‘High School Musical 4’ is coming to Disney Channel
By Leah Smith
It is time for the East High Wildcats to get their heads back in the game as Disney Channel greenlights High School Musical 4.
Classes at East High are back in session.
Disney Channel has greenlit a fourth movie in the High School Musical franchise – not including Sharpay’s spin-off – that will follow a whole new group of Wildcats, eight years after the original cast graduated on the big screen in High School Musical 3.
"“High School Musical is part of Disney Channel’s DNA. It embodies all that we stand for,” said Gary Marsh, President and Chief Creative Officer, Disney Channels Worldwide. “As a way of continuing to embrace that heritage, we’re excited to announce ‘the start of something new’ — as we launch a search for a new class of East High Wildcats to star in a fourth installment of the High School Musical franchise.” Via Deadline"
Not enough time has passed for this next movie to be about the children of the originals, but the fact that this movie is being called High School Musical 4 suggests that there would be some sort of connection to the original trilogy.
New casting details provide both the names of the new characters as well as a connection to the original characters. E! Online reports that the new lead, named Campbell, is Troy Bolton 2.0, and is the cousin of Ryan and Sharpay Evans. There also seems to be a central love triangle that forms between Campbell, Erin — a girl who plays on the boys’ soccer team — and Derek, the bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks.
Two other characters were also revealed, Nathalie, Erin’s BFF who is a cheerleader, and Tamara, who is the former queen bee looking to reclaim her popularity.
No information has been released as to if any of the original cast will be returning, but many of the behind-the-scene players are back. Peter Barsocchini, who wrote the first three movies, is teaming up with Dan Berendsen (creator/executive producer of Freeform’s Baby Daddy) to write High School Musical 4. Jeffrey Hornaday (Disney Channel’s Teen Beach Movie) will direct and choreograph the movie.
When High School Musical premiered on January 20, 2006, it became the highest rated premiere for Disney Channel at the time with 7.7 million viewers. The soundtrack became the number one album of 2006, and it became the first-ever TV movie soundtrack to ever reach to spot on the Billboard Top 200. The sequel only improved on that success of the original drawing in 18.6 million viewers when it premiered on August 17, 2007. This led to the third movie being released in theatres in October 2008, where High Musical 3: Senior Year, grossed over $250 million domestically.
What do you think about the return of the High School Musical franchise?