Netflix Is Giving Zack Snyder's 'Army Of The Dead' A Proper Theatrical Release Before It Hits Streaming

If you've seen the trailers for Zack Snyder's new zombie heist movie Army of the Dead and wished you could see it on the big screen instead of on your home television, we have good news.

Netflix and (some) movie theaters are being friendly with each other, so the streaming service is giving Army of the Dead a proper theatrical release starting on May 14, including a couple hundred locations from one of the major nationwide theater chains. That's one week before the movie debuts on Netflix.

Variety has news on the release of Army of the Dead in theaters. Cinemark has agreed to play Zack Snyder's new action horror movie in 200 locations, making it the first Netflix movie to get a wide release at a major theater chain. The movie will also be screened at movie theater chains like iPic, Landmark, Alamo Drafthouse, Harkins and Cinépolis. Unfortunately, since AMC Theatres and Regal Cinemas aren't playing the movie, it won't have quite as wide a release as your traditional blockbuster, hitting only around 600 theaters total around the United States.

Despite the lack of a truly wide release in all major theater chains, this is still progress for Netflix and movie theaters, who have often quarreled about the exclusivity window for a movie to play in theaters before it ends up in the streaming library. The feud even prevented prestige films like The Irishman from playing in most theaters around the country.

Cinemark playing Army of the Dead may be seen as more of an act of desperation than a sign of movie theaters and Netflix becoming more agreeable towards each other. Right now, there aren't a lot of major studio movies being released, even as movie theaters start to reopen. Cinemark is probably hoping to make just a little more at the box office than they otherwise would if they just let this movie slip by them. But apparently the two companies hope to keep collaborating on releases like this in the future.

Despite playing nice with Cinemark, this probably isn't a sign that Netflix will regularly give their original movies wide theatrical releases. Not too long ago, Netflix gave limited theatrical releases to movies like Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, The Midnight Sky and The Christmas Chronicles 2. But those were all back in December, and it hasn't become a regular occurrence. But with Netflix having so many movies coming out this summer, perhaps there are a few more titles that get this kind of treatment.

At the same time, this situation seems to be a combination of the right circumstances, where Netflix sees a movie like Army of the Dead can benefit from the big screen experience and Cinemark needs to boost their box office take. Or as Justin McDaniel, Cinemark's senior vice president of global content strategy, said, "Zack Snyder fans will love seeing the action in an immersive, cinematic environment with larger-than-life sight and sound technology."

Check your local listings to see which theaters are playing Army of the Dead.