Welcome to Cranium Command, a new series I’m beginning to show Disney that if they used their brains, there are some very simple ideas and money makers waiting for them.
January 20th was the 10th anniversary of High School Musical. Everything you are thinking right now, I agree. As a proud card holding member of the Disney Channel Generation, I still love the franchise. I vividly remember going to school on the Monday morning after the premiere and hearing the explosion of chatter. “Did you see HSM?! I already know all the words to all the songs and I taught myself the choreography to ‘Bop to the Top’ already.” It took over every public school campus and daycare facility across the United States.
When the second film came around the following year, it was stampede-level crazy. People were pre-ordering everything HSM2 that they could, viewing parties were happening across the country (I was at one myself), it was madness! It was a movement that I was happy to be apart of. Funny enough, the first two films are on Netflix, so I watched the 2nd one yesterday…I still love every moment of it. It never gets old. (For those curious, my ranking of best to worst is 321)
HSM3 stormed into theaters the following year and I was there opening weekend. It was incredibly bittersweet, sitting in my local AMC. While I get to see my favorite characters on the big screen, this is the final time I’ll see them period. Everyone has their “Stop and Watch” movies on TV. For my father, it’s A Few Good Men. For me, it is HSM3. Now being a high school graduate, I get it. I understand every darn emotion they are feeling. To this day, I’ll be in the car with friends, and whenever “We’re All In This Together” comes one, reminiscing always follows.
I am getting to a point, I promise.
The High School Musical franchise means so much to millions of people out there. I was going into middle school when the 2nd film came out, but millions of kids younger than me and millions of kids older than me were at the same level of excitement as me. Yes, it was a DCOM, but these films crossed demographic lines and enthralled people from 9-99 at the time of their release.
So what am I saying? What’s the big idea from Marshal that warrants a sad attempt at a Disney reference to make this series make sense? Clear and simple, it’s High School Reunion.
I hope that at the D23 Expo this year they announce that the film is coming. The premiere of the new film would be October 24th, 2018, exactly 10 years since the group graduated high school, which is indicative of a 10 year reunion! The plot doesn’t have to be some complex thing, as the films weren’t. All there has to be is a reason to perform, and the drama and relationships will stem from that.
All the actors have said that they would love to go back, from the forgotten ones to the A-List stars (cough cough Zac Efron cough cough). They all love where they started, so why not come back for a new film?!
If this was officially announced, social media would explode, it would #BreakTheInternet, and Steve Jobs would have to come back from the dead to invent a new computer, because all of humanities currently would become worthless after the announcement. Allegedly. Every month or so, a hoax about this sort of announcement breaks twitter, why not do the real thing?! On June 15th, 2015, HSM4 was a worldwide trending topic on Twitter because of a hoax.
Disney could easily make the movie for cheap, and make a gadrillion dollars (gadrillion being the technical term for, and I quote, “a butt-load of money.” Why not make a ton of money, while making fans uber-happy?!
Toy Story 4 is going to make a ton of money, that’s already a given, but fans are hesitant. Derek died on Grey’s, and while they are still raking in the viewers, fans are hesitant. If HSR was announced, people would run into the streets, singing “Let the Sun Shine,” whilst doing wildcat claw choreo. NO HESITANCE!
Disney, if you had a brain, you’d announce a High School Reunion!