms two-part film.
- ↑ Jay Oliva confirms his involvement in Rebel Moon via Twitter
- ↑ "Everything You Need to Know About 'Rebel Moon'" - Tudum
- ↑ "Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL) to Reteam with Zack Snyder on 'Rebel Moon'" - Film Music Reporter
- ↑ "Zack Snyder Taps Sofia Boutella To Star In His New Sci-fi Adventure 'Rebel Moon' At Netflix" - Deadline
- ↑ "Charlie Hunnam, Djimon Hounsou And Ray Fisher Among Those Starring In Zack Snyder's Next Film 'Rebel Moon' For Netflix" - Deadline
- ↑ "Charlie Hunnam, Djimon Hounsou, Bae Doona, Ray Fisher Join Zack Snyder's 'Rebel Moon'" - The Hollywood Reporter
- ↑ "Rebel Moon: Ray Fisher Reveals How Zack Snyder Approached Him for Role" - ComicBook.com
- ↑ "Rupert Friend, Stuart Martin Join Zack Snyder's 'Rebel Moon' (Exclusive)" - The Hollywood Reporter
- ↑ "Cary Elwes, Corey Stoll Join Zack Snyder's Sci-Fi Fantasy 'Rebel Moon' (Exclusive)" - The Hollywood Reporter
- ↑ "Ed Skrein Replaces Rupert Friend In Zack Snyder's Netflix Sci-Fi Epic 'Rebel Moon'; Cleopatra Coleman & More Also Set" - Deadline
- ↑ "Anthony Hopkins Is Taking an Intergalactic Trip to Zack Snyder's 'Rebel Moon'" - Netflix
- ↑ "Zack Snyder talks new zombie heist thriller Army of Thieves and 'insane' sci-fi movie Rebel Moon" - Entertainment Weekly
- ↑ Zack Snyder’s Netflix Movie 'Rebel Moon': Filming Date Set & What We Know So Far - What's on Netflix
- ↑ "Why Zack Snyder Recorded His Actors Reading The Rebel Moon Script Aloud" - Slash Film
- ↑ ZERØ OPTIK lenses - Zack Snyder on Vero
- ↑ "REBEL MOON" trademark at the United States Patent and Trademark Office
- ↑ Peter Aperlo (author). April 2, 2024. Rebel Moon: Wolf: Ex Nihilo: Cosmology & Technology. Great Britain: Titan Books. P.23.
- ↑ Peter Aperlo (author). April 2, 2024. Rebel Moon: Wolf: Ex Nihilo: Cosmology & Technology. Great Britain: Titan Books. Pp.44-45.
- ↑ Peter Aperlo (author). April 2, 2024. Rebel Moon: Wolf: Ex Nihilo: Cosmology & Technology. Great Britain: Titan Books. P.54.
- ↑ Peter Aperlo (author). April 2, 2024. Rebel Moon: Wolf: Ex Nihilo: Cosmology & Technology. Great Britain: Titan Books. P.64.
- ↑ Peter Aperlo (author). April 2, 2024. Rebel Moon: Wolf: Ex Nihilo: Cosmology & Technology. Great Britain: Titan Books. P.29.
- ↑ Peter Aperlo (author). April 2, 2024. Rebel Moon: Wolf: Ex Nihilo: Cosmology & Technology. Great Britain: Titan Books. P.56.
- ↑ Peter Aperlo (author). April 2, 2024. Rebel Moon: Wolf: Ex Nihilo: Cosmology & Technology. Great Britain: Titan Books. P.104.
- ↑ Peter Aperlo (author). April 2, 2024. Rebel Moon: Wolf: Ex Nihilo: Cosmology & Technology. Great Britain: Titan Books. P.94.
- ↑ Peter Aperlo (author). April 2, 2024. Rebel Moon: Wolf: Ex Nihilo: Cosmology & Technology. Great Britain: Titan Books. P.68.
- ↑ Peter Aperlo (author). April 2, 2024. Rebel Moon: Wolf: Ex Nihilo: Cosmology & Technology. Great Britain: Titan Books. P.77.
- ↑ Peter Aperlo (author). April 2, 2024. Rebel Moon: Wolf: Ex Nihilo: Cosmology & Technology. Great Britain: Titan Books. P.90.
- ↑ Ryan Scott. "Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon Is Getting Extended R-Rated Versions For Each Of Its Two Parts [Exclusive]". Slash Film. Archived from the original on March 24, 2023. Retrieved on March 24, 2023. “And there's also going to be extended R-rated versions of each of the two films, so we're going to be mixing four different features.”
- ↑ Trevor Hogg. "Zack Snyder Gets Space Operatic with Rebel Moon: Part One — A Child of Fire". VFX Voice. Archived from the original on February 28, 2024. Retrieved on February 27, 2024. “Overall, 1,380 visual effects shots were created by Framestore, Luma Pictures, Mammal Studios, Rodeo FX, Scanline VFX and Wētā FX for Rebel Moon. . .”
- ↑ Borys Kit. "Zack Snyder's 'Rebel Moon' Delivers Strong Debut for Netflix". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on December 26, 2023. Retrieved on December 26, 2023. “Netflix announced that the science fiction fantasy was the most viewed title on the streaming giant following its debut the night of Dec. 21, generating 23.9 million views in three (plus a few hours) days.”
- ↑ Netflix streaming numbers, December 25-31, 2023.
- ↑ Selome Hailu. "Luminate Streaming Ratings: 'Fallout' and 'Baby Reindeer' Stay on Top, 'Under the Bridge' Debuts Strong". Variety. Archived from the original on April 27, 2024. Retrieved on April 26, 2024. “On the film side, "Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver" debuted on top with 740.8 million minutes watched and 6.1 million views. The release of the sequel gave a boost to "Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire," which landed at No. 4 with 200.5 million minutes watched and 1.4 million views.”
- ↑ Framestore on Twitter
- ↑ Justin Raleigh on Instagram
- ↑ 26th CDGA nominations
- ↑ Costume Designers Guild Awards winners
- ↑ "ReFrame and IMDbPro Award the ReFrame Stamp to 29 Feature Films Released in 2023"
- ↑ The Webby Awards
