Illinois’ & Iowa’s Favorite Disney Channel Movies Are Very Wrong

We get studies sent to us all the time. Most of them are true, but there are a few that come out that make me do a solid "WTF" at the top of my lungs in my office. A recent study was sent to us naming each state's favorite Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM). Iowa's and Illinois' "favorite" DCOMs are two movies I have never heard of and I'm pretty sure no one else has either.

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Do you remember the good old days when Disney Channel stars use to draw the outline of the top of Mickey Mouse's head with a wand?

These intros are burnt into 99% of American Millenials and we aren't mad about it.

Many of these actors starred in our favorite Disney Channel Original Movies. Movies like The Cheetah Girls, The Luck Of The Irish, Cadet Kelly, Camp Rock, Halloweentown, Smart House, I mean the list goes on and on.

A new study from ShaneCo. has come out showing each state's favorite DCOM and when I saw Iowa's and Illinois', I got somewhat confused, a little upset, and a tiny bit sad like a typical Millenial.

In order to determine each state's favorite DCOM, ShaneCo. looked to Google Trends to help collect the data. They gathered 74 search terms from sources like Collider, Cosmopolitan, and D23, and used search term data from 2004 to July of 2022 to determine each state’s all-time favorite Disney Channel original movie.

After doing the research, this is what ShaneCo. determined the top DCOM for Iowa and Illinois.

Iowa's Deep Cut DCOM

ShaneCo. found that Iowa's favorite DCOM is Alley Cats Strike. The film premiered on Disney Channel back in 2000 and stars Kyle Schmid, Robert Ri'chard, and Kaley Cuoco.

Illinois Goes New School

Illinois' favorite DCOM is from 2018 and is the most popular DCOM in America with 11 states claiming it as their favorite, Z-O-M-B-I-E-S. This more recent popular DCOM stars Milo Manheim and Meg Donnelly.

Z-O-M-B-I-E-S for Illinois I kind of understand. It's newer and probably more kids in Illinois watch the Disney Channel for some reason. But for Iowa to have Alley Cats Strike as its favorite movie is flat-out wrong. Because one person in Maquoketa probably Googled it one time makes it Iowa's favorite? I don't think so.

See all of the other state's normal favorite DCOMs below.