What planned title for Plants vs. Zombies punned on Dawn of the Dead?

The planned title Lawn of the Dead was a pun on Dawn of the Dead.

During much of Plants vs. Zombies' development, PopCap considered calling the game Lawn of the Dead. The title swaps “lawn” for “dawn,” directly signaling a zombie story while tying the project to George A. Romero's influential film Dawn of the Dead. It also captured the game's unusual setting: an undead invasion fought across an ordinary suburban lawn.

The name was never used for the commercial release. The game ultimately launched in 2009 as Plants vs. Zombies, a clearer title that immediately explains the central conflict and avoids presenting the project as too closely connected to Romero's film. “Lawn of the Dead” therefore belongs to the game's development history rather than its final branding.

The title is easy to mix up with Weedlings, another early working name associated with the game's alien-and-gardening concept. Bloom & Doom is instead associated with Plants vs. Zombies' fictional gardening and product language, while Residential Evil is a tempting but incorrect horror-game-style invention. The finished game's own wordplay survived in names such as “Zombies on Your Lawn,” the song featured in its ending music video.