High School Musical 2

This Friday (21/9) sees the long awaited UK Premiere of Disney movie High School Musical 2. The film is the follow up to the highly successful High Musical which hit our screens in 2006. The film premiered in America last month but this is going to be the first time people in the UK will be able to watch it as it screened on the Disney Channel.

This new movie franchise has been a runaway success for Disney who originally were just making this film as part of their annual average of ten movies for TV a year they make. Because of this Disney didn’t put a huge promotional budget aside it for to begin with but after it’s first airing a buzz started to generate as by word of mouth and viewer demand it soon become the hottest young peoples film of the year. It was that successful that it was the first time I had ever seen a DVD and soundtrack from a TV movie in the top ten of their respective charts at the same time.

You ask any person below the age of 16 in the UK or America and they have heard of High School Musical with ten’s of millions of youngsters owning the DVD, CD or watching it on TV. It has become a global phenomenon to the point that for the release of the second film they were able to do big movie premiere style events and global publicity tours to promote it, something unheard of for a made for TV movie.

In a time where society, family and young people seem to be going off the rails and a time where I personally question a lot of media content and it’s suitability for young people it is so great to see wholesome family entertainment with good messages and values being seen by so many people.

When I go and work with young people I hear many young people singing along to the High School Musical soundtrack and many people pretending to be either Troy (Zac Efron) or Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) the two main leads in the film. For a film to encourage young people to sing, to act and to come out of their shells I think is an amazing thing which not many films have been able to achieve.

I am yet to see the second film so I can’t say if it is going to be as inspiring and entertaining for young people but I’m sure if it stays true to the High School Musical fan base and to the messages put across in the first film.

This Friday it’s going to be time to learn the lyrics and dance moves to a whole new group of songs after you have now probably worn out your CD for the first movie soundtrack. All I can say is that I hope Disney continue to produce films like this and I want to be the first in line to praise them for what they have created with this franchise.

We here at Talented Young People want to know what you think about the High School Musical films for our topic of the week. So why not go and post your thoughts on what the sequel is going to be like and then log on after it airs to share your views on what it was actually like.

To cast your views go to:

http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=224#224

Before I go this week I need to remind you to vote in the Talented Young People Awards for September. The Talented Young People Awards have been set up to recognise incredible young talent and the five names you have to choose between this month are:

Andy Murray - British Tennis star

Keira Knightley - British Actress

Newton Faulkner - British Singer / Songwriter

Theo Walcott - Arsenal and England Football Player

Amy Macdonald - British Singer / Songwriter

To cast your vote go to: http://www.talentedyoungpeople.com

Adam Sibley
Founder of the Talented Young People organisation
www.talentedyoungpeople.com
"Envisage it, Believe it, Achieve it!"