HSM2 Breaks Records!

On Friday night, High School Musical 2 got an estimated 17.2 million viewers. That means some records got shattered!

- It was the most-watched cable telecast ever! It got 8% more viewers than the previous record holder, which was ESPN’s monday night football. I won’t pretend I’m not pleased about a musical beating out a football game.

- High School Musical 2 was the most watched basic cable movie of all time! It got 2 million more viewers than TNT’s Crossfire Trail which aired in 2001 and previously held the record.

- With 6.1 million kids ages 6-11 and 5.9 million 9-14 year olds watching, High School Musical 2 can now claim to be the most watched entertainment telecast ever in the “tween” demographic.

- High School Musical 2 also had the biggest audience of any Friday night broadcast in the past 5 years, directly contributing to low ratings on the major networks.

- High School Musical 2 helped the newest episode of Hannah Montana become basic cable’s most watched series telecast ever, with 10.7 million viewers.

[source]

HSM2 Tonight!

I’m sure you know that High School Musical 2 will be premiering tonight, but there’s more going on today than the feature presentation.

The Disney Channel is playing a Suite Life marathon with all the Road to High School Musical 2 featurettes from noon until the High School Musical 2 starts at 8pm/7c

Be sure to tune in early enough to see the premiere party with the cast at Kenny Ortega’s house!

After the movie, there will be the premiere of a new Disney Channel show called Phineas and Ferb. It is a new cartoon that features Ashley Tisdale as a voice talent.

Then there will be a new episode of Hannah Montana featuring the Jonas Brothers.

So don’t forget to tune in tonight at 8pm/7c, and if you miss it, it’ll be on again the same time Saturday and Sunday nights as well. Come back this weekend or next week for some great new HSM2 stuff on the site!

Comment Challenge: Let me know in the comments how you’re going to watch High School Musical 2! Are you having a party? Watching with your family? Recording it for later?

Corbin and Ashley Promoting HSM2

Last week, Ashley was on The Sauce (TV show on FUSE really good I highly recommend everone watching it!) and I managed to find a video of the interview posted below:

Tomorrow on Regis and Kelly, Corbin Bleu will be on so make sure you watch it!!

HSM Gaming Scene

The Nintendo Wii is the most innovative new console available. It’s special motion sensing controller system, the “Wiimote” opens up a whole new world of game possibilities.

One of those possibilities is becoming a reality, and a dream game for any High School Musical fan. A High School Musical karaoke game is being released for the Wii which will come with a microphone. In the game, players will sing their way through in solos or duets with songs from the original High School Musical, the sequel High School Musical 2, and bonus songs from other Disney Channel artists. The game will also be available for the PlayStation 2, but the Wii version of the game allows an additional motion-capture dance experience with choreography from the movie. The game will be out August 7 for the Wii and August 14 for the PlayStation2, and it is already available for pre-order on Amazon. Pre-Order High School Musical Wii Game, Pre-Order High School Musical PlayStation2 Game.

For those of you more into portable gaming, there will also be a High School Musical game coming out for the Nintendo DS. Players will travel across America as they compete in the ultimate musical competition. Playing as any of the six High School Musical stars (or their own customized character), fans will dance and play along with the movie’s songs and create their own dance videos in order to win the national title. Players can compete head-to-head and trade their personal video creations with their friends. The High School Musical Nintendo DS game will be released August 14, 2007 and is also available for pre-order on Amazon. Pre-Order High School Musical Game for Nintendo DS.

For you old school gamers, I recently noticed a High School Musical version of a classic board game.

Who will you find when you open the Mystery Door? Is Ryan steppin’ up to take you dancing? Or will Troy be ready for your karaoke date? Or maybe Chad wants you to go to the basketball game! Oh no, Ms. Darbus gives you a detention! Collect three clothing and accessory cards to get ready for one of four fun dates. Ready for salsa dancing with Ryan, but Zeke meets you for roller skating? Sorry, try again! Open the door to reveal a matching date and you win! High School Musical Mystery Date

HSM New Book Series

High School Musical now has a new series of books called Stories from East High.

