Zombies is an American musical and dance Disney Channel Original Movie that premiered on Disney Channel on February 16, 2018. The film is based on the unaired pilot Zombies & Cheerleaders by David Light and Joseph Raso, and stars Milo Manheim and Meg Donnelly, playing zombie football player Zed and human cheerleader Addison who meet and fall in love, and who must lead their respective groups to coexist with each other. Zombies was successful for Disney Channel upon its premiere; the movie received just over two and a half million views during its initial February 2018 premiere. Critically, Zombies received mixed reviews with praise directed towards the positive messages and songs but criticism towards the plot's predictability. The franchise that has spawned from the film resulted in the release of a sequel, Zombies 2, which premiered on Disney Channel on February 14, 2020. A third and final movie, Zombies 3, premiered on Disney+ on July 15, 2022, before airing on Disney Channel on August 12, 2022. Plot Fifty years ago in the planned community of Seabrook, an accident at the Seabrook Power Plant resulted in an explosion that caused half the population of Seabrook to turn into brain-eating zombies. Those that weren't affected constructed a wall to quarantine the zombies from the rest of Seabrook in a territory called Zombietown. The government later created bracelets for zombies, called Z-Bands, that deliver soothing electromagnetic pulses to keep zombies from craving brains. In the present day, zombie students from Zombietown transfer to the human high school, Seabrook High, where suburban life is filled with uniformity, traditions, and pep rallies. The zombies in the school are patrolled by Dale, whose daughter Addison and nephew Bucky are on the school's cheerleading team. Addison begins a relationship with a zombie student named Zed, who is an exceptional player on the school's football team due to his Z-Band being hacked by Eliza, one of his zombie friends. Addison and Zed's relationship is initially unknown to all of the students and staff except two of Zed's zombie friends, Eliza and Bonzo. Bucky, who leads the cheerleading team, is jealous of Zed's popularity and makes sure Addison isn't able to meet him. Addison is invited by Zed to attend the zombie party in Zombietown. She attends and has a private moment with Zed in the "zombie park". Just before the pair can kiss, however, the Zombie Patrol crashes