It’s hard to believe that it's been 20 years since the first High School Musical arrived on Disney Channel and completely changed the world. Before the MCU and Star Wars, one of the biggest franchises Disney had was a teen-focused musical on basic cable. It was the sort of popularity that nobody saw coming, except possibly the director.
Kenny Ortega is one of the great choreographers and directors of musical films. He worked with major stars from Madonna to Elton John and handled choreography on films like Dirty Dancing and Pretty in Pink. He began his relationship with Disney in the early ‘90s directing Newsies and Hocus Pocus, so he was a natural choice when it came to finding somebody to helm High School Musical.
Speaking with People on the occasion of the first film’s anniversary, Ortega says that while filming the movie’s big musical finale in the gym, the song "We’re All in This Together,” he realized that the movie had the potential to be something special. In his words...
When we were shooting the big finale ['We’re All In This Together’] … I took my eyes off the monitor and just took in the scope of the whole room and I thought, ‘My God, if Disney Marketing does the job that we're doing in this room today, we have a juggernaut.'
Needless to say, Disney marketing did its job, and a juggernaut is exactly what happened. Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens became overnight stars alongside the likes of Ashley Tisdale.
Nearly 8 million people tuned in to watch the original film. It would spawn two sequels and a global concert tour. The second movie would become the most-watched basic cable program in history at the time. This would lead the third film to actually get a theatrical release. The movie was a massive hit in theaters to, and due to its relatively minuscule budget, is arguably one of the more profitable studio films ever made.
High School Musical would also spawn a number of films inspired by its success. We’d get the Camp Rock films, which are set to get a third installment this summer. The modern Descendants and Zombies musicals are carrying on the tradition today that started with this film.
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And the High School Musical franchise has never really gone away. Following the launch of Disney+, we got High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, a sort of spinoff/reboot of the franchise that once again created new stars, including Olivia Rodrigo.
I came to the High School Musical movies a little late (and a lot older) than most, but they won me over just the same. They’re incredibly fun movies, and that’s just as true today as it was 20 years ago.