Disney has always pushed its young adult franchises as far as it can, and the most successful recent of these returns with its fifth movie. Disney released Zombies in 2018, a musical-comedy-adventure movie that focused on zombies trying to find acceptance in a small town that held discriminatory views on the living dead. However, this is Disney, so the zombies and humans fighting were also surrounded by teenagers, musically catchy songs, and some massive dance numbers. To be honest, the best description of Zombies would be comparing it to another classic Disney franchise: High School Musical, but with singing, dancing zombies.
Disney has now announced that the fifth movie in the franchise will start production this year. This movie has no official title yet, but it follows Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires. According to Disney, “the newfound peace between the Daywalkers and Vampires is put to the test when a band of fierce mermaids arrives in Rayburn, making waves and casting a persuasive siren song to lure in new allies.” Shockingly, for the first time in the franchise, stars Milo Manheim and Meg Donnelly will not return for the fifth film. However, the two actors will serve as executive producers.
What to Expect from Zombies 5
Image Courtesy of Disney
While the first Zombies movie was about zombies trying to find acceptance at high school with the humans, each movie after that introduced different monsters added to the mix. Since the zombies fit in so well at the end of the first film, the second saw them inviting the werewolves into the school. It was the same story, with the zombies and humans scared of the werewolves, but this time, there was a good reason to fear the more aggressive outsiders. The third movie added aliens to the mix, where the now friends werewolves, zombies, and humans defended their town from the invaders, only to find them accepted into society by the end.
However, the franchise changed directions with the fourth movie, and that is likely why the change in leads ended up happening. Action left Seabrook, as the main stars went on a road trip, only to find a town where vampires and daywalkers were at constant war. Since the zombies, werewolves, aliens, and humans found acceptance, our heroes tried to help the vampires and daywalkers also find peace. This led to two breakout stars in Daywalker Nova (Freya Skye) and Vampire Victor (Malachi Barton). The fourth Zombies movie ended with them kissing, only to see something coming out of the water.
The best part about the Zombies franchise is that the story is about inclusion and acceptance, and the idea that everyone can live together peacefully, no matter who or what they are. There are no surprises here, as the mermaids that appear to be the new villains will likely end the film friends with the vampires and daywalkers, just as every previous film ended. The only important thing here is that the music and dance numbers remain spectacular.
Also returning to the fifth Zombies movie, along with the two new leads, Nora and Victor, are Swayam Bhatia as Vera, Julian Lerner as Ray, and Mekonnen Knife as Vargas. The new cast members among the mermaids are Diaana Babnicova as cool-girl Pearl, Taylor Oliver as bad-boy Fin, and Olive Mortimer as tech-wiz Sandy. DGA Award-winner Paul Hoen also returns to direct the fifth movie, as he has helmed every Zombies movie in the franchise so far.
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