High School Musical 3: Senior Year

Plot

The movie begins with the Wildcats trailing the West High Knights, with the Wildcats entering the locker room for the final quarter feeling bitter. Team captain Troy rallies the teams spirit ("Now or Never") and, thanks to new transfer Jimmie "The Rocket" Zara, the Wildcats win the championship game which is the last one for the seniors on the squad at East High. Later, at Troys after-match party at his house, Troy and Gabriella are seen thinking about their future and wishing that their last few months at East High would not end ("Right Here, Right Now").

Sharpay meets Tiara Gold, a British exchange student whom she hires to be her personal assistant. When drama teacher Ms. Darbus notices that there were so few sign-ups for the spring musical, Sharpay suggests she could do a one-woman show. This alarms Kelsi, who is writing the show, so she immediately signs up everyone in their homeroom for it instead. This results in Ms. Darbus announcing they will create a play about their final days at East High, called Senior Year. In addition, she reveals that Sharpay, Ryan, Kelsi, and Troy have all been considered for a scholarship at Juilliard School, but only one of them is to be chosen. Troy is confused, because he did not apply to Juilliard. Seeing his friends laughing, he believes they gave his name to Juilliard. Sharpay becomes desperate to win the scholarship, and knowing that Kelsi will give the best songs to Troy and Gabriella in the musical, she gets Ryan to try to persuade Kelsi to give them a song, by predicting her (and Ryans) future ("I Want It All").

The very next day, Troy asks Gabriella to the dance while on the rooftop (seen previously in the first film as The Garden Club, a place where Troy goes seeking some quiet). She then teaches him how to waltz ("Can I Have This Dance?"). After that, Troy and Chad steal Jimmie and Donnys clothes, thus leading through a big chase and Mrs. Darbus forced them to volunteer as understudies. Chad then asks Taylor to go to prom with him with a cheesy pick-up line. She initially refuses, but later agrees when Chad proves he can put in some effort and asks again in front of everyone in school. The group rehearses for the musical, a scene about their prom night ("A Night to Remember"). The next day, Ryan walks in on Kelsi composing in the music room and they start to sing ("Just Wanna Be with You") which leads to Ryan asking Kelsi to prom. While Troy and Chad reminisce about their past ("The Boys Are Back"), Sharpay and Tiara discover that Gabriella has a chance to go to college early to Stanford and Sharpay convinces Troy that he is the only thing keeping Gabriella from her dream. Troy talks to Gabriella about this and after sharing an awkward goodnight, Gabriella sings ("Walk Away") and leaves for college the next day.

Troys father, Jack, talks to him about his academic future, which he expects will be in the University of Albuquerque. This assumption makes Troy become angry and confused, and he runs away, storming around East High bewildered until he finally screams at the top of his lungs in the theater ("Scream"). Ms. Darbus is secretly watching and reveals that she sent in his application for Juilliard. Troy later gets a call from Gabriella saying that although she loves him, she will not return to Albuquerque for prom or graduation. However, on the day of the prom, Troy visits Gabriella at Stanford University and convinces her to return and they kiss during the lunch break (Can I Have This Dance? (Reprise)"). Back at East High, Sharpay is prepared for the last musical at East High and Troys fellow basketball player Jimmie receives a text from Troy to tell him to cover for him onstage because he is going to be late. The Juilliard representatives are there, and watch as the show seems to go well.

Kelsi and Ryan start out the show followed by a couple other numbers; Jimmie then performs with Sharpay and embarrasses her, although the audience applauds the performance. Troy and Gabriella appear during the second half of the show and sing their duet together. Tiara then betrays Sharpay and tells her how she is going to take over next year in the drama department. Sharpay finally learns how it feels to be manipulated and humiliated, but nevertheless does not wish to go down. While Tiara performs, Sharpay immediately crashes her performance and upstages her ("Senior Year Spring Musical").

At the end of the musical, Ms. Darbus reveals that both Kelsi and Ryan have won the Juilliard scholarship and tells about everyones future plans, in which Troy reveals hes chosen Berkeley so he can be close to Gabriella where he can play basketball and perform in theater ("Were All in This Together ("Graduation Mix").

At the graduation ceremony, Troy gives the class speech after being selected by Ms. Darbus. Throwing their caps in the air, the graduates form a giant Wildcat before breaking out into song and dance (High School Musical). As the film ends, the graduates run across the field, the curtain falls, and they appear on the East High stage. The main cast then perform the High School Musical song, before jumping and bowing when the curtain falls.

