The Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical (HSM) premiered on January 20, 2006. The modern mix between Greece and Romeo and Juliet had a $5 million production budget and was watched by 7.7 million viewers on the first night it ran and 6.1 million the second time it appeared on the Disney Channel: The Disney Channel aired High School Musical seven times within a month of its inception – gaining 26.3 million viewers in that time.

Before the movie aired on the Disney Channel the Walt Disney Company released the High School Musical Soundtrack, which became the best selling soundtrack in the United States in 2006. To promote the soundtrack, Disney asked popular boy band B5 to record a version of the album’s hit song “Get’cha Head In The Game.” To promote the soundtrack there were free downloads of some of the songs available online, as well as a High School Musical media player that users could email to their friends so they could enjoy songs from the movie on their computer.

The HSM movie gained momentum through the word of mouth of their target audience. The Walt Disney Company heavily promoted the Disney Channel Original Movie on the Disney Channel and on the Disney Channel website. When HSM was released to DVD 1.2 million copies were sold in six days, making it the fastest selling television movie of all time. The movie also received numerous awards including Teen Choice Awards, Billboard Music Awards, American Music Awards, Emmy Awards, a Satellite Award, and a Television Critics Association Award.

Later in 2006 the stars from HSM, minus Zac Efron (who did not sing in the first HSM), went on tour for High School Musical: The Concert, while in 2007 Disney teamed up with Feld Entertainment to launch High School Musical: The Ice Tour. Before High School Musical 2 (HSM2) premiered on the Disney Channel August 17, 2007 the original High School Musical had already sold 7.8 million DVDs, 7 million CDs, 4.5 million books, sold out a 45-city concert tour, and made hundreds of millions of dollars in merchandise sales. The second HSM movie brought in 17.2 million viewers, which made it both the most watched basic cable movie of all time, and the most watched basic cable showing ever. The HSM2 soundtrack debuted at number 1 on national album sale charts, and the movie came to DVD on December 11, 2007.

High School Musical 3: Senior Year (HSM3) hit the big screens on October 24, 2008. To promote HSM3 Disney’s subsidiary ABC presented a reality show titled High School Musical: Get In The Picture, with host Nick Lachey. The reality series aired on July 20, 2008. Similar shows were created in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico with the winters set to star in each country’s own versions of High School Musical.

HSM3 grossed $42 million in the US and $40 million overseas on its opening weekend, breaking the record for the largest opening weekend for a musical film. HSM3 was released to DVD on February 17, 2009 (homevideo).

To promote all three High School Musical movies, Disney has released video games, books, jewelry, posters, cardboard stand ups, backpacks, school supplies, and a soundtrack for each movie. Laura Martin of Soleil-Media Metrics told the New York Post that her company estimated High School Musical contributed $1 billion to the Walt Disney Company in profits since it’s beginning in 2006. The show, like Walt Disney itself, is as wholesome as children’s entertainment gets, which is the main reason it has become such a cultural phenomenon.

CAST:
Zac Efron – Troy Bolton
Vanessa Hudgens – Gabriella Montez
Ashley Tisdale – Sharpay Evans
Lucas Grabeel – Ryan Evans
Corbin Bleu – Chad Danforth
Monique Coleman – Taylor McKessie
Bart Johnson – Coach Jack Bolton
Alyson Reed – Ms. Darbus
Olesya Rulin – Kelsi Nielsen
Chris Warren Jr. – Zeke Baylor
Ryne Sanborn – Jason Cross
KayCee Stroh – Martha Cox
Matt Prokop – Jimmie Zara
Justin Martin – Donny Dion
Jemma McKenzie-Brown – Tiara Gold

Learn About The Newest HSM Cast Members