Zack Snyder, who walked away with two trophies at the 2022 Oscars, is one of the most successful directors working in Hollywood today. His films have grossed a total of $3 billion at the box office, his work is constantly being debated online, he has the most passionate fanbase in contemporary cinema, and seems to be beloved by everyone he works with.
Lately he’s been collaborating with Netflix, with 2021’s Army of the Dead one of the biggest original movies the service has ever seen, and his latest, the Star Wars and Akira Kurosawa-inspired Rebel Moon, is in full production. So, after all that, why shouldn’t Snyder be considered as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People?
Fans seem to agree, resulting in a debate on social media on his merits:
First up, let’s underline that you don’t need to drag someone else down to boost Snyder. Taika Waititi is an excellent filmmaker and his MCU work alone merits a place on a list of the most influential people in the world. Waititi absolutely belongs on this list.
But then again, you could argue that so does Snyder, especially when his movies continue to exert an outsized gravitational influence on the industry. For example, the continued bad press about Warner Bros. executives interfering with his Justice League plans was commonly cited as a reason for Discovery cleaning house and changing the corporate direction of Warner Bros during the recent merger.
Beyond that, how can you argue Snyder isn’t influential when even dead projects like the Snyder Cut can be resurrected, polished up with millions of dollars of post-production work, and – against all odds – released as a four-hour epic? And then, perhaps even more incredibly, his critics had to eat crow and admit that Zack Snyder’s Justice League actually was pretty great.
So we say get Snyder on Time’s 100 Most Influential People List. He deserves his spot.