Cast

Main Characters:

Side Characters:

Production

According to the Salt Lake City Tribune, "...to help lure the production back to where it all began – at Salt Lake Citys East High School – the GOED board Friday approved a maximum $2 million incentive for the production, the largest ever given to entice a filmmaker to Utah."

Principal photography began on May 3, 2008; the 41 days scheduled for shooting was a longer period than for the first two films.

Stan Carrizosa, the winner of ABCs summer reality show, High School Musical: Get in the Picture appears in a music video "Just Getting Started" that is shown over the end credits of the theatrical release of the film. The shows other 11 finalists were featured in the music video as well.

Development

Zac Efron was quoted in People Magazine as saying, "I can tell you that if the script is good and if we all agree on a final script, then theres nothing that is going to hold us back from doing it. We have fun making these movies and thats very rare in this business." Rumors persisted of ongoing salary disputes between Disney and the lead performers, particularly Efron. According to Rachel Abramowitz, as reported online by the Chicago Tribune, "an eclectic cross-section of Hollywood insiders think Efron should get a cool $5 million for High School Musical 3, the theatrical version of the franchise, which Disney hoped to make before the Writers Guild strike and Screen Actors Guild strike shut down Hollywood for several months. Efron declined to comment for the article, and although contract negotiations still are ongoing, sources say Efron is being offered a salary closer to $3 million, not $5 million, for the follow-up, which focuses on senior year at East High. Whatever the price, hes still perceived as a steal." The movie was originally titled " Haunted High school musical " with plans of a Halloween theme but was later scraped.

Ortega stated that pre-production would most likely start in January 2008. Filming began May 3, 2008, at East High School in Salt Lake City, Utah. He stated that the script had been submitted before the writers strike started and that they were developing music. He added that filming will happen in Salt Lake City, Utah (as the first two films), hinted that the plot will be something of the nature of the Wildcats final year in High School and stated, "it looks like weve rounded up the cast."

Before filming began, the HSM3 board and cast held a press conference at East High School announcing the start of filming. The film would be released in theaters (in the United States) on October 24, 2008, though the film was to open in several countries including the UK at least one week earlier. The film had a $11 million budget and a 40-day shooting period. The film was said at the time to be the final installment with the current cast. The London premiere was the biggest London premiere of all time.

Vanessa Hudgens photo controversy

Despite early speculation that Vanessa Hudgens would be dropped from the film due to her nude photo scandal, The Walt Disney Company denied the reports, saying, "Vanessa has apologized for what was obviously a lapse in judgment. We hope shes learned a valuable lesson."

Sing-along version

On November 7, 2008, High School Musical 3: Senior Year: The Sing-Along Edition with lyrics highlighted on the screen was released in selected theaters. The sing along version was released on May 21, 2011.

Critical reception

The film met with mixed to positive reviews. As of December 2010, High School Musical 3: Senior Year has a fresh rating of 65% on Rotten Tomatoes; the consensus reads: "It wont win many converts, but High School Musical 3 is bright, energetic, and well-crafted." The site also gave it a Golden Tomato for best musical film of 2008, and has been generally well-received, although overall has been given mixed reviews. Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, gave the film a score of 57 based on 26 reviews, which is interpreted as "Mixed or average reviews" by Metacritic.

The Telegraph praised the changes brought about by the higher budget of a theatrical release: "High School Musical 3 uses its bigger budget to inject colour, scale, and visual depth. The opening basketball game alone is dizzying as the camera swoops high and wide, before a winning point makes the crowd erupt".

Stephen Farber, for Reuteres UK, says the film "will please fan base but wont win converts", as the story "never really does kick in" and that "the picture quickly grows tedious", while MSNBCs Alonso Duralde describes it as "a stitched-together Frankenstein monster of an entertainment, featuring major components that were already trotted out the first two times."

Peter Johnson of The Guardian describes the film as so bland that it "makes cellophane taste like chicken jalfrezi", and says that "the sheer squeaky-cleanness of everything is creepy, and when the characters are called upon to dance, they do so with robotic efficiency, and sing in that decaffeinated high vibrato, like 21st-century Hollywood castrati."

Entertainment Weekly on the other hand was very positive towards the film, praising the stars energy: "the beauty of Efrons performance is that hes a vibrant athletic hoofer who leaps and clowns with the heartthrob vigor of a young Gene Kelly, yet hes also achingly sincere. His fast-break alertness makes him the most empathetic of teen idols; hes like a David Cassidy who knows how to act, and who can swoon without getting too moist about it. Apart from Efron, the breakout star is Ashley Tisdale, whose Sharpay makes narcissism a goofy, bedazzled pleasure."

