High School Musical 2 Sets Stunning Records

How is it possible to have 17.2 million basic-cable viewers? Just create one of the most popular tween movies ever and watch the momentum soar! High School Musical 2's August 17th premiere drew more than double the 7.7 million viewers for High School Musical in 2006. This broke the existing record of 16.8 million viewers held by CNN's 1993 NAFTA debate.

Two out of every three children aged 6 to 14 watching TV were locked on to HSM2 creating for Disney an absolute cultural phenomenon. Replays of HSM2 the next two nights reached nearly 16 million viewers. Add to that the additions of Hannah Montana, Phineas & Ferb, plus the original HSM put Disney channel at about 72 million viewers. Astonishing!

Now factor in a whopping 982,000 copies of High School Musical 2 soundtrack to those numbers in the last two weeks and the franchise is sitting pretty for the future. Can it hang on without fracturing?

Leading man, Zac Efron, now on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine is starting to up the ante by hinting at bigger roles. With the musical hit Hairspray and the possibility of a Footloose remake in the winds will he pull his HSM roots and head for Hollywood stardom? He hasn't signed the HSM3 contract yet which means his options are open.

Let's hope rising stardom doesn't deflate the High School Musical happy balloon.