Across myriad eras and cultures, heroes have always risen to stand for their homes – often at the cost of their own lives. That’s something that director Zack Snyder tried to emphasize when his Spartans defended their homeland in 2006’s 300. Despite that film’s unique visual style, it told a story of heroes that could exist just about anywhere. The director seems intent on taking that idea to the next level by potentially bringing us an update to the 300 franchise that moves the action to a time and place we haven’t seen before.
During a recent interview with Collider to promote Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Zack Snyder opened up about the possibility of future 300 movies that take the action away from Ancient Greece:
We’ve been talking a lot about sort of different incarnations of 300. We’ve been talking about is there a way, possibly, we move out of Ancient Greece and use it as a framing device for other conflicts that happened throughout history. I think I mentioned that we talked about the Revolutionary War version, and we talked about the Alamo, and we’ve talked about there’s a battle in China, a "Lost Legion" kind of concept, any of those kinds of things are on the table.
Essentially what he’s trying to say is that a future 300 film could act more as a spiritual successor than a genuine sequel. Apparently numerous ideas have been proposed during development meetings, ranging from last stand at the Alamo, to a Revolutionary War battle. These anthological films could examine different wars throughout the span of human history, but similarly focus on the men and women who stood up to fight in the face of impossible odds.
It’s a model that could most certainly prove successful. J.J. Abrams similarly experienced recent success with his pseudo-sequel 10 Cloverfield Lane, which bears very few connections to 2008’s Cloverfield other than the theme of monsters. In a similar fashion, Zack Snyder could go on to craft a franchise of films thematically connected by the idea of doomed heroes making a final stand for their homes.
However, it raises the question as to whether or not this sort of film could work outside of an Ancient Greek setting. The hyper stylized nature of 300 worked partially because of the mythical aspect of where it took place; adding the special effects and spectacle to a more recent battle such as The Alamo might not yield the same result.
What do you think of this proposed idea? Would you like to see Zack Snyder take his distinctive style and apply it to other historical last stands? Let us know what you think in the comments to keep the conversation alive. We will bring you all of the latest and greatest information related to a potential 300 update as it becomes available. Until then, be sure to check out Snyder’s latest effort, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, when it hits theaters on March 25.
