high school musical 3 Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Hey, girls! Get out your biggest, purplest Magic Marker and circle Feb. 17 on your 2009 Zac Efron calendar! That's the day High School Musical 3: Senior Year will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray, thus satiating the squeal-producing needs of the tween set at least until Twilight comes out.

DVD Active has some of the details on the three different ways you can buy the film. The single-disc DVD, for people who call themselves fans but obviously aren't real fans, will have the movie and a featurette of cast members saying goodbye to the trilogy. I don't know why you'd even want that. You might as well throw your money in the bushes and spit on Corbin Bleu. On the other hand, the 2-disc DVD will have an extended cut of the film, more featurettes, deleted scenes, outtakes, a sing-along feature, and a digital copy of the film that you can transfer to your computer or your iPod or your toaster or whatever you kids are putting your movies on nowadays.

But you might want to harass your parents into buying a Blu-Ray player, because the 3-disc Blu-Ray edition is where the real action is. You get all the stuff already mentioned, plus cast profiles, a Senior Awards feature, a BD Live Experience, and a regular ol' DVD copy of the extended version of the movie. The 3-disc edition is the most expensive one, so obviously that's the one you should support.

We have the cover artwork after the jump. You'll note that they were nice enough to include Taylor in the picture even though she's hardly in the movie. Good for her!

Like every red-blooded American, I dread the interminable Best Original Song presentations during the Oscars. More often than not, the songs suck, the presentation is elaborate and boring, and the insistence on playing the songs in full drags out an already too-long evening. But this year there's one song I'll actually be excited to see -- assuming it actually gets nominated. Thankfully, none of the Academy's arcane rules disqualified it.

Variety has the just-announced list of 49 eligible Original Songs from 2008. It features the entire soundtrack to High School Musical 3, the memorable "Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire, the worst Bond song of all time, and -- the one I'm rooting for -- Bruce Springsteen's "The Wrestler" from, uh, The Wrestler. If you haven't heard it yet, you can do so here. You'll probably want to bookmark that until the official soundtrack is released on a date to be determined.

Needless to say, a Dark Knight snub's got nothing on the possibility of the Boss not getting to perform this amazing song at this year's ceremony. I might boycott the damn thing. Though, if Steve Coogan gets to perform "Rock Me, Sexy Jesus" instead, I could be persuaded to reconsider.

What are your favorites from 2008? Any of them not on this list? (Ahem, Pineapple Express, anyone?)

The day before opening, I made an educated guess that we'd see a sing-along incarnation of High School Musical 3: Senior Year soon enough. However, while I thought that Disney might go for the relatively open weekends of November 14th or December 5th, last week's 65% drop in business suggests that repeat viewing has already somewhat exhausted itself and that the studio better milk their cash cow dry a bit sooner, so on November 7th, the lyric-laden version of HSM3 will pop up in 125 digital theaters nationwide.

There's something to be said for the digital aspect of this release. Though I have friends and colleagues who still cheer 35mm all the way, to dismiss the merits of digital projection -- whether in this or better cases -- seems downright foolish. Who knows: with any luck, we'll be treated to a digital release of Saw School Musical come next October...

In Utah -- the state so pure that some theaters owners refuse to show the relatively tame Zack and Miri Make a Porno but haven't given Saw V a second glance -- one theater moved their audience for the weekend's #1 movie, High School Musical 3: Senior Year, into a larger auditorium that had been showing the raunchy Sex Drive ... and promptly continued to do so once the lights went down.

This isn't a terribly uncommon mistake to be made. Just last year, a Long Island multiplex exposed children to the gruesome opening of The Hills Have Eyes 2 instead of The Last Mimzy, and back in 2005, I found myself attending a Saturday night sneak of Zathura in a theater where The Fog proceeded to begin instead. (Childless and intrepid as I was am, it took my fetching a manager to correct the situation, not any of the number of vocally concerned parents in the surprisingly full house.)

(No, please, it was nothing.)

I just hope that some giddy HSM3 fan let loose with "Go, Wildcats!" regardless. They wouldn't have been too far off...

I'm not only the wrong demographic for High School Musical 3: Senior Year, but I'm old enough to be bringing a theoretical child of my own to the movie as the right demographic. In fact, I was the oldest person in the theater without an accompanying child. I would have felt skeevy commenting on whether Zac Efron is hot, and had to settle for pondering the cuteness of the guy playing Efron's dad (maybe). But since Cinematical wasn't interested in finding a pre-teen with astounding film-critic abilities (we could use that critic-kid from Hamlet 2 at times like this), you're stuck hearing what Ol' Lady Jette had to say about High School Musical 3. I better make this fast before my arthritis kicks in.

High School Musical 3 is what it is -- a standard musical with no agenda other than good clean fun. It's just like the old Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland musicals, right down to the "Let's put on a show!" theme, and will probably seem just as corny as Babes in Arms in 50 years. The previous two movies were made for TV, but the production values on this film are theatrical quality, and in fact some of the splashier dance numbers are going to lose some of their pizzazz on a smaller screen.

Last night, I found myself surrounded by a swarm of youngsters who were eating up High School Musical 3: Senior Year (I'd tell you what I thought, but studio snipers are watching my every word; we'll have our official review up soon enough). Particularly towards the end, each and every opportunity to stomp and clap was embraced, which led me to wonder: just how long before an inevitable sing-along version is released?

Now, nothing's certain, but given that Disney saw fit to release this one theatrically, I doubt they're above any last chance to wring this for all the money it can make. Acting under that presumption, I'd be willing to bet that, were we to see HSM3: Senior Year Sing-Along, it'd be on either:

• November 14: the tweens couldn't care less about James Bond, are just old enough to pass on Madagascar 2 and just young enough to think that three weeks since their first time has been an eternity, or...
  
• December 5: the week after Thanksgiving is often a dead zone (home last year to, um, Awake), and between no direct family-friendly competition from Punisher: Take Two and screens likely freed up by whatever holiday release underperforms (there's always at least one), these are exactly the kind of conditions that nature abhors and that Disney may yet take advantage of

Did any of you turn out for Hairspray or Mamma Mia! these past two summers? Would you go back for another go here if the kids begged you? Would you totally just act like that was your plan all along as you tap your feet and wail in your shower voice as your spawn and those seated near stare on in awe/terror?

Wanna know what's going on today, but don't feel like reading a lot? Welcome to Stuff and Things -- where we collect the stuff (and things) currently making waves online and spit it out in one somewhat short, easy-to-read post.

-- First off, Slashfilm posted this image of a Predator-carved pumpkin (see above), and I'd like to personally thank them for the nightmares I'm going to have tonight. God bless the children in that household.

-- Ashton Kutcher is still making movies. That's the bad news. Seems he's teaming with 21 director Robert Luketic on a new action comedy called Five Killers about a former hitman (Kutcher) whose life gets turned upside down when a rival from his past hires a group of killers to whack him. Unfortunately, it's not based on a true story. (What? It's Halloween ... time, I'm allowed to be morbid!) [Variety]

-- Moviefone just put up an Unscripted chat with the cast of High School Musical 3 ... and that Vanessa Hudgens girl? Yowzers! No wonder I hate Zac Efron so much.

-- Al Pacino received a lifetime achievement award at the third Rome Film Festival, which just kicked off its festivities. The fest runs through October 31.

-- Actress Teri Polo signed on to star in Joe Dante's The Hole, about a family who go through changes following the discovery of a bottomless hole in the basement of their house. Sounds like some serious termite damage, right there. [Hollywood Reporter]

-- Transformers II has become the first film in years to shoot at the Pyramids in Egypt. Nope, I gots no Megan Fox jokes for this one.

-- Is the end nearing for Focus Features? Patrick Goldstein explores what, unfortunately, appears to be the demise of Universal's specialty division.

-- Finally, Jesse James Hollywood will get his day in court. Remember Alpha Dog? Yeah, it's that dude.

After the jump: Is that a real porno, a teaser trailer for The Flash and Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino gets a poster.

According to a new survey over at Fandango, the hottest movie-related Halloween costumes of 2008 might have a little something to do with the year's biggest film. As far as men go, the number one movie-related costume this year will, of course, be The Joker (as played by Heath Ledger) from The Dark Knight -- with Batman following closely behind at number two. Iron Man/Tony Stark, Kirk Lazarus (black action hero from Tropic Thunder), Indiana Jones, Hellboy, Two-Face, Jigsaw (from Saw), Simple Jack (as played by Ben Stiller in Tropic Thunder) and Saul the Dealer (James Franco in Pineapple Express) round out the top ten. Simple Jack? Really? Can you do me a favor and punch the guy who dresses as Simple Jack at your next Halloween party?

As for the ladies, it seems slutty Playboy bunny is all the rage this year. Yup, The House Bunny (Anna Faris) topped their list, with Angelina Jolie's Fox (Wanted) coming in second. Hannah Montana, Gabriella from High School Musical 3 and Bella from Twilight round out the top five. Don't Bella and Gabriella look like regular girls? How do you create that costume -- by picking up some clothes at The Gap?

We posted the full lists after the jump (for men, women and couples), and feel free to tell us what movie-related costume you've created for Halloween. Better yet, show us -- in about a week from now, we'll be officially launching our Fourth Annual Halloween Costume Contest. Prizes, pictures, voting -- it's oh so much fun. Do join us.

As I posted last week, the trailer for High School Musical 3: Senior Year was scheduled to hit Disney yesterday, and it did. You can check it out big or small and shnazzy over at Disney.com, but since it's location-locked, I'm including the YouTube video of the premiere after the jump -- and make sure you head on over to Moviefone to see their exclusive photos (including the one above) from the film.

Now it's mostly what you'd figure -- the perfect-looking kids singing pop songs while dealing with the woes of big-screen high school. In this case, it's basketball and lots of romance, but there's also some Footloose flavor in there. Well, that's what I'm assuming since the trailer shows some clips of Zac Efron dancing about in a plaid shirt and a white tee in an industrial yard. But seeing that he takes that look into the classroom -- is plaid back in style?!

The kids finally get to graduate this October 24.

Cinematical was just sent this brand new poster for High School Musical 3: Senior Year! This one hits the big screen on October 24th, and it marks the return of all your favorite High School Musical-ers like Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens. From the official synopsis: "High School Musical 3: Senior Year finds high school seniors Troy (Efron) and Gabriella (Hudgens) facing the prospect of separation as they head off to different colleges. Joined by the rest of the Wildcats, they stage an elaborate spring musical reflecting their experiences, hopes and fears about the future. With incredible new music and exciting dance numbers designed to take maximum advantage of the big screen, this motion picture extravaganza delivers plenty of high-energy entertainment from East High's talented ensemble."

I don't think we need to tell you that this one is gonna be HUGE ... with a capital "We Love You Zac!" High School Musical 3: Senior Year touches down right on our hearts this October 24th.