MovieGuide has also favorably reviewed the film, strongly recommending it for the family as "fun, clean and full of energy" and describing it as "thin on plot" yet nevertheless "a phenomenon."

The BBC film critic Mark Kermode loved the film and said it was in his top 5 films for the year, and named Tisdale the "Best Supporting Actress" of 2008.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram stated that the latest installment was "critic-proof" and "everything fans could hope for and more." They go on to say that "the kids finally look like true performers rather than Disney Channel mainstays desperately trying to remain relevant, and they deserve the lucrative careers that lie ahead" and gave the film a rating of four out of five stars. The film was also well received in the UK. Hudgens was recognized as Favorite Movie Actress at Nickelodeons Kids Choice Awards, Efron was voted Best Male Performance at the 2009 MTV awards and Choice Actor: Music/Dance at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards and Tisdale was voted Breakthrough Performance Female at the 2009 MTV Movie awards and Best Supporting Actress at the 2009 UK Kermode Awards.

Box office

The film opened with $16 million on Friday for the biggest opening day for a musical film of all time until the record was topped in 2012 by Les Miserables ($18.1 million). It also debuted at the #1 spot (beating out Saw V in box office earnings) with an opening weekend of over $42,030,184 in the United States and breaking the record, previously held by Mamma Mia!, for the biggest opening ever for a movie musical. The film also opened at #1 overseas, with an international opening of $42,622,505. High School Musical 3: Senior Year grossed $90,559,416 in North America and $162,349,761 in other territories leading to a worldwide total of $252,909,177, which was above even Disneys expectations.

Home media

High School Musical 3: Senior Year was released in Region 1 DVD and Blu-ray on February 17, 2009, in Region 2 DVD on February 16, 2009 and in Region 3 DVD on February 24, 2009. The DVD was released in single- and two-disc editions.

In Region 2, the single-disc edition DVD featured most of the two-disc edition bonus features such as bloopers, deleted scenes, extended version of the film, sing-along and cast goodbyes. In Region 3, only the single-disc edition DVD was released with all of the two-disc bonus features as well the extended edition of the film. In the Philippines, it was released on February 25, 2009. The Region 4 DVD was released on April 8, 2009. As of November 1, 2009, the DVD has sold over 23 million copies and generated over $200 million in sales revenue.

Broadcasting

The film premiered on Disney Channel before the series premiere of Good Luck Charlie. The premiere on Disney Channel US brought 4 million viewers.

International release

The film premiered on Disney Channel India on 18 October 2009 and on 5 December 2009 in Disney Channel Asia. On 4 December 2009, for one night only, it premiered on Disney Cinemagic, and it will premiere on Disney Channel (UK & Ireland) in January/February 2010. It premiered on 12 December 2009 on Disney Channel New Zealand/Australia. And 16 March 2011 in [LatinAmerica]. It premiered in France on 31 October 2011 on M6

Disney Channel India was the first to telecast High School Musical 3 officially. It was originally telecasted on 18 October as a part of Club HSM, but did not gain too much popularity. It was again aired on January 1 as a part Fully Funny First Day, and again on 14 February as a part of Pyaar Ke after effects.

Possible sequel and Reunion film

In 2009, Gary Marsh, president of Disney Channel confirmed that there will be fourth installment in the series saying, "Im excited to be part of a franchise that, thematically, encourages kids to believe in themselves. Like the first three movies, my goal is to keep the art form of the traditional musical alive, yet bring a contemporary emotional response to the story and its characters through song and dance."

It was also confirmed that the main stars such as Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale or any of the original Wildcats gang would not be returning as the lead roles but an entirely different actors will be cast for the film. Reports said that the fourth film would have the title High School Musical 4: East Meets West and would be directed by Jeffrey Hornaday. It was also reported that the plot would follow around a love triangle set against the cross-town school rivalry between the East High Wildcats and West High Knights. The film should begin to proceed in late 2014 and premiere in July 2015. There will be an epilogue 10 years later of where the Wildcats are today. In an interview with Showbiz Spy in March 2012, Efron stated that he would be open to filming a fourth film, saying, "I cant say for sure if it will happen but deep down in my heart, I would jump at the chance." He then went on to say that he was "pretty sure [the rest of the cast] would feel the exact same way." In March 2014 Efron once again discussed the possibility of a reunion film.