Data shows what? That the general audience now won't go and see a superhero movie as something to do?
The data shows that Zack Snyder has lost some of his "bankability" in the industry.
Don't get me wrong, he's still a "brand name" and there are clearly some things he does very very well and he's made some genuine hits. But if you have to compromise your creative vision, to an actual narrative detriment, then you don't get to call your own shots.
Martin Scorsese's The Irishman is an exercise in pure vanity. The massive expense to "de-age" Robert DeNiro and have him limp around and pretend to be 40 years young in some scenes is awkward and only really suited DeNiro's narcissism. But Scorsese has that pure cache. Like a few select other filmmakers, he can call his own shots. Zack Snyder was certainly near that position primed to head towards that status ( he had 300 and Man Of Steel under his belt, etc) then he blew his chance. M. Night Shamalyan was there once. He had everyone in the industry begging to finance his projects and work with him for pennies on the dollar. He had carte blanche in casting and even got to make a film about Marky Mark running from "wind that killed people" He blew it as well.
So I don't agree with coordinated "review bombing" a film before it even releases. It doesn't matter who or why, it's not good for anyone involved. It could be Hillbilly Elegy, it could be Sound Of Freedom, it could be The Marvels or She Hulk, it could be Zack Snyder, there's no value in it at all. I also acknowledge that there are "independent media pundits" with a moderate platform, usually through some form of social media, where their engagement is built purely on "hate watching" and "nihilism porn" on anything that comes out from a mainstream production. They are literally monetizing their outrage. It's just exhausting failed shock marketing and outrage porn to try to keep driving new content to hold onto their "individual brand" I won't deny any of that as well.
But everything that Snyder does that tanks reduces his future pathway towards true creative freedom. For whatever reason that his most passionate fans can come up with to mount a defense for Snyder on any matter, that part of the equation is undeniable. Snyder got the financing for Rebel Moon based on what he did in the past, not on the actual merits of the Rebel Moon concept. But your cache only lasts so long before you are required to deliver a hit. Will Smith really didn't want to do Bad Boys 3. But he hit a stall in what he was making and it wasn't generate the numbers of his early career success. Very likely he'll have to dip back into the past with I Am Legend Part 2 and functionally retcon the ending of the first film because he'll have to revisit an old hit to try to regain some career traction.
Snyder needs a big hit. And soon. Something that safely keeps most critics and pundits as neutral at minimum and generates the kind of raw numbers that make people sit up and pay attention. Rebel Moon is not it. The extended cut of Rebel Moon will likely also not be it. That's not just an individual movie goer perspective, now I'm giving you an actual industry perspective. This is like having a friend from high school who peaked in college. Everyone knows someone like that. The fun times you had in college and high school, that's nostalgia, but as you get older, that "cache" with the past means less and less when you start to have less and less in common with someone. So it's not just Snyder, it's all of us, especially all the guys here. We have to deliver. At some point, we are expected to bring home the big win. Or do it with enough staggered frequency that it's trusted that we can still do it. It's sad it's how most interpersonal dynamics breaks down in our society and culture, into such mercenary terms. But this is how the world works. It's also how the industry works.
If you love Rebel Moon and Zack Snyder, personally I think that's great. Because I don't enjoy it doesn't mean you can't. But at this rate of return, you are going to start getting less, not more, of the Zack Snyder you personally love, unless he starts to actually deliver. The rationalizations, defenses, and even sometimes gaslighting I'm seeing in this thread and out there in the world won't change any of that.
From an industry standpoint, if Snyder keeps making stuff like Rebel Moon, he'll start to gradually lose the ability to make stuff like Rebel Moon. "Gradually" is being diplomatic and generous when I'm gaming out the practical financing metrics in my head now. This is one aspect where it moves beyond "Everyone is going to have a different opinion" to "This is just how it's going to actually work in real logistical terms right now" That's the deal. That's how this works. Not just for Snyder, but for everyone.
Each time I thought the movie was ending, it kept going and then when it finally ended, it didn't feel like an ending unlike earlier beats in the film. I usually don't mind his slow-mo shots either as they tend to add to the shots in my opinion, but, in this movie, they seemed to be put at random moments, almost forcibly so just b/c it's a ZS movie and we gotta have slow-mo. I didn't find them to enhance any of the shots they chose to use it on. Didn't care for Sofia Boutella or her character for a majority of the film either, aside from the backstory scenes.
