Zack Snyder Is Somehow Claiming That ‘Rebel Moon: Part One’ Received More Views Than ‘Barbie’ In Theaters

Zack Snyder stopped by Joe Rogan’s podcast this week where the divisive filmmaker made a bold statement about the success of his latest film Rebel Moon.

If you’ve already forgotten about Rebel Moon, don’t worry you’re not alone. Snyder’s attempt at launching his own Star Wars-esque franchise arrived on Netflix to dismal reviews and quickly faded as the holidays kicked into full swing. However, Snyder would like you to believe that, actually, Rebel Moon outperformed Barbie, the billion dollar record-breaking hit that’s currently up for several Oscars.

Via Variety:

“You think about Netflix, for instance, where you push a button,” Snyder said. “‘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. 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. 160,000,000 people at $10 a ticket would be…what is that math? I don’t know. 160,000,000 times ten. That’s 1.6 billion. So more people probably saw ‘Rebel Moon’ than saw ‘Barbie’ in the theater, right?”

To be fair to Snyder, this is exactly the kind of take that you’d expect to see on Rogan’s podcast. The man knows his audience. That said, there’s no way to verify any of the numbers he’s provided because, despite recent efforts at greater transparency, there are still huge questions around the authenticity of Netflix views.

Did those views really complete the film? We don’t know. How many people bailed on the film? Don’t know either. Does each view actually represent two people instead of one? Impossible to verify. You see the issue here.

Not only that, but there’s an easy way to verify Barbie‘s success: It’s box office numbers are quantifiable as well as the profits it generated for Warner Bros. studio. The film has also remained a pop culture phenomenon months after its release while the hype around Rebel Moon quickly faded shortly after it started streaming.

(Via Variety)