The announcement comes just weeks after the Burbank, California-based company said the Chinese government has approved plans for a Shanghai theme park. “Disney High School Musical: China” will be a co-production with Chinese companies Shanghai Media Group and Huayi Brothers Media Corp., The Walt Disney Co. said in a statement Sunday, allowing it to bypass China’s annual quota of 20 films that foreign studios can share profits in. The story of two friends who overcome odds to win an inter-school singing competition marks Disney’s third co-produced film in China after “The Magic Gourd” in 2007 and this year’s “Trail of the Panda” and its sixth international co-production. Featuring six newcomers, the film will be shot in Shanghai and is scheduled for a summer 2010 release, Disney said.
“High School Musical” started out as a TV movie that launched in the US in January 2006 but went on to become a big hit internationally, airing in more than 30 languages in some 100 countries and turning Zac Efron into a household name, according to Disney. Its sequel, also a TV movie, was also a success.
