Starring Taylour Paige, Riley Keough, Nicholas Braun, and Colman Domingo, the film follows a part-time stripper who is convinced by her new friend to go on a road trip to Tampa, Florida to earn money dancing, only to get in over her head.

[6] It received highly positive reviews from critics, with praise directed towards the screenplay, performances (particularly those of Paige, Keough, and Domingo), and editing, and earned a leading seven nominations at the 37th Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay with two wins for Best Female Lead for Paige and Best Editing for Joi McMillon.

When X, Stefani, and Zola return to the motel, X is enraged to discover that Derrek told Dion their reason for visiting Tampa.

After Stefani engages in a gang bang at a private residence, the two women visit another hotel, where a client has responded to their Backpage ad.

The three return to the room and find the men inside are Dion and an accomplice, armed with shotguns, who have posed as clients to rob Stefani of her earnings.

At gunpoint, X offers the men $50,000 and possession of Zola, if they let him and Derrek leave with Stefani, who has been beaten unconscious.

In October 2015, Detroit waitress A'Ziah "Zola" King posted a 148-tweet thread about a trip she took to Florida with a stripper named Jessica; the story, containing details of prostitution, murder and an attempted suicide, quickly went viral, garnering the recognition of people such as Missy Elliott, Solange Knowles and Ava DuVernay.

[8] In January 2018, it was announced that the film was initially set to begin production in February 2018, but was shelved following sexual misconduct allegations against Franco.

[18] Sony Pictures Releasing, under the Stage 6 Films banner, acquired the international rights (excluding Canada and Japan).

The site's critical consensus reads, "Zola captures the stranger-than-fiction appeal of the viral Twitter thread that inspired it – and announces director/co-writer Janicza Bravo as a filmmaker to watch.

"[24] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100, based on 46 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Club, Shannon Miller gave the film a grade of "B" and said: "Zola is first and foremost a zany, catastrophic road-trip dramedy, one that balances the whimsy of social media with the harrowing reality of being trapped in a dangerous situation.

"[26] Critic Owen Gleiberman of Variety called Zola "a true story so extravagant it feels like it must have been made up.

"[27] Peter Debruge, also writing for Variety, praised the "virtuoso filmmaking and a pair of killer performances" but wrote: "Sure, it's fun to see a movie skewer the vapid soullessness of social media and the unregulated economy of male desire, but Zola ultimately rings hollow.

"[28] Writing for The Face, Ludwig Hurtado said the film was a canonical part of a genre he named "Tampa-core," which he described as presenting a "hyper-stylised vision of Florida" with "all the violence and drama of a classic western"; he included Waves and Spring Breakers as comparable titles.