Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney. And well, it's the Start of Something New... all over again as Disney officially announced that have started casting for High School Musical 4.
And my thoughts, well I made it no secret earlier this year, that I am a fan of these movies as I reviewed all 3 of the original movies but it's been ten years since the first film aired on Disney Channel and the third film came out 8 years ago, so the audience that watched High School Musical has grown up and moved on as has the cast. Vanessa Hudgens is the lead in an upcoming DC show on NBC and Zac Efron is going to be in the Baywatch movie. And while the cast did mention that they have fond memories of the films and making them during the reunion special but having followed some of their careers, it's clear that they've moved on. Really, the only one that I could see them getting back would be Ashley Tisdale as she still seems to have a bit of a relationship with Disney but I really don't see any of the original cast returning.
So, that leads me to my next point, while we don't know what the plot is and probably won't for a while, I have a feeling that this film is going to be an in name sequel only that serves as a reboot for the franchise. Which is kinda funny considering that the third film set up characters to continue the franchise but by this point, those characters would probably be in college, if not having jobs already if they were freshmen in 2008. Which, I guess I'm fine with as I do like the franchise enough on it's own to see how it holds up with a new cast but I do hope that they go back to East High as East High was such a big part of the heart of these movies. And in a way for older fans like me, it would feel like going home again. And besides, it can't be any worse than their last Tween musical.
Oh yeah, Kenny Ortega also directed that disasterpiece. To be fair, he did a good job with all 3 of the original High School Musical films but after something like Descendants, I'm not sure if he should be given another shot at High School Musical. I know what I'm saying but he really botched it up badly with Descendants and he may be too busy to direct HSM4 as he'll most likely be directing the sequel to that...
Well, I'd rather have High School Musical 4 over that. It's funny for the longest time, after the third film came out, there were rumors of a 4th movie with the plot possibly being the merging of East High and their rival school, West High. But that's all they were and I have no idea, where the rumor surfaced.Funnily enough, according to Us Weekly, this film will introduce the West High Knights. So perhaps, they dusted off a script that was like the rumor that had been floating around. Heck, at one point, there was a rumor of them doing a Halloween themed movie for the franchise. Kinda funny considering that Lucas Grabeel was in Halloweentown High.
But the big question is why now? And the answer is simple....
Disney is playing on the nostalgia of fans of the original franchise as they saw how popular, the movie still is amongst fans, when they re-aired for it's tenth anniversary in January. I can't be certain but I do believe that it brought in a lot of older fans and was a ratings boost for Disney Channel as fans sat there watching a movie that they had seen before (in my case, a week prior) and watch it again and in my review of the second movie, I discussed how that film was a ratings juggernaut for Disney Channel. So, it's a combo of Disney seeing that there is still an audience for this franchise and that they still can work with it. Because really before the tenth anniversary, this year, this franchise had been dormant for quite a while and no one was talking about it but the tenth anniversary reunion got fans talking about it again and Disney Channel took notice of that and probably wanted to do something. Now to be fair, they could have had this in the works before the tenth anniversary but I find it a bit suspect that they would announce this, two months after that particular airing.
I guess in the end, I'm somewhat excited even if I know it won't be the same as the original movies but I'll keep my eye out for any information that comes out and I just hope that this doesn't end up being another Descendants as I don't want two things from Disney I like, being messed with by Disney Channel movies. I'll just have to wait and see. Peace!
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