“Remake” can be seen as a dirty word these days, but in the early 2000s, when internet chat threads were still in their proto phases, it was still seen as an opportunity to put a new shine on a beloved old film. And few remakes have ever understood that assignment, and gotten such high marks on it, as Dawn of the Dead.
Released on March 19, 2004, Dawn of the Dead was Universal Pictures’ remake of Dawn of the Dead (1978), the second film in horror auteur George A. Romero’s Dead series, following Night of the Living Dead (1968). This time, however, the man at the helm was a little-known TV commercial director by the name of Zack Snyder, who was eager to take on his first feature film production. Snyder created a lavishly dark and gritty blockbuster-sized vision of the zombie apocalypse, and arguably influenced the visual compositions of so many later zombie films and TV shows. Dawn of the Dead, and UK director Danny Boyle’s indie horror film, 28 Days Later (2002), created an entire new wave of zombie horror, culminating in the sub-genre going mainstream in the 2010s, thanks to series like The Walking Dead.
Snyder was working off the script of an up-and-coming writer/filmmaker named James Gunn, who had boldly kept his pitch for the film under wraps beyond the initial framework of having survivors of a zombie apocalypse flee to the safety of a shopping mall, like in Romero’s film. Gunn also took the bold approach of adding action movie beats to the horror, and used a “discovery” method where he and some co-writers and cast members would develop scenarios for the respective characters that either killed them off or eventually led them to leave the mall.
The end result was, ironically enough, a film that we’d now refer to as a “reimagining” or “reboot” rather than a traditional remake. Dawn of the Dead (2004) offered blockbuster action, intense horror thrills, as well as compelling character drama cut up into neat vignette sequences, each following certain group members or combinations of characters trying to make some kind of “normal” life inside the mall.
It paid homage to Romero’s original at key points (including shot-for-shot recations and Easter egg cameos), but was not afraid to not only offer its own vision of the story, but offer one of the earliest test cases for horror as a heavy contender at the theatrical box office: Dawn of the Dead earned $102.3 million against a budget of $26 million – a blueprint that studios like Blumhouse would soon make the foundation of their production philosophy.
The film was also an early indicator that both Snyder and Gunn are not afraid to get weird as filmmakers, with sequences like a zombie baby’s birth (and swift execution) mixed into the gumbo. So it’s even funnier that time and circumstance would eventually bring Snyder and Gunn back together… in complete “rivalry.”
Of course, we use quotes because the two filmmakers never said they ever had a conflict, but fans certainly invented one for them. Zack Snyder was the shepherd of Warner Bros.’ DC “Extended Universe” (DCEU) franchise during the 2010s, but his three films, Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Justice League, were divisive visions of the DC lore. It got to the point that the studio pulled Snyder from Justice League for years, until eventually caving to fan pressure and bringing him back to finish the project.
While Snyder’s stock was at its lowest, Warner Bros. brought Gunn in to take his own crack at the franchise; Gunn took the somewhat awkward side-step of carving out his own lane that ran adjacent to Snyder’s universe, without being directly involved with much of it. It led to a ‘Snyderverse vs. Gunnverse’ rivalry within the DC fandom that lasted well into the 2020s, when Warner Bros. launched DC Studios and made Gunn one of the co-heads of the studio.
Now Gunn has released his own Superman reboot (2025) and is standing at the pivotal fork in the road where his universe must expand into other characters that don’t necessarily have the same brand value as Superman, or Gunn at the helm. If it doesn’t work out, maybe he and Snyder could re-team on a horror film.
Dawn of the Dead (2004) is now streaming on Netflix. Discuss the film with us on the ComicBook Forum!
