High School Musical: The Series - Trailer

High School Musical: The Series promises the start of something new but it's existence as brand exploitation for Disney's streaming service won't make it bop to the top

Vanessa Hudgens in the original film trilogy and Olivia Rodrigo as Nicky in the new series (CREDIT: Disney)

by Jack Linsdell

Today, we got the official trailer (it seemed to be Disney's day for dropping it's big IP exploitation trailers for it's Disney-plus streaming service along with Star Wars: Mandalorian and The Lady and the Tramp) for Disney's new High School Musical: The Musical: Series (yes, that's the official title folks!). Regular readers know that I'm a big musical fan anyway, but, like most my age (or even parents with millennial children), I grew up with the original Disney-plus film trilogy when I was a child and was as much a fan as everyone else in the world. It truly was a phenomena, the original High School Musical smashed Disney's record views for it's streaming service with over 225 million views worldwide. It's sequel High School Musical 2 then became the biggest ever premiere for Disney-plus with 17 million streams in it's first weekend. Cue, the theatrically-released third sequel High School Musical 3: Senior Year which got the highest opening weekend for a musical film domestically, going onto a $252 million worldwide cume on a mere $11 million budget. So, the popularity of the High School Musical brand is undisputable, and many fans of the original films (like me) have now grown up into adults (in age, but still remain kids at heart). 

But, can a new series work just as well, both with fans and commercially? Commercially speaking, then yes. Considering the brand's popularity, a whole generation of existing fans will probably watch it out of curiosity or nostalgia, and a whole new generation of kids will discover it for the first time and get swept onto the High School Musical train like we all did years ago. Considering Disney's brand has only got stronger in this past decade, and Disney-plus is becoming one of the largest streaming services thanks to the deluge of Disney's big 2019 movie releases that were released so quickly so they could premiere on the streaming service, then commercially it's a no brainer. High School Musical: The Series also has the benefit that audiences prefer to stay at home and watch new films/series on streaming services than venture down to their local cinema unless it's for a big Disney remake or a Marvel Superhero movie (relatively speaking), so all the stars are aligned for another big hit and phenomena to take off with this new series. 

But, the more complicated (and important) question is will this work with existing fans? This new series has the hook of "new characters attending East High decide to put on a stage production of High School Musical for their winter production, only to finds there's enough drama off stage", meaning that, no, Troy, Gabriella, Sharpay, Ryan and co. will not be returning, neither will their original (by now, star) actors. Arguably, one of the biggest things against this series is that no one (however good) can replace the amazing talents of Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel and co. who have become the characters they've played. Disney have tried to get around this by doing a mockumentary-type series where East High is a real school and the students are pretending to be Troy, Gabriella etc., but it's a cheap hook and still unlikely to work with die hard fans. The series seems to be offering the same music, the same location but with new actors, and frankly doesn't look that great. Also, the original films had the masterful direction and choreography of Kenny Ortega, whose not returning for the series, which gave them a unique identity and feel. Plus, the modernisation with better, bigger, more expensive production values does take away the very rough, old and "making it up as we go, kinda" feel that the original movies had. Yes, you can't help that time and technology has moved on, but I just can't see fans being too pleased with the series.

I've long said, the first High School Musical was so popular back in 2006 because it acted as a modern telling of the classic Romeo and Juliet story, with a love story at the heart (no pun intended). The story was about people trying to stop the star-crossed lovers being together, and there were even scenes taken straight from Shakespeare's original play, like when Troy visits Gabriella's balcony to confess his love for her. Combined with some attractive, young stars (something for both male and female fans), a selection of insanely catchy songs, and working as a parable for the dream type of high school experience everyone wants but few actually have, and High School Musical was a sure-fire hit. The sequels were both excellent too, and knew that all audiences wanted was to hang out with these characters again, so kept it character-led and had some fun with it. 

What started of as a film he wrote for his pre-teen daughter Gabriella, Peter Barsocchini's High School Musical not only made him a multi-millionaire but also into the creator of perhaps the greatest worldwide musical phenomena. But, Disney's constant need to bring back and modernise it's old IP, along with Star Wars, The Lion King and Lady and the Tramp, doesn't feel good and is perhaps the only reason why High School Muscial: The Series exists. Look, if it entertains young kids and opens up a new audience to the original films, then fantastic. However, for me (and many fans) it's not what I've been looking for and I wish Disney would get their head in the game and break free of the IP cash-ins. Okay...I'll stop now! But, will it be a hit? You can bet on it.