One can argue that 300 was one of the most successful films of Zack Snyder. After all, when it came out at Butt-Numb-A-Thon on December 9, 2006; it was a huge hit with audiences. Not so much with critics, who gave it a fairly mixed review score overall. This is on top of the gross historical inaccuracies and accusations of Iranophobia, but those are topics for another day. In general, I think we can all agree that despite it all, 300 was a pretty successful film. So much so that it spawned a sequel in the form of 300: Rise of an Empire on March 4, 2014.

In fact, it was so successful that it almost spawned a trequel in the form of 300: Blood and Ashes. Alas, the script (also by Zack Snyder) was not to Warner Bros.’s liking, and they didn’t go through it. This left said script in a bit of a limbo since Warner Bros. owned the rights to the script and didn’t want anyone else to have it. However, recent events seemed to have changed that situation, and it’s all thanks to Snyder himself.

Zack Snyder’s Blood and Ashes: Details

The Hollywood Reporter has just revealed a very interesting story regarding Zack Snyder and his old script for 300: Blood and Ashes. Snyder and his wife Deborah have somehow gotten the rights for that script back from Warner Bros.. What does this mean, you might ask? Well, it means that they’re now free to sell that script to any other studio that wants to work on it. Currently, no studio has stepped forth to purchase it, but that’s alright. It’s something for a future story to cover. In fact, Snyder himself has some words to say about this script. Words that also reveal why Warner Bros. shelved it in the first place. You can read those words below:

We got the rights back so we can make if we want it. I don’t know what the marketplace is for an incredibly homoerotic, super violent, super sexual movie. But maybe it’s perfect.

Background info: the script for 300: Blood and Ashes apparently focused on “the relationship between Alexander the Great and his second in command, Haphaestion”. The Hollywood Reporter explicitly describes the story as “a gay love story that was also an ancient Greek war epic”. Honestly, it would’ve been perfect for a film about Ancient Greece, fully embracing the homosexuality of the period that virtually every other piece of media ignores or downplays. Alas, Warner Bros. didn’t see it that way. So far, no other studio seems to want to take it either. Tune back into THS later to find out if this changes in the future, as well as any other Zack Snyder news.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter