Plants vs. Zombies The Boss Hunt: Part 1 (The American Empire: The Stars and Stripes)

Plants vs. Zombies The Boss Hunt: Part I is an upcoming American action-comedy-horror-adventure film, co-produced by DreamWorks Animation and PopCap Animation, and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is the sequel to Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare (2019), and the third installment in the DreamWorks Plants vs. Zombies franchise. It is the first Plants vs. Zombies film to not be based on a videogame from the original franchise, having an all-unique plot outside of it. The film is directed by the Russo Brothers and co-directed by Brad Ableson (who also co-directed Illumination's Minions: The Rise of Gru), from a screenplay by Michael McCullers, and produced by Chris Meledandri. The film centers in Crazy Dave teaming up with his nephews Nate Timely and Patrice Blazing, his cousin Douglas Fir and the other neighbors he knows to survive a zombie apocalypse in Alaska and stop Dr. Zomboss with the help of the plants before he rules Earth and make people become zombies permanently, and eventually go to an all-out war and the biggest battle they've ever had.
The film will be theatrically released on May 9, 2025 by Universal Pictures.
== Plot/Synopsis ==
Five years after the events of the second film, Crazy Dave was watching the TV while eating his taco meal and drinking Diet Coke at his house, and was enjoying it until it was interrupted by an urgent news about a zombie apocalypse chaos in Alaska caused by Dr. Zomboss, and Crazy Dave was very surprised about that! Then his cell phone rang and he picked up the call, and Burt told him through the cell phone that there's a zombie attack out there in the city of Juneau, Alaska. So Crazy Dave advertised the plants about the zombie attack in that city and they are going to reunite with his neighbors to form a survival team, they left home and went to look for his nephews to go to Neighborville Conservation Academy, where Dave also advertised this situation to his cousin Douglas Fir and the four returned to his neighborhood to tell Burt and Matilda that they need to form a survival team, which Dave called it the Neighborville Survival Team, and to travel to Juneau, Alaska because he heard on the news that there was a zombie apocalypse in that city that was caused by nobody but the evil and infamous Dr. Zomboss, who invented the Zombie Virus, and they went in Douglas' RV to stop Zomboss and end this dangerous zombie apocalypse before it's too late and he can rule the Earth and turn people into zombies permanently, while Peashooter and the herd search for the power mints.
== Cast ==
* Bruce Willis as the Neighbor. Willis agreed to play the character on the condition that it would be his final role until he feels better.
* Dan Aykroyd as Crazy Dave, the second protagonist of the film. He is the leader of the Neighborville Survival Team.
* Woody Harrelson as Douglas Fir. He is Crazy Dave's cousin, a camper who loves nature and animals, and the co-leader of the Neighborville Survival Team. He also has the capacity of animal speech and spends all of his time at the Campground, where he regularly takes hikes and talks to his forest friends, which are animals. He works at the Neighborville Conservation Academy.
* Tom Holland as Nate Timely. He is the nephew of Crazy Dave.
* Bella Thorne as Patrice Blazing. She is the niece of Crazy Dave.
* TBA as Mo. A lawnmower robot who also teams up with Crazy Dave, his cousin Douglas Fir, his nephews and the neighbors he knows to save the world from Zomboss' zombie invasion.
* Bryce Dallas Howard as Matilda. She is one of Crazy Dave's neighbors. She is a gardener and a member of the Neighborhood Survival Team.
* Jack McBrayer as Burt. He is one of Crazy Dave's neighbors. He is an engineer and a member of the Neighborhood Survival Team.
* Alfre Woodard as Dottie. She is one of Crazy Dave's neighbors.
* Nick Nolte as Crazy Dave Sr. He is Crazy Dave's father.
* Steve Buscemi as Dr. Zomboss. He is the main antagonist of the film and the leader of the Zombies. He wants to summon all of the zombies in Juneau, Alaska and order them to attack people and infect them with his evil invention: the Zombie Virus, which turns people into zombies, so Zomboss can rule the world for once and for all. Buscemi replaces Zomboss' long-time actor, Russell Brand.
* Danny McBride as Officer Ron, McBride also returns as Melon-pult.
* Patrick Stewart as the Narrator
=== Plants ===
* Neil Patrick Harris as Peashooter, the main protagonist of the film. He is the leader of the Plant Herd, Sunflower's new husband, Wall-nut's best friend and Repeater's younger brother.
** Harris also voices Snow Pea, Threepeater, the right head of Split Pea, Pea Pod, the upper head of Pea-nut and Beeshooter.
* Anna Faris as Sunflower. She is Peashooter's new wife.
** Faris also voices Twin Sunflower and Power Flower
* Ryan Reynolds as Wall-Nut. He is Peashooter's best friend and Tall-nut's younger brother.
** Reynolds also voices the lower head of Pea-nut and Hard-nut
* Bill Nighy as Chomper
* Jane Lynch as Cactus
* Alec Baldwin as Squash
* Andy Richter as Potato Mine
* Seann William Scott and Josh Peck as Cherry Bomb
* Owen Wilson as Repeater. He is Peashooter's older brother.
* Jason Lee as Cabbage-pult
* Bill Hader as Kernel-pult
* Danny McBride as Melon-pult
** McBride also voices Winter Melon.
* Dee Bradley Baker as Spikeweed (vocal effects) (uncredited)
** Baker also provides the vocal effects of Spikerock. (also uncredited)
* Jim Carrey as Jalapeno
* Steve Carell as Bloomerang
* Arnold Schwarzenegger as Bonk Choy
* Terry Crews as Coconut Cannon
* Ludacris as Lightning Reed
* J.K. Simmons as Torchwood
* Vince Vaughn as Tall-nut. He is Wall-nut's older brother.
* Christina Applegate as Umbrella Leaf
* Stephen Root as Snapdragon
** Root also voices Cold Snapdragon
* Anna Kendrick as Sweet Pea
* Damon Wayans Jr. as Chilly Pepper
* Don Cheadle as Beet
** Cheadle also voices Beetboxer
* Ed Helms as Shamrock
** Helms also voices Shamrockstar
* Chris Hemsworth as Aspearagus
** Evans also voices Acespearagus
* Hugo Weaving as Bamboo Shoot
** Weaving also voices Bamboom
* Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Popcorn
* Zoe Saldana as Fire Peashooter
* Josh Gad as Puff-shroom
* Freddie Highmore as Sun-shroom
* Ewan McGregor as Fume-shroom
* Alecia Moore (Pink) as Hypno-shroom
* Paul Rudd as Magnet-shroom
* Will Forte as Scaredy-shroom
* Harrison Ford as Ice-shroom
* Samuel L. Jackson as Doom-shroom
* Ludacris as Lightning Reed
* Jack Black as Chili Bean
* Sylvester Stallone as Chard Guard. Stallone replaces Bruce Willis from the previous film in the role of Chard Guard due to health problems since March 2022.
* Josh Brolin as Gatling Pea
* Liam Neeson as Cob Cannon
* Glenn Close as Ice Queen Pea
* Robert Downey Jr. as Citron, a member of the Garden Ops, and joins the Plant Herd again in the journey to stop the zombies.
* Chris Evans as Kernel Corn, Kernel-pult's brother and another member of the Garden Ops, who also helps the herd.
* Scarlett Johannson as Rose, another member of the Garden Ops, and also helps the herd.
=== Zombies ===
* George Fan as:
** Basic Zombie
** Flag Zombie
** Conehead Zombie
** Buckethead Zombie
** Brickhead Zombie
** Backup Dancer Zombie
** Balloon Zombie
** Zombie Bobsled Team
** Cave Zombie
** Cave Flag Zombie
** Cave Conehead Zombie
** Cave Buckethead Zombie
** Blockhead Zombie
* Michael Cera as Pole Vaulter Zombie
* Ed O'Neill as Newspaper Zombie
* Will Arnett as All-Star
* Christopher Lloyd as Scientist 
* Will Ferrell as Disco Zombie
* Nicolas Cage as Gargantuar
* Jonah Hill and Frank Welker as Imp and Z-Mech
** Hill also voices Yeti Imp and Super-Fan Imp.
* Wayne Knight as Digger and Engineer Zombie
** Knight also voices Catapult Zombie
* Alan Tudyk as Zomboni
* Mark Hamill as Ladder Zombie
* Clancy Brown as Zombie Yeti
* Jeff Bennett as Zombie Dodo
* John Goodman as Sloth Gargantuar
* Patrick Warburton as Troglobite
* John DiMaggio as Hunter Zombie
* Bill Nighy as Captain Deadbeard
== Release ==
The film will be theatrically released in USA on May 9, 2025.
=== Marketing ===
* The film's teaser trailer, along with its first official poster, were released on May 24, 2024, and was uploaded to DreamWorks' official YouTube channel the same date. The teaser trailer is shown in front of screenings of Despicable Me Unchained and Garfield Continues.
* The first theatrical trailer will be released on September 27, 2024, and it will be promoted during the premiere of DreamWorks' The Wild Robot.
* The second theatrical trailer will be released on December 20, 2024, and it will be promoted during the premiere of Mufasa: The Lion King.
* The third and final theatrical trailer will be released on April 4, 2025, and it will be promoted during the premiere of the live action Minecraft film starring Jack Black.
== Soundtrack ==
The soundtrack for the film is composed by Michael Giacchino, replacing Hans Zimmer from the first two films. It will be released on May 6, 2025.
== Trivia ==
* The film was originally confirmed to be released on March 21, 2025, but it was changed to be premiered one month, two weeks and four days later on May 9, 2025 to avoid competition with Disney's live action remake of Snow White.
* Crazy Dave's best friend Harvey Flaxcaster was originally going to appear in this film, and he was going to be voiced by Bill Murray. However, on March 6, 2024, this character was scrapped from the film and was replaced by Dave's cousin Douglas Fir from Plants vs. Zombies 3, so Crazy Dave and Douglas would make a better team with the other neighbors rather than Harvey. This resulted that the filmmakers had to force Bill Murray to leave the film's cast so they could hire another actor for the voice role of Douglas Fir. In this case, Woody Harrelson was chosen for the role of Douglas Fir. Also, this resulted the writers to erase Harvey's dialogue from the final transcript and rewrite the history putting Douglas' dialogue this time.
* Before the delay and separation into two parts, the film was going to be called Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2, but was changed to be more unique
== Sequel ==
[TBD sequel]
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