High School Musical was released on DVD on May 23, 2006. Entitled High School Musical: Encore Edition, the DVD includes both original and sing-along versions. The DVD broke sales records when 1.2 million copies were sold in its first six days making it the fastest-selling television movie of all time.[7] It is, however, the second DCOM (Disney Channel Original Movie) on DVD to be certified Platinum in DVD sales; the first is The Cheetah Girls.

The High School Musical DVD was also released in Australia on July 12, 2006 through Walt Disney and was released on Region 2 on December 4, 2006 where it went on to reach number 1 in the UK DVD charts, It was also shown on Disney Channel South Africa, the newest Disney channel in the southern hemisphere. It was the top selling DVD in Australia in August 2006. Also, the Region 3 DVD was released on October 10 in Hong Kong. It also released in Taiwan on December 15, 2006. This is the first Region 3 DCOM DVD ever released. It was released in Mexico on November 10 and in Brazil on December 6 to coincide with Christmas and the Globo broadcast of the movie.

The Remix Edition, a 2-disc Special Edition, was released on December 5, 2006. It includes all of the Encore Edition’s bonus features and adds a dance-along featurette, new music videos, original song remixes, new cast interviews, and behind the scenes featurettes on the Hollywood and London premieres.[8].The Remix DVD was released in France on June 20th.[9]. It will be released in Germany on September 13th.[10] The Remix DVD was released in the UK on September 10th.[11]

Despite being filmed in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio, both the original and Remix Edition DVD releases featured a 1.33:1 “full screen” version (though not pan and scan as the camera stays directly in the center of the image), the format of the film as shown on the Disney Channel. The widescreen and high definition versions have subsequently been showing in the UK on BBC One, BBC Two, and BBC HD.[12] It has been speculated that the widescreen version of the film may be being withheld until a future re-release of the DVD, around the time that High School Musical 3 comes out in theaters or on DVD.

The soundtrack was released on January 10, 2006 and debuted at number 133 on the Billboard 200, selling 7,469 copies in its first week. In the album’s third week, for the chart dated February 11, 2006, it climbed to number ten, and has since risen to number one on the Billboard 200 twice (on March 1 and March 22) and had shipped 3.8 million copies on December 5, 2006. Out of those copies, more than 3 million copies have been sold by August 2006; it was certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA.

The soundtrack was released in Australia on May 27, 2006 by EMI. In the album’s seventh week it reached the number one position on Australia’s ARIA Album Charts for the week dated July 31, 2006 and has been certified platinum, selling 70,000 units in total.

The single, Breaking Free, debuted in the UK Official Top 75, at Number 45 on Sunday September 24, 2006 on downloads alone. Upon its physical release, its peak position was #9.

In India, unlike other countries that air the movie, the songs are dubbed in Hindi.[6] The soundtrack was released on the 13th of November to only the major CD stores in South Africa, selling every copy in its first week.

On May 23, 2006, the same day the DVD came out, Walt Disney Records released a Special Edition of the album featuring a bonus disc with 8 karaoke tracks of the songs: “Start of Something New”, “Get’cha Head In The Game”, “What I’ve Been Looking For”, “When There Was Me & You”, “Bop to the Top”, “Breaking Free”, “We’re All In This Together” & “I Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You” (which was cut from the movie). The Special Edition also comes with a fold out locker poster of Troy & Gabriella on one side and a movie poster on the other.

Contributions

The song “We’re All In This Together” by the cast was featured on the album, Radio Disney Party Jams. The song “When There Was Me & You” was featured on the album Girl Next.

Lead characters

* Troy Bolton (Zac Efron) is the male protagonist of the story and the captain of the East High Wildcats basketball team. His best friend is Chad Danforth. At a New Years party at a ski resort, he was pressured into singing ‘Start of Something New’ with Gabriella Montez; prior to that, he had only sung in the shower.[5] Troy is torn between basketball and singing; he wants to sing with Gabriella (the girl Troy has a crush on), but his teammates push him away from it with peer pressure and even trickery because they are worried it will affect their chances at winning the championship game, as Troy is the coach’s son, Wildcat captain, and star player. Troy also enjoys snowboarding.

* Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Anne Hudgens) is the female protagonist, who secretly likes Troy. She is a shy and intelligent student who just changed schools. She originally met Troy when they were forced into a karaoke duet at a New Years party at a ski resort. She meets him again when she moves to the same school as Troy in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She is hesitant to let everybody know of her past achievements, although they find out, through the internet, that she previously won numerous Scholastic Competitions. She had previously been in a church choir, but passed out after having everybody stare at her while singing solo. She and Troy audition, get a callback, and then win the lead parts for the Winter musical. She also helps East High win the Scholastic Decathlon. In the Japanese dub of the special, she is voiced by Fumiko Orikasa.

* Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale) is the antagonist of High School Musical. She is an arrogant person who always wants her way. She overdominates and likes to be in control even of her twin brother Ryan. She auditions with him for the winter school musical against Troy and Gabriella. When she hears that Troy and Gabriella have a callback, she changes the callback date so Troy and Gabriella wouldn’t be able to get the leads. The plan however fails with the aid of Taylor and Chad who have. Sharpay ends up being the understudy for Gabriella, and in the end, wishes Gabriella good luck by telling her to break a leg. Chad, at one point, calls Sharpay and Ryan “show dogs”; the Shar Pei, a homophone of Sharpay, is a kind of dog. She also makes reference to famous Broadway songwriter Stephen Sondheim by calling Kelsi “my sawed-off Sondheim”. Despite her resentment of Troy and Gabriella taking the lead from her in the school musical, she seems to have a small crush or interest in Troy, and somewhat jealous of Gabriella. It also should be noted that at the end of High School Musical she seems to at least get along with Troy and Gabriella. Yet in High School Musical 2, she has reverted to hating Gabriella, and actually developed an interest for Troy.

* Ryan Evans (Lucas Grabeel) is Sharpay’s fraternal twin brother, acting partner, and nicer one of the twins. They have starred in seventeen productions together. He seems to have a very developed fashion sense, and dresses very differently then most of the East High students in shirts etc. while all other students are wearing vests and shorts. Ryan isn’t very smart, as shown by his inability to read “Go Drama Club!” on the basketball team’s shirts. He also has a taste for hats, wearing nine different ones during the movie. He seems to be the more submissive of the twins and just goes along with whatever Sharpay says. Near the end of this movie, and in the second one, Ryan shows his disapproval of Sharpay’s behavior.

* Chad Danforth (Corbin Bleu) is a member of the Wildcats team and Troy’s best friend. He seems to be extremely devoted to basketball. From the start, he’s a little snobby, selfish, and unsupportive of Troy’s auditioning for the musical. He thinks that the musical isn’t for basketball players. However, he realizes later that singing is something that Troy truly enjoys and so Chad gives his support to his best friend’s audition endeavor. After teaming up with Taylor McKessie to pull Troy and Gabriella apart, and then to put them back together again, he asks her out.

* Taylor McKessie (Monique Coleman) is the leader of East High’s science club, which competes in the Scholastic Decathlon. She befriends Gabriella when she arrives to the school and convinces her to join the Scholastic Club. While she at first tried to stop Gabriella from singing, she eventually ended up supporting her. She has a strong dislike for athletes including Troy Bolton, stating that they “contribute nothing to society other than slam dunks and touchdowns.” However, her opinion of athletes changes over time. She is asked out by Chad Danforth by the end of the film and accepts.

Supporting characters

* Ms. Darbus (Alyson Reed) is the drama teacher at East High. She is an advocate of theater and has a strong dislike for cell phones. She has gotten into arguments with Coach Bolton numerous times. She has shown that she has little to no knowledge of basketball.

* Coach Jack Bolton (Bart Johnson) is the Wildcats’ coach and Troy’s father. He is a former champion Wildcats player, and expects his son to follow in his footsteps. He has gotten into numerous heated arguments with Ms. Darbus and is upset over his son’s decision to go out for theater but then he eventually comes around. Similarly, he disapproves of Troy’s relationship with Gabriella because it may interfere with basketball.

* Kelsi Nielsen (Olesya Rulin) is a pianist and the composer of the Twinkle Towne musical. Kelsi is not confident at first. However, by the end of the movie, she stands up to Sharpay. Troy calls her the playmaker to build her confidence.

* Zeke Baylor (Chris Warren, Jr.) is a member of the Wildcats team, who secretly enjoys baking and has a crush on Sharpay.

* Mrs. Montez (Socorro Herrera) is Gabriella’s mother. Although she is never shown to have a strong feeling of approval or disapproval of Gabriella’s singing, she is shown to support her daughter at the end of the movie. She also approves of Gabriella’s relationship with Troy.

Strangers Troy Bolton (Zac Efron) and Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Anne Hudgens) attend a New Year’s Eve party at a ski lodge over Christmas Break. They find they have amazing chemistry after singing “Start of Something New” in a karaoke contest, and exchange numbers. A week later, Gabriella’s mother is transferred and Gabriella begins classes at East High in Albuquerque, New Mexico where Troy sees her in homeroom. After checking that it’s her on his cell phone, Troy accidentally gets detention, along with Gabriella, his best friend and teammate Chad Danforth (Corbin Bleu), scholastic decathlon captain, and soon-to-be best friend of Gabriella, Taylor McKessie (Monique Coleman), and Drama Club co-presidents Ryan and Sharpay Evans (Lucas Grabeel and Ashley Tisdale).

