Disney's High School Musical comes to China

Leah Zanolla | Posted: Nov 23, 2009 | Updated: Oct 19, 2014 - 9:25:27 AM

Disney's popular High School Musical movie will be made over for the Chinese market. The movie, made popular on the Disney Channel, will be remade in Shanghai with a cast of unknown actors, rather than translated into Chinese. The Walt Disney Company will work with the Shanghai Media Group and Huayi