Disney channel's "High School Musical" coming May 23 (1 Viewer)

[todd s]

My 2 daughters loved this made for tv movie. So my older daughter comes home and starts looking through my local paper. Their was a big article on one of the lead actresses, Ashley Tisdale. And it was the big talk at school. Since she is from our town.
Anyway, my daughter says the article had the following info about a dvd release...


And for those interested the cast has signed up for a sequel.

 

[Jay_B!]

what exactly IS this? I just find it odd that the soundtrack to this movie went to #1 on the Billboard albums chart despite nobody in my age group even knowing what it is (the only one of my friends who has even heard of it only knows because she has two teenage daughters) yet the Rent soundtrack didn't even go near the top 40 despite being the talk of the town with everyone I knew for weeks.

 

[todd s]

Jay..if you don't have young kids...then you wouldn't know. Disney channel produces these made for the channel movies. They usually have a new one each month. They usually star the current stars of their tv shows. A few years ago the stars were Hilary Duff and Lindsey Lohan. But, when they got to big and their shows were not as popular they go with a new group of actors from their new shows. Most of the movies are watched and liked by the kids. But, this one seemed a lot more popular than normal. I haven't seen it. But, my kids have it on the dvr and watch it all of the time with their friends.

 

[Jay_B!]

yea, I know that Disney does a lot of made-for-tv movies, I am just surprised that this one is so huge that the soundtrack album is hitting #1 on the albums chart, when the soundtrack album to Rent, which was very hyped and I knew a ton of people who saw that movie and cared about it, didn't make the top 40 on the albums charts. Is this gonna be the new Grease or just this years current kid fad that will be next years 98 Degrees and LFO?

 

[Aaron Cooke]

yeah it's just a fad there will be another one coming along very soon. but rent the movie didn't exactly set the box office on fire either. i'm betting (based on the way my kids watch it and they're both younger than the target demographic) that if high school musical was released in theaters it would have trounced rent there too (as far as number of sales)

 

[Jay_B!]

the problem with Rent is that a lot of people didn't know what to make of it, and also the fact that Brokeback came out at the same time hurt Rent because BBM got all the attention instead for a movie with gay characters and I think most audiences figured "well, if I'm going to see a gay movie, let's wait for Brokeback" instead even though Rent and Brokeback had little in common.

But it's so funny that Rent was hyped, hyped, hyped... everyone knew it was coming out and yet the soundtrack peaked like at #41, yet High School Musical comes out of nowhere with zero adult fanfare and hits #1. Of course, Rent came out during the holiday season where there's a lot more competition and High School Musical is out during a relatively dead time for music, so there's less competition.

 

[Richard_D_Ramirez]

I have to admit that the songs for High School Musical are nice to listen to as bubblegum pop, but the acting in the movie is mind-numbing, the lip synching is gawd-awful, and the story is utter crap. Unfortunately, my six year old daughter is totally addicted to the movie, and goes ga-ga whenever it airs on the Disney Channel (which seems like every other week).

Isn't there a Dance-along version in addition to a Sing-along? News of this DVD release is NOT good...

 

[todd s]

Jay, While it won't have the staying power of Grease. It will last longer than the average Disney channel movie. I think what made it so popular was the music. Another Disney channel movie that used music was "Cheetah Girls" which was popular and released an album. Actually, the 3 of the 4 girls (The forth being Raven Symone) are touring as the Cheetah Girls. So I guess they are still somewhat popular.

And with the way HS musical came out of nowhere. Never underestimate the power tweens to get the word out on something..especially, now with the internet.

 

[Adam_S]

I watched this. take a drink everytime one of the kids does a bad acting job or a cliche thing and you'll be passed out inside five minutes.

The only possible way to watch this is to 16x through everything but the numbers, and most of those aren't all that great. The absurdity of the basketball number is delicious, the opening number is sweet and cute, the Cafeteria Number (stick to the status quo?) is brilliant, the only time they actually did something watchable since some of the takes hold as long as fifteen or twenty seconds!

