Cruel and Unusual Films, Inc. was founded in 2004 by Zack Snyder, his wife, Deborah, and producing partner Wesley Coller. The company is based at Warner Bros., and is currently located in Pasadena, California. The company signed a two-year production deal with Warner Bros. in 2007, prior to the theatrical release of 300, a film in which Snyder served as director. Snyder and his wife, Deborah, are co-presidents of the company. Coller often serves as a producing partner. Snyder launched the company's official website on January 30, 2009, and invited artists to submit versions of the company logo. Its most recent logo includes an animated Catholic schoolgirl named Baby Doll who is the heroine of Snyder's 2011 film Sucker Punch. Apart from producing feature films, Cruel and Unusual Films has also assisted in the marketing of its films, based on the strong advertising backgrounds of Snyder and his wife, Deborah Snyder. By January 2019, Snyder announced the studio's new title, The Stone Quarry.
Films
To date, Cruel and Unusual has served as an uncredited co-producer for films in which Snyder and his wife served as director and producer respectively. Following its establishment in 2004, the company produced Dawn of the Dead, a remake of George A. Romero's 1978 film of the same name. In 2007, Cruel and Unusual Films produced 300, an adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel. In 2009, the company produced Watchmen, an adaptation of the DC Comics limited series of the same name. Cruel and Unusual next produced ', a computer-animated film based on the series of children's fantasy books Guardians of Ga'Hoole by Kathryn Lasky. Sucker Punch was co-written and directed by Snyder, who also produced the film with his wife Deborah Snyder. The film is the first that credits Cruel and Unusual as a producer. Sucker Punch was released on March 25, 2011. In 2014 the studio co-produced the sequel to 2007's 300, '. In 2016 the studio co-produced the sequel to 2013's Man of Steel, . In 2017 the studio co-produced Wonder Woman and Justice League. In July 2015 it was revealed that Zack Snyder and Deborah Snyder will serve as producers and executive producers in the DC Extended Universe. Since 2018, DC Films chairmans Geoff Johns and Walter Hamada will serve as executive producer on the futureDC movies set in the DC Extended Universe, along with the Snyders. The studio was supposed to produce Army of the Dead, a sequel to Snyder's Dawn of the Dead remake, in which Zack Snyder was supposed to assist in developing the story, while his wife to produce the film, and Joby Harold to write the screenplay. The story centers around a father trying to save his daughter in a zombie-infested Las Vegas. Due to the expensive production value, the production of the movie was cancelled by Warner Bros.
Future projects
Zack Snyder will also direct a remake of the 1969 filmThe Illustrated Man. The company will also produce The Last Photograph, a film about a photograph that inspires two men to travel to war-torn Afghanistan. The film will be directed by Zack Snyder and will be produced by Snyder and his wife Deborah Snyder. In September 2017, it was confirmed that Zack Snyder is developing The Fountainhead adaptation, based on the 1943 novel from Ayn Rand. On January 29, 2019, Snyder announced that he has signed on to helm Army of the Dead, a zombie horror thriller, for Netflix. Snyder will direct and produce with Deborah Snyder. On May 20, 2020, Snyder officially announced that Warner Bros. would be releasing his cut of Justice League as Zack Snyder's Justice League on HBO Max in 2021.
