Rebel Moon – Part One sets 70mm limited theatrical global release before Netflix debut

Netflix has set a limited theatrical run for the Zack Synder sci-fi film ‘Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire’ a week ahead of its debut on the streaming service.

The film will play exclusively on 70mm from December 15-21 in four major cities, Los Angeles, New York City, Toronto, and London.

Netflix owns the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles and the Paris Theatre in New York City.

The film will arrive on the streaming service on December 22, a day after its theatrical debut ends.

Synder’s picture stars Sofia Boutella, Ed Skrein, Cleopatra Coleman, and Cary Elwes and follows a mysterious young woman tasked with finding a band of warriors to defend a peaceful colony from a malevolent, galactic Imperium.

He recently explained to Total Film that the film shares a universe with ‘Army of the Dead’ and the two crossover.

“’Army of the Dead’ has a pretty vast mythology that never made it into the movie,” Synder said. “There’s actually a character from ‘Rebel Moon’ in the ‘Army of the Dead’ animated series that we never did.”

‘Rebel Moon’ was originally developed as a ‘Star Wars’ film that Synder pitched to Lucasfilm shortly after Disney acquired the studio.

It was rejected, as Synder wanted to create original characters set in an unknown part of the galaxy, and pushed for an R-rated script.

‘Rebel Moon’ wasn’t always split into two parts, with Synder writing the project as a single film, though Netflix was reportedly hesitant to do this as the runtime clocked in at about 3 hours.

The second part is titled ‘Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver’ and will be released on Netflix in April next year.

Synder is also working on a director’s cut of both parts, which he told Netflix Tudum will include close to an hour of extra footage.