Netflix's New Sci-Fi Saga Drops a Sequel This Friday Despite Terrible Reviews

Summary:

• Zack Snyder’s new sci-fi franchise, Rebel Moon, was promised to become the new Star Wars.
• A Child of Fire, the first movie, was destroyed by critics and negatively received by many fans.
• The Scargiver, the second part, will premiere on Netflix on April 19 and might fix its predecessor’s wrongs.

Sci-fi has been somewhat on the rise lately, and there’s no surprise that Netflix eagerly poured its near-endless money stream into Zack Snyder. The former DC boss, while a controversial figure in terms of his movies’ quality, still has a big name in the industry — and he’s someone you generally don’t say no to, especially when he promises to create a new Star Wars for you by blending sci-fi and fantasy.

A Child of Fire Fell from the Sky

Before the release of Zack Snyder’s first Rebel Moon installment, the hype was real. DCEU fans, sci-fi fans, Snyder’s personal fans, and a bunch of random enthusiasts — everyone was waiting for the epic space saga that was promised. The trailers only strengthened the optimistic anticipation with their stunning sceneries and action scenes.

Unfortunately, Rebel Moon: Part One plummeted right out of the sky immediately after its premiere. The audience’s enthusiasm didn’t pay off, and the underwhelming first movie only earned a terrible 21% Critic Score on Rotten Tomatoes, somewhat compensated by a still pretty disappointing 57% Audience Score. The latter number tracks better because on IMDb, A Child of Fire has a similar 5.6/10 score.

Rebel Moon Ready for a Counterattack

Despite the blatant underperformance of the first Rebel Moon installment, Netflix didn’t have much of a choice in continuing or stopping the franchise right there: Parts 1 & 2 were filmed back-to-back, meaning the second movie was more than halfway done by the time A Child of Fire got its notoriously negative reception.

Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver will premiere on Netflix on April 19, 2024, this Friday. There’s hope that the second installment will fix the first’s wrongs, but arguably, it’s not too strong. While Zack Snyder had quite some time to fix his initial mistakes after the first flop, the principal photography had been done by the time A Child of Fire rolled out…

Unless he wants to bypass his usual strategy and release the famous Snyder Cut right off the bat, without waiting for his second movie to be trampled by the crowd.