High School Musical

"Experience the laughter. The magic. The music."

2006 1h 38m EN

👍

6.5

SOLID

★6.5TMDB · 4,860

ComedyFamilyTV MovieMusicRomance

Synopsis

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A popular high school athlete and an academically gifted girl get roles in the school musical and develop a friendship that threatens East High's social order.

“Experience the laughter. The magic. The music.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Zac Efron
Troy Bolton
Vanessa Hudgens
Gabriella Montez
Ashley French
Sharpay Evans
Lucas Grabeel
Ryan Evans
Corbin Bleu
Chad Danforth
Monique Coleman
Taylor McKessie
Bart Johnson
Coach Jack Bolton
Alyson Reed
Ms. Darbus

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Kenny Ortega
Writers: Peter Barsocchini
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $4.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 0% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 20 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "High School Musical Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Kenny Ortega, shot by Gordon Lonsdale. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by David Lawrence. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Seth Flaum shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley French carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Kenny Ortega directs. Gordon Lonsdale behind the camera. David Lawrence scores. Seth Flaum cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $4.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Earned back only 0% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
3Released 20 years ago.
4Part of the "High School Musical Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Kenny Ortega, shot by Gordon Lonsdale. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by David Lawrence. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Seth Flaum shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley French carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Experience the laughter. The magic. The music.".
10IMDB entry: tt0475293 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 16 themes, including "high school", "becoming an adult", "school performance", "musical".

The technical file

Cinematography: Gordon Lonsdale
Original score: David Lawrence
Editing: Seth Flaum
Production design: Mark Hofeling
Costume design: Tom McKinley
Makeup / hair: Jennifer Llewelyn
Runtime: 98 min · 1h 38m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $4,200,000
Box office: $3,746
Return: 0% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): G
IMDB: High School Musical (2006)

Part of

High School Musical Collection

The High School Musical film series chronicles two high school students, Troy Bolton, captain of East High School’s basketball team (Wildcats) and Gabriella Montez, a shy top student. Both of them try out for the lead roles in their school's musical and quickly fall in love in the process, despite the lack of support from the rest of their classmates, one of them being Sharpay Evans and her brother sidekick Ryan Evans. The film also focuses on Chad Danforth, Troy's best friend and Taylor McKessie, Gabriella's best friend who fall in love, too.

Also by

Kenny Ortega

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What people are saying

everythingmovies2020-08-21
This film was my childhood I could never not like it.
CinemaSerf2023-12-07
★ 6/10
So here's "Troy" (Zac Efron) randomly selected to do karaoke at a Hogmanay party with "Gabriella" (Vanessa Hudgens). Neither fancy themselves as singers but after a shaky start.. Anyway, guess what? They are going to the same High School and decide to audition for the annual musical. He's the basketball captain-cum-heartthrob; she's a bit more of a mathlete but they are determined to go for the leading role - much to the chagrin of the established partnership of "Sharpay" (Ashley Tisdale) and brother "Ryan" (Lucas Grabeel). Now it's safe to say that his mates think he's letting the side down with all this glee club malarkey and so conspire with her friends to create a scenario in which neither want to compete. A bit of emotional blackmail and a well timed video achieve just that but do we think that's that? Perhaps our would be "Danny" and "Sandra" will manage to get their acts together and perform - despite a rather hastily, and mischievously, arranged scheduling clash? It might be sacrilegious to say, but though our starring pair had the better song ("Breaking Free") I actually thought that the conniving pair were better! Evans has way more rhythm than Efron and neither partnership really strayed too far from Eurovision song contest quality singing. It's one of those life-affirming dramas where you just know all is going to come good - and for the most part is quite cheesy. Thankfully we have some hammy interventions from the entertainingly over-the-top "Ms. Darbus" (Alyson Reed) to remind us that it's all just fun and though I'm not in the obvious demographic I didn't hate it!
e123456543212025-01-30
★ 10/10
This movie was amazing. It is now my favorite movie.