The worst thing about the movie (aside from the 'acting') is that the Blonde 'bad' theatre girl whose supposed to be the biggest theatre star cannot maintain pitch.

However this may be the first Disney movie to have a token gay character in the form of the theatre dude dressed in the gay hairdo, with gay cloths and an incredibly theatre-gay manner (he's not effeminate, but very gay).

The next worst thing about the movie is the voice processing, they apparently turned out the 'voice squeak' machine to give the lead boy that 'boy band' sound. Add this to the persistent drum machine rotation (they couldn't possibly have hired a dummer, nobody sounds so repititively the same (and false) over and over and over and over and over every six seconds, the numbers, despite being okay are made really terrible. They even add in processing and a drum machine beat to the solo ballad they give the lead girl. I honestly don't automatically dislike the teeny bopper faux-club-rock sound that's been so popular that last eight years or so, but man, the sound engineers did their absolute DAMNEDEST to make every single song sound exactly the same and exactly horrible. Leaving only the group numbers to stand out, because we never get to actually hear the single characters sing, we just hear the voice machine, and the drum loop ad infinitum. Which is a shame because I think the lead girl can actually sing quite well, though I don't think the boy can sing a note on his own and he sounds dubbed anyway.

However the little girl who composes all the songs for their musical is utterly adorable and maybe the best actor in the bunch since she's not really required to say any lines and mainly just reacts (she reacts big, but she can actually sell those pantomime reactions expected from sitcoms and modern disney movie acting).

 

[Ethan Riley]

All I have to say about HSM is that if this is the future of musical comedy, then the future is very bland indeed. I mean, geezus, "From Justin to Kelly" was more entertaining, yet "HMS" becomes this huge sleeper hit. I don't get it. Wonder what the tweens would have made of HMS had the performers been talented and the songs memorable? This ain't "Phantom of the Opera," folks, and yet, I can't argue with its popularity. I guess all those sourball candies that kids eat nowadays have ruined their sense of taste.

Hah!

 

[todd s]

My daughters just found out that one of the lead actresses from movie, Ashley Tisdale. Is from our town. So my daughter and her friends went to the library to see if they could find her picture in an old yearbook.

 

[Ethan Riley]

No doubt she was voted most likely to be bland.

 

[Chris]

Reviving this thread for an odd reason:

High School Musical Soundtrack was just certified as Triple Platinum, and has now maintained 29 weeks in the top 20 (top 15) in the Billboard Album charts, making it one of the most successful releases from a TV release. In fact, in June, HSM became the highest selling soundtrack from a TV program ever, outpacing "Miami Vice" the previous record holder. Next week, the Album will return into the top-10, where it has bounced in and out of (this week 11) and outpacing new releases (examples; Nelly Furtado, Rhianna, etc.)

HSM stands to become the highest selling album of the year. (No, seriously) It will be a tight run to the bell between HSM and Nickelback's "All the right Reasons"

I finally watched it tonight. It's not great. But it's not terrible. Just reviving this thread because I find it interesting that it was so easily dismissed in March and then took off like a freaking rocket, and is now easily the most profitable TV movie in Disney's history, with over 3M Album sells, and with the DVD "Encore Edition" selling like gangbusters (10 weeks in the top 15, and only 1 week out of the top 10), Disney is already contemplating how to re-market this film, as it introduces it to the Asia market this weekend.

HSM has become more profitable to Disney then a large set of their theatrical releases this year.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

I enjoyed this, but was disappointed that the movie ended before they actually did the musical. Kinda like how in "Debbie Does Dallas", it ends before she actually goes to Dallas.

 

[Richard Michael Clark]

I wonder if there's any chance of widescreen dvd release?

 

[Kevin Hewell]

From many months ago:


That's funny. Here in Atlanta the Cheetah Girls are a group of strippers.

 

[Richard Michael Clark]

I guess not! Even though it's aired in widescreen (in the UK at least) every dvd release so far is 4:3 :frowning: