High School Musical 3: Senior Year

High School Musical 3: Senior Year was the third installment of the Disney tween franchise, being the first to graduate (pun intended) from Disney Channel to the big screen, and opened in movie theatres across the USA and Canada on October 24, 2008. Kenny Ortega returned as both director and choreographer, and all six primary actors from the previous two films will reprised their roles.

Plot
Now high school seniors, Troy Bolton (Zac Efron) and Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens) face the prospect of being separated from each other as they go off in different directions. Joined by the rest of the Wildcats, they stage an elaborate spring musical reflecting their experiences, hopes, and fears about the future.

Cast
Zac Efron as Troy Bolton

Vanessa Hudgens as Gabriella Montez

Ashley Tisdale as Sharpay Evans

Lucas Grabeel as Ryan Evans

Corbin Bleu as Chad Danforth

Monique Coleman as Taylor McKessie

Olesya Rulin as Kelsi Nielson

Ryne Sanborn as Jason Cross

Chris Warren Jr. as Zeke Baylor

Kaycee Stroh as Martha Cox

Alyson Reed as Ms. Darbus

Bart Johnson as Jack Bolton

Leslie Wing as Lucille Bolton

New cast members Matt Prokop as Jimmie Zara

Justin Martin as Donny Fox

Jemma McKenzie-Brown as Tiara Gold

Development
In February 2007, Disney announced plans for a 2008 feature film sequel with a Halloween theme dubbed "Haunted High School Musical." In September, Disney announced that they had scrapped plans for the Halloween theme and instead will focus on the senior year of key characters at East High. Teh original writer from the first two films, Peter Barsocchini, wrote the script for the third part in the High School Musical series, as were original producers of the first two movies and Ortega.

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 there's nothing that is going to hold us back from doing it. We have fun making these movies and that's 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 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 said Efron wa being offered a salary closer to $3 million, not $5 million, for the follow-up, which focuses on senior year at East High.

Pre-production began in January 2008, and filming began in April 2008. Ortega stated that the script had been submitted before the writers strike started and that music was being devloped. Filming took place in Salt Lake City, Utah (as the first two films), and the plot focused on the Wildcats' final year in East High School and stated upon the announcement "It looks like we've rounded up the cast."

Casting
An international casting call went out to find three new sophomore "Wildcats". This resulted in the casting of Matt Prokop, Justin Martin, and Jemma McKenzie-Brown. Commenting on the announcement, Ortega said, “Peter Barsocchini’s exciting script for ‘High School Musical 3’ called for the addition of three sophomore characters, so we set out on a massive casting search across North America and England to find just the right young actors to play the parts. We think these talented performers will bring lots of humor, new twists, and musical fun to the film. Jemma was one of the many young actresses that we met in London, and she impressed us with her singing and dancing, in addition to being very exciting and effervescent. Matt has a terrific personality, and a great sense of comedy and fun. And Justin had a great presence and charisma, besides being a wonderful comedic actor who could really dance. I am confident that the three new actors joining our original cast will help to bring great musical thrills, surprises and a lot of fun to Senior Year and the halls of East High.”

Vanessa Hudgens photo controversy
Despite early speculation that Vanessa Hudgens would be dropped from HSM 3 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 she's learned a valuable lesson."

Although it was reported by OK! Magazine that Vanessa would be replaced by Adrienne Bailon or Sabrina Bryan from The Cheetah Girls, however Vanessa was not cut from HSM 3. Vanessa's representative quoted, "Totally untrue. It is an old rumor," the representative told Access, "OK! Magazine never bothered to check the fact with me, but they did call Disney who said it wasn’t true, but yet OK! ran it anyway. Apparently, OK! Magazine was having a slow news day."

Production Anouncements
According to documents filed with the Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development board (GOED), Utah once again served the setting for HSM3. Shooting started on April 21, 2008, and is expected was completed by June 13, 2008. Lisa Roskelly, spokeswoman for Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. said, "[The third] High School Musical will be officially shooting in Utah." According to the Salt Lake City Tribune, "...to help lure the production back to where it all began - at Salt Lake City's 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."

The 41 days scheduled for shooting served as a longer period than for the first two films.[12] Disney at first declined comment on whether or not East High School will be used for shooting again, but the school board revealed they had been meeting with Disney, and indeed returned to Salt Lake East High School.