On January 20th, 2006, High School Musical aired on Disney Channel for the first time and it has been one of the most iconic Disney Channel Original Movies ever since.
The most popular guy in school and captain of the Wildcats basketball team, Troy Bolton, and small town shy girl, Gabriella Montez, both meet by singing karaoke at a New Year’s Eve party. Turns out, Gabriella is attending East High, where Troy goes to school. Long story short, they both audition for a musical and mean girl, Sharpay Evans, isn’t a big fan and will do everything she can for them to not make it to the musical callbacks.
Throughout the movie, both Troy and Gabriella face obstacles dealing with friends, school, parents, music and basketball. Plus, there are many catchy songs that are bound to be stuck in your head.
The film had a star studded cast: Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Monique Coleman, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu and more. Since the movie was released, it has started big-time careers for Zac Efron, Ashley Tisdale and others. Vanessa and Zac even dated for a couple years!
Ever since it aired, many pieces of HSM merchandise were released and even a HSM concert took place which featured most of the cast from the original movie. Since the first one had very high ratings, gaining 7.7 million viewers on premiere night (yes, we were one of those viewers), the movie gained two more films that were released in the next couple of years.
High School Musical 2 was based in the summer before their senior year. This was followed up by High School Musical 3: Senior Year, which aired in theaters instead of TV. The third and final installment of the trilogy showed the Wildcats graduating high school.
Stream the first HSM album now:
Have you ever watched the High School Musical movies? Which one is your favorite? Let us know on Twitter using @CelebMix.