Gerard Butler's Fantasy Franchise Officially Scores Prequel Series

Director Zack Snyder appeared to have distanced himself from franchise filmmaking, but the detour was deceptively brief. This past week, he premiered his first "indie" project, The Last Photograph, at the Toronto International Film Festival. It's his first movie since his ill-fated Netflix run, which included two failed franchises — Army of the Dead and Rebel Moon. Before that, Snyder earned a complicated reputation with a string of comic-book adaptations that divided audiences but won him a legion of devoted fans. He's now putting together a remake of John Carpenter's dystopian cult classic Escape from New York, which will mark his return to IP-driven filmmaking. In a new interview, Snyder revealed that he is also set to dive back into the fantasy world of his breakout blockbuster, 300.

Chatting with Josh Horowitz at the Toronto International Film Festival, Snyder admitted that he is, indeed, working on a television prequel to 300. He also added that he is planning on directing some episodes. Released in 2007 and headlined by Gerard Butler, 300 was a runaway hit for Warner Bros., grossing around $470 million worldwide against a reported budget of $65 million. It introduced Snyder as the "visionary" that he'd become known as for the next several years. 300 received mixed reviews and began Snyder's streak of dividing critics, but was successful enough to spawn a sequel, titled 300: Rise of an Empire. Snyder vacated the director's chair on the project, with Noam Murro stepping in to helm it.