Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 3

"This isn't your average alien invasion,"

- Official tagline of the film, "Will Addison be able to restore peace in the universe?"

- Secondary tagline of the film,

Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 3 is a Disney channel original movie and sequel to the movie Zombies 2. It premiered on February 18, 2022.

Synopsis
Humans,Zombies, and Werewolves, are all united and there’s peace in Seabrook. Everyone couldn‘t be happier... except for Addison, who’s still trying to figure out why her hair is white. As the school's founding anniversary nears, a UFO lands, releasing a mob of alien refugees who all have white hair like Addison. Turns out the aliens, are not only needing a place to be safe, but are planning to have a large-scale abduction in order to find the princess of their home planet Alextros, who’s hair holds special powers that the evil Lord Adonis wants in order to take over the universe. Her parents, Queen Aaliyah and King Angelo, sent her to earth for her safety., as Adonis wants the special power in her hair After Adonis leads an attack on seabrook in search of the power, Addison agrees to go save her home planet along with the zombies, werewolves, and cheerleaders. . Addison’s alien hair has mysterious, supernatural powers which are starting to be revealed as it continues to glow blue... will Addison be able to use that power to restore peace in the universe?

Plot
In the earlier days of Seabrook, a mysterious blue capsule landed on the doorstep of a family, and was taken inside.

In the present, picking up directly after the second film, Addison wakes up from her sleep, and vaguely remembers a blue glowing object in the sky. She thinks it’s just a dream and heads to Seabrook High, to help plan the School’s founding event which coincides with the upcoming Blue Moon, along with Zed, the zombies, and werewolves. They remark about how great Seabrook has become and sing the song “Better Than Ever”.

As they plan the event, they keep noticing blue flashes and ominous music in the town. The mayor (Addison’s mom) and Z-Patrol chief (Addison’s dad) are alerted and come to investigate. The blue object turns out to be a huge ufo/spaceship housing aliens. This causes the students and citizens to panic.

4 aliens, Alyssa, Amaya, Adalie, and Axel reveal to them what happened to their home, an alien planet kingdom named Alextros. It was taken over by Lord Adonis, and they are refugees who were sent to Earth to stay safe. They explain this by singing “Deep in the universe”

The zombies, werewolves, and Addison notice that the aliens all have white hair. Addison begins to believe that she is an alien as well. Likewise, Adalie notices the white hair and tells her group. Alyssa tells her to wait before bestowing the Royal Lunar Pin to Addison.

The council of Seabrook agrees to let the aliens stay until their planet is safe, but impose strict boundaries for the aliens.

The alien teenagers start to attend Seabrook High, but Bucky and the aceys see them as ’Space Freaks’. This leads to a musical dance battle. (“Only Superstars”)

Addison continues to suspect her alien heritage. This makes her hair glow bright blue. The zombies, werewolves, and humans are shocked. This leads to her being the confirmed the lost princess Of Alextros by the aliens as they inform her that her real parents, Queen Aaliyah and King Angelo, were overthrown by Lord Adonis, who took over the kingdom in search of power in Addison’s hair. This is why her parents sent her to earth for her safety.

Addison finally feels she found her real identity and sings “My royal destiny”. But Bucky and aces overhear. Disturbed by the idea of Addison being a princess, and thinking it's all fake, they come up with a plan to expose her.

As the aliens have trouble fitting in, the zombies and werewolves give them sympathy by taking them to the wolf den. They sing a song called "Our Pride".

The aces manage to expose Addison and the aliens, and creating panic. This captures the attention of Lord Adonis due to implanting listening devices on the alien's devices. Eventually, he leads an attack and abduction on seabrook.

The aliens agree that the time has come for Addison tor return to Alextros to save the planet, but Bucky and Zed object, both thinking it's too dangerous. Addison's adoptive parents think the same way too. But as Adonis continues abducting citizens and attacking them, they change their minds. Addison heads into the UFO with the aliens, cheerleaders, werewolves and zombies. As they arrive at alextros, the aliens sing "Interstellar"

The group finally arrives on Alextros. As they prepare for Addison to face against Adonis, they are blocked by Adonis’s minions. With the help of the werewolves and zombies, they are able to get past them. As Addison’s hair continues to glow blue, Alyssa realizes the Blue Moon is bringing out her powers, and gives her her royal lunar hairpin. As Addison is worried and anxious, zed comforts her and sings ‘Someday ‘(reprise)‘

Lord Adonis notices the Blue Moon and hopes he will be able to take the power from Addison’s hair. As he recalls his black hair without any powers, he sing “My reign,” and glares at the King and Queen, which are frozen in ice.

The guys and girls finally make it to the castle, as Lord Adonis uses a crystal to drain the power out of Addison’s parents hair. The full moon rises in the sky and turns blue, making her hair glow blue again, releasing a burst of blue power which sends Lord Adonis flying, and shattering the ice trapping her parents. (“Blue Moon”)

With Alextros free at last, Addison goes to hug her parents and tells them all about her life and how happy she is to meet them. The zombies, werewolves, cheerleaders, and aliens clap to celebrate.

Back at Seabrook, the school celebrates the founding of Seabrook High, along with the zombies, werewolve, cheerleaders, and aliens. The council allows the aliens to stay and visit anytime they want. Addison agrees to visit her royal parents as much as possible and take the throne of Alextros, while living at Seabrook. They celebrate by singing the song, “Unity”

Later on, a group of bats during the night land on a tree, right next to a large red gemstone which glows bright red as the screen  turns black.

Cast
Meg Donnelly as Addison

Milo Manheim as Zed

Kylee Rusell as Eliza

Pearce Joza as Wyatt

Baby Ariel as Wynter

Carla Jeffery as Bree

Trevor Tordjman as Bucky

Chandler Kinney as Willa

James Godfrey as Bonzo

Emilia McCarthy as Lacey

Jasmine Renee Thomas as Stacey

Noah Zulikar as J.C

New Cast Members-
Savannah May as Alyssa, an alien from the planet Alextros. She is a refugee who offered to find the princess due to her mom working for the king and queen.

Jade Pettyjohn as Amaya, an alien from Alextros. She’s a refugee who offered to go to earth to find the lost heir, in hopes of restoring her wealth and noble status.

Thomas Kuc as Axel, an alien from Alextros. Another refugee who was ordered to find the princess last minute due to someone else taking back their offer.

Ruby Rose Turner as Adalie, an alien and younger sister of Alyssa who's also a refugee and is trying to find the princess. She is the first one to notice Addison’s white hair.

Cole Sprouse as Lord Adonis, an evil alien who’s hair was black instead of white, making him lack the special powers all the other aliens had. In order to make up for his hair, he seeks power in Addison’s hair and all aliens.

Olivia Holt as Queen Aaliyah, Addison’s true mother who rules Alextros. Like her daughter, she has white hair with special powers, but it reaches floor length. She was frozen in crystal during the initial takeover of the planet by Adonis.

Jason Dolley as King Angelo, Addison‘s true father who rules Alextros. He also has powerful white hair, which reaches shoulder length. He was frozen in crystal during the initial takeover of the planet by Adonis.

Songs

 *  ”Better Than Ever” - performed by the whole cast, excluding the new cast members 
 * ' “Deep in the universe” Performed by Savannah May,Jade Pettyjohn, Thomas Kuc, and Ruby Rose turner.'
 * “My Royal Destiny”- Performed by Meg Donnelly.
 * “Only Superstars” Performed by Trevor Tordjman, Emilia McCarthy, Jasmine Thomas, and Noah Zulikar, alongside Savannah May,Jade Pettyjohn, Thomas Kuc, and Ruby Rose turner.
 * “Interstellar” Performed by Savannah May,Jade Pettyjohn, Thomas Kuc, and Ruby Rose turner.
 * “Our Pride,” Performed by Milo Manheim, Kylee Russell, James Godfrey, Pearce Joza, Chandler Kinney, Ariel Winter, along with Savannah May, Jades Pettyjohn, Thomas Kuc, and Ruby Rose turner.
 * “Someday (reprise)” Performed by Meg Donnelly and Milo Manheim.
 * “Unity” Performed by whole Cast 
 * "My reign," performed by Cole Sprouse


 * “Blue Moon,” Performed by Meg Donnelly

Production
After Zombies 2 premiered to 2.4 million viewers, Disney announced that a Zombies 3 would go into production with returning and new stars, November 2020. Savannah May, Jade Pettyjohn, Thomas Kuc, and Ruby Rose Turner were announced to join the cast March 21, 2021 and Olivia Holt, Cole Sprouse, and Jason Dolley became part of the cast a week later. Production started early June 2021, and wrapped two months later in September.

Marketing
Promotion began September with a teaser, and a longer trailer was released in October. That same day Disney Channel Instagram made a post, revealing the main poster with a tagline. (see quote) More trailers were released following the month of November, and Q&As with the original and new cast were filmed, depicted in a ‘galactic’ setting, were released. The first song of the movie, “Better Than Ever,” was released in December, and garnered 15 million views on it‘s release on YouTube in it‘s first few hours. The first few trailers got a combined 56 million views on YouTube. A sneak peak was also released on youtube, getting 23 million views.

Broadcast
Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 2, premiered February 18, 2022 on Disney Channel on a 8pm to 10pm timeslot. The first two movies broadcasted before it‘s premiere. A premiere on several Disney Channels in other countries is expected to happen March 18.

Home media

 * Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 3, w/ Bloopers & Deleted Scenes (DVD) (February 20 2022)
 * Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 3, Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 2, & Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 3 Pack (DVD, VOD, DISNEY PLUS)
 * Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 3 w/ Bloopers and Deleted Scenes (VOD) (February 19 2022)
 * Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 3 (Disney Plus) (May 6 2022)
 * Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 3 w/ Soundtrack (DVD,VOD,DISNEY PLUS)

Reception
Zombies 3, premiered February 18 2022 to an audience of 5.4 million viewers, very close to the viewership of ''Descendants 2. It was met with acclaim from critics and audience members alike, and has a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the consensus says; “This Disney channel film certainly has the brains, fierceness, and ambition to make an impression that’s out of this world,”  “''Deep in the universe“, “Interstellar,” “Our Pride,” and “Blue Moon” are it’s most liked and viewed music videos, each receiving praise. This success led to a Zombies 4 going into development, and made the franchise dubbed a ”worthy successor of Descendants,“ by critics.

Sequel
Since Zombies 3 was a huge success, Disney revealed that a Zombies 4 would go in development. In January 2023, Sadie Stanley, Kira Kosarin, and Bradley Steven were announced to join the cast. The original cast from the first 3 films were to reprise their roles and Cole Sprouse was announced to return.

Trivia

 * The refugee aliens are supported by the RAPP (Refugee Alien Protection Program) which is tasked with keeping any surviving citizens who ran away from the takeover safe. This includes creating secret refugee camps, as Adonis has not completely taken over Alextros. (There are still some areas that aren’t completely controlled by him and his minions, but are struggling). As they are running out of camps for refugees, they organized some groups of aliens to be transported to to a random town on Earth, in hopes the citizens there will be able to support them. They still remain in contact with the refugees on Earth.
 * In addition to what’s above, they also have a secret mission with the code name Op.Heiress (The Op standing for Operation) Only a very select few are aware of this mission, which is to find the lost princess of Alextros in hopes they will help restore the kingdom. The main ‘agents’ of this mission are Alyssa,Amaya,Axel, and Adalie.
 * The planet Alextros is covered in snow and ice, with lots of blue crystals poking out. These crystals are the main source of power on the planet. Any crystal which isn’t blue is considered ”defunct”, and is either destroyed or sent to a random planet. This how the moonstone, which is purple and not blue, got into Seabrook.
 * The hair of aliens from Alextros has powerful energy. A lot of the time it glows blue randomly, sometimes when an alien object awakens the power, but eventually aliens learn to control this at will, with the help of crescent moon shaped hairpins called Lunar Pins . White hair is also the hair color of all aliens. (Minus Lord Adonis)
 * The official symbol of Alextros is the crescent moon 🌙 which all aliens have somewhere on their clothing.
 * While this probably won’t become a movie, a novelization is currently in development for a Wattpad release.
 * Disney said that this would be the last installment in the Z-O-M-B-I-E-S tv film series, although Pearce Joza revealed on Instagram, “that they have great ideas for a fourth film if it does well,”. This was later confirmed, as a Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 4 went into development with a release sometime in February 2024.
 * As the first movie had themes of racism, the second with natives wanting their property, the third film will have themes of immigration.
 * It is the first disney channel movie to be 2 hours long.
 * The character Amaya was originally gonna be played by Peyton List. Then Kira Kosarin, and Sabrina Carpenter. Finally Jade Pettyjohn portrayed the character.
 * The character of Adalie was originally called Adalynn (and was gonna be played by Lizzie Greene), and Alyssa was originally called Aubree.
 * The cliffhanger at the end hints to a Zombies 4. It was also thrown in at the last minute when Disney decided to make a 4th film.