After homeroom, Troy and Gabriella see each other and start to re-introduce themselves. As they talk near the sign-up sheet for the winter musical auditions, Sharpay sees them and assumes Gabriella wants to sign up. With Ryan’s help, Sharpay determines that Gabriella is an “Einsteinette”, and put an article of her previous academic achievements into Taylor’s locker. During detention, Taylor approaches Gabriella and invites her to join the school’s scholastic decathlon team. As a result of the detention, both Troy and Chad miss their basketball practice, much to the annoyance of Coach Bolton. During a confrontation between the coach and Ms. Darbus, it is made clear that neither of them has any real respect for the work that the other does. Troy eventually takes part in basketball practice, but he can’t seem to stop thinking about Gabriella (”Get’cha Head in the Game”).

Troy skips basketball practice during free period to go to the auditions, which Gabriella also attends. However, both are too shy to come forward, so they hide behind a janitorial rolling cart as Sharpay and Ryan perform their version of “What I’ve Been Looking For”. When Gabriella finally decides to audition, Troy offers to sing with her, but Ms. Darbus says it is too late.

After a confrontation with Sharpay, Kelsi Nielsen, the composer of the musical, trips and drops her notes and piano music. Troy and Gabriella rush to help her, and she offers to let them hear how the song was supposed to sound. Troy and Gabriella then sing the slower version of the song, “What I’ve Been Looking For”. Ms. Darbus hears them from behind the auditorium entrance and gives both Troy and Gabriella a callback. The next day, Sharpay sees the callback sheet and is furious. Once Chad and all the basketball players find out that Troy skipped basketball practice to audition for the musical, they all are shocked.

At lunch, everyone has learned that Troy is doing something highly out of basketball players’ nature, and the students start confessing their secret passions and talents (”Stick to the Status Quo”), including basketball player Zeke Baylor’s love of baking. Gabriella slips and accidentally spills her lunch all over Sharpay’s shirt. Sharpay tells Ms. Darbus that Gabriella did it on purpose and tries to convince Ms. Darbus that Troy and Gabriella are trying to destroy the musical.

Troy asks Gabriella to meet him in his secret hideout, the balcony of a greenhouse. There, she reveals that singing with him at the party was like meeting a new friend at kindergarten; he felt like a best friend although she hardly knew him. Meanwhile, Zeke attempts to talk to Sharpay, who says that she would rather stick pins in her eyes than watch Zeke play basketball. He asks if that would be uncomfortable, and she snaps back, “Evaporate, tall person!”

Chad and Taylor decide that they need to devise a plan so that everything can go back to normal. The basketball team tricks Troy into saying that Gabriella isn’t important while she watches them through a wi-fi link. Gabriella is hurt and confused about where she and Troy now stand (”When There Was Me and You”). Troy tries to talk to Gabriella as normal, but Gabriella tells him she does not want to do the musical anymore and that it was never really important to her.

After feeling guilty about ruining Troy and Gabriella’s friendship, and noticing that they are no longer interested in the basketball game or the decathlon, Chad and Taylor decide to tell them the truth. Chad, Zeke, and Jason explain everything to Troy in the greenhouse and offer to support him at the callbacks. Taylor and the scholastic decathlon team tell Gabriella what they did, but Gabriella is still angry and hurt because of what Troy said, convinced that he meant it. That night, Troy goes to Gabriella’s house, but she pretends to be busy with homework. Troy phones her from her backyard, telling her that the guy she met on vacation is much more like him than the guy that “said those stupid things”. He climbs onto her balcony and starts singing the harmony of “Start of Something New” in attempt to persuade her to go to the callbacks with him. Gabriella then forgives him, and they start practicing the callback piece at school together with Kelsi.

Soon Sharpay and Ryan overhear Gabriella and Troy practicing, and feel intimidated by the competition. Together they convince Ms. Darbus to change the callbacks to the same time as the basketball championship and scholastic decathlon. Kelsi overhears their conversation with Mrs. Darbus, she and the others are devastated, but the scholastic decathlon and basketball teams and Kelsi work together to come up with a plan.

On the day itself, Taylor and Gabriella send a code by computer into the system to disrupt the basketball game by shutting down the scoreboard, and boil a hazardous chemical to stall the decathlon.

As Troy and Gabriella then rush to the theater, Sharpay and Ryan finish performing their song, “Bop to the Top”, confident that they will get the part. Troy and Gabriella show up after Ms. Darbus has called their names twice, and she tells them again that they are too late. Many other students start streaming into the auditorium to support them and Ms. Darbus has no choice but to allow them to perform “Breaking Free.” In the end, Ms. Darbus gives the parts to Troy and Gabriella. After winning both the scholastic decathlon and the basketball game, the entire school gathers in the gym to celebrate (”We’re All in This Together”).

After the celebrations, Sharpay finds Zeke alone in the gym and tells him that the cookies he made are the best things she has ever tasted. Zeke answers (quite suggestively) that he might even make her a crème brûlée.