High School Musical 2
| High School Musical 2 | |
|---|---|
 Official poster of High School Musical 2 | |
| Directed by | Kenny Ortega |
| Written by | Peter Barsocchini |
| Produced by | Gary Marsh Bill Borden |
| Starring | Zac Efron Vanessa Hudgens Ashley Tisdale Lucas Grabeel Corbin Bleu Monique Coleman |
| Distributed by | Disney Channel |
Release dates | August 17, 2007 |
Running time | 98 min |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | About $7 million [1] |
High School Musical 2 is the sequel to the Emmy Award winning Disney Channel Original Movie, High School Musical. It debuted on Disney Channel and Family Channel on August 17, 2007 and debuted on August 10, 2007 on iO's and Verizon FiOS's Disney on Demand. The movie was filmed mostly in St. George, Utah and partially in Salt Lake City, Utah for the East High School scenes. The film set a new Disney Channel record upon its premiere, with a total of 17.24 million viewers tuning in, making it the highest rated Disney Channel movie (and the highest rated television movie) of all time.[3]
Release information
As a preventive measure against pirating, Disney Channel significantly reduced the audio quality of each song during the premiere showing of High School Musical 2 on August 17, 2007 by lowering the bitrate. It is unknown whether each song's audio quality will be restored at all during any of the television showings or if it will only be available on the DVD release.[citation needed]
Disney Channel has aired a weekly program called Road To High School Musical 2, beginning June 8, 2007 and leading up to the premiere of High School Musical 2 in August. The show offers viewers a behind-the-scenes look into the production of the movie. The world premiere of the music video What Time Is It? was shown on Saturday June 9, 2007.
"You Are The Music In Me" premiered on July 13, 2007.[citation needed]
The premiere of High School Musical 2 aired at 8 PM ET on August 17, and included a telecast hosted by Kenny Ortega and the movie's stars. On Sunday, August 19, Disney will air a sing-along version of the movie and an interactive viewer chat with stars of the movie. [2] . On May 23, DirecTV announced that they would be hosting an exclusive high-definition airing of the movie a few days after the August 17 premiere on its network-only channel, The 101[3].
Disney Channel On Demand debuted the movie on August 10, 2007.[4]
The film was generally well received by critics, gaining a score of 72/100 at Metacritic[5].
Plot
The school year at East High has just come to an end, and the Wildcats are excited for a summer of fun. Yet with another school year gone by, popular basketball star Troy Bolton is increasingly worried about his future, specifically with regards to paying for college.
Nevertheless, Troy promises his girlfriend, Gabriella Montez, that this will be a summer to remember. To lure Troy away from Gabriella, however, rich and popular Sharpay Evans has conjured up a scheme to have Mr. Fulton, the manager of her parents' country club, land him a summer job there. Troy accepts the offer from Mr. Fulton on the condition that Gabriella and all of his friends are hired, as well.
Furious that the other Wildcats will be working at the country club, Sharpay conspires to either have Troy's friends fired or isolate him from his friends by tempting him with a pathway to success. By spending more time with Sharpay, her influential family, and the University of Albuquerque alumni, Troy believes he will be able to secure scholarships to pay for college. He is presented with a plethora of opportunities for a bright future, accepting promotions, expensive gifts, fancy dinners, and even a chance to play a scrimmage game with the U of A basketball team. Along the way, however, he blows off his friends and forgets dates with Gabriella. Troy has become someone he’s not, losing his friends and Gabriella, who breaks up with him when she quits her job at the country club.
While this is happening, Ryan Evans emerges from the shadow of her overbearing sister, Sharpay. After Sharpay replaces him with Troy to perform with her in the talent show, Ryan begins to bond with the rest of the Wildcats. Under Ryan’s direction, they plan and rehearse their own performance to compete with Sharpay and Troy.
Troy eventually realizes the errors of his ways and becomes determined to return to the person he used to be. He rejects Sharpay and reunites with his friends before performing with them in the talent show. Gabriella also makes a surprise return by joining Troy on stage. Together, all the Wildcats win the talent show while singing about the two lessons of the story: (1) make each day count by celebrating the time you have with your friends and (2) following your ambitions is not worth losing who you are.
With their problems now behind them, the Wildcats have fun at a pool party where they celebrate the real beginning of their summer.
Cast
- Zac Efron as Troy Bolton
- Vanessa Hudgens as Gabriella Montez
- Ashley Tisdale as Sharpay Evans
- Lucas Grabeel as Ryan Evans
- Corbin Bleu as Chad Danforth
- Monique Coleman as Taylor McKessie
- Olesya Rulin as Kelsi Nielsen
- Chris Warren Jr. as Zeke Baylor
- Kaycee Stroh as Martha Cox
- Ryne Sanborn as Jason Cross
- Bart Johnson as Jack Bolton
- Alyson Reed as Ms Darbus
Production
Before rehearsal began, Disney's High School Musical site put up a poll[6] for what the viewers want to see in High School Musical 2.
In early February 2007, Ashley Tisdale, Corbin Bleu and Vanessa Hudgens were reported to be holding out for a more lucrative contract.[7] Disney Channel representatives claimed rehearsals would begin on schedule, and by February 19, the entire cast was on set and rehearsing in St. George and Salt Lake City, Utah.[8] The cast wrapped up filming on April 13, 2007 and have since returned home.[9]
In the first released trailer, the main cast is shown counting down the seconds until summer break. In a teaser, the trailer asks "Are you ready... for the start of something new?" before showing the High School Musical 2 logo along with the Disney Channel logo. An ad campaign, asking viewers to email their friends about the site to reveal a new poster, was also shown.
Zac Efron confirmed that the singing voice of Troy Bolton is that of his own only and not blended with the voice of Drew Seeley as in the first movie.[10]
Ratings
The first broadcast of the film on August 17th, 2007 broke records, with an astounding 17.24 million viewers.[11] This number made it the most watched cable telecast in history, and the biggest made-for-television movie ever.
Release Dates
References
- ^ High School Musical Budget, August 15, 2007
- ^ "High School Musical 2" enters interactive semester
- ^ DIRECTV Press Release
- ^ [1]
- ^ http://www.metacritic.com/tv/shows/highschoolmusical2
- ^ Disney Channel - Original Movies - High School Musical
- ^ tmz.com 2007-02-09
- ^ New York Times
- ^ New York Times
- ^ "It's actually Efron singing in 'High School Musical 2'" 15 July 2007.
- ^ [2]
External links
- Disney Channel Official High School Musical 2 Website
- Disney Channel Asia's High School Musical 2 Website
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