A beloved horror comedy/zombie movie is dominating Netflix this week. Often the films that trend on streaming are little-remembered flicks from yesteryear that find a new lease of life online. Other times, though, folks enjoy revisiting old favorites that they’ve seen already. This pic is one of the latter category, as 2009’s Zombieland is performing well on Netflix right now, posting a strong showing on the Top 10 most-watched films list over the past few days.
A year before The Walking Dead launched on TV, Zombieland delivered a more much light-hearted take on the post-apocalyptic genre. Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson and Abigail Breslin star as four survivors who reluctantly team up to get across the zombie-filled country, developing an unlikely familial bond along the way. It’s the sort of movie that, even if you’ve never seen it, you probably already know about some of its most famous moments – like Bill Murray’s scene-stealing cameo as himself.
Ruben Fleischer made his directorial debut with this one, kickstarting a career that later led him to helm Sony’s Venom and the upcoming Uncharted pic with Tom Holland. Fleischer and the four leads reunited a couple of years ago for 2019’s Zombieland: Double Tap, too, with the sequel receiving mostly positive reviews, even if it didn’t match the cult status of the first one. The group has discussed doing a closer to the trilogy in another 10 years as well.
It’s possible that Zombieland is currently proving so popular on Netflix because subscribers are gearing up for Army of the Dead, Zack Snyder’s zombie-heist flick that’s set to drop on May 21st. Otherwise, maybe Emma Stone fans are rewatching the film ahead of the Oscar-winning actress’ major new movie that’s coming up, which is Cruella, arriving on rival platform Disney Plus on May 28th.