In June 2006, Disney Publishing released High School Musical: The Junior Novel. This novel sold many copies, making it a best seller and leading to a “Stories from East High” book series. Stories From East High is a book series based off of the hit Disney Channel Original Movie High School Musical. The series is about what happens after the 1st movie High School Musical through the second movie High School Musical 2 then leading up to the 3rd movie. A book will come out every 2 months (60 days).

Here are the books in the series so far;
#1 Battle Of The Bands — In Stores Now
Summary: East High is hosting a Battle of the Bands to raise money. Troy, Chad, and their friends create Rebound, their own rock band, to enter the competition. Sharpay and her friends (including Taylor) form a girl group, expecting to win. Gabriella, feeling left out of Troy’s plans, decides to sing a solo, but keeps it under wraps. Meanwhile, Ryan is caught up in teaching Rebound, Sharpay’s group, and Gabriella how to dance without the other groups knowing
#2 Wildcat Spirit — Coming April 1, 2007
Summary: The school is having a Sadie Hawkins dance (when the girls ask the boys.) Troy worries about what will happen if Gabriella asks him.
#3 Poetry In Motion — Coming June 1, 2007
#4 Crunch Time — Coming August 1, 2007
High School Musical 2: The Junior Novel — Coming August 15, 2007

Parade Photo

One lonely picture from the Thanksgiving Day Parade yesterday. I’m trying to find a video, but for some reason nobody seems to have recorded the parade. You’d think it wouldn’t be too hard to find, but I haven’t been successful yet.

Disney Mix Max

Last year I remember seeing the original Disney Mix Sticks at Target, and selecting them as gifts for my young cousins. Recently, I saw on the gadget news blogs that Disney had come out with the Disney Mix Max.

The Mix Max is a very cute Digital Media Player. It plays audio in mp3 and wma, as well as wmv videos and jpeg photos on it’s small screen. The Mix Stick has no screen, so this is one of the big differences. The Mix Max has 512mb of internal memory, enough to hold 240 songs or 6 hours worth of 220×176 wmv video. Though it only has 512mb of memory, one of my favorite features of these players is that it is expandable up to 2gb through SD card, which is a very common (and cheap!) memory card format used for lots of things like digital cameras. So not only can you buy “Mix Clips” from Disney at the store, which are movies and music albums sold on SD cards(see the High School Musical movie Mix Clip in the picture above!), but you can make your own.

I heard that there was supposed to be a High School Musical version of the player, but I couldn’t find good pictures of it anywhere! Remembering that I had seen the original Mix Sticks at Target, I stopped there on my way home. I was pleased to see that they had not only the HSM version of the Mix Max, but also an HSM version of the the updated Mix Stick AND the full movie on a Mix Clip.

The Mix Max Players are $99, The Mix Sticks are $49.99, and the Mix Clip of HSM was $19.99

[Disney Electronics] [DisneyShopping.com]

Vanessa Sighting!

A lucky fan spotted Vanessa at Zuma Beach in Malibu, California last week. Vanessa was there with her family and was nice enough to take a picture with fan Emily. Emily reported that Vanessa was very nice, and so was Vanessa’s family. “She was so sweet! and really modest and willing to talk! and she started conversation with me which was also really nice. It’s good to see that some celebrities who aren’t stuck up and self-absorbed!” Emily said of the High School Musical star. Emily also says that Vanessa is “just a regular girl” and not stuck-up at all, but very down to earth and friendly. [full-sized photo] [source]

Stage Version of HSM

The stage version of the Disney Channel Original Movie, High School Musical, will be premiering at Stagedoor Manor next August. Stagedoor Manor is a famous performing arts camp in New York which performs 8 musicals and 5 dramas during each three week summer session. It inspired the 2003 independent film Camp, and many of it’s alumni are now well-known performers such as Natalie Portman and Mandy Moore.
The stage version of the musical is being made available to schools and communities in both one and two-act versions and is expected to be performed by around 2,000 high schools in 2007. Some schools have already confirmed their productions. If your school would like to perform the stage version, the Official Website indicates that you will be able to get the performance rights starting September 2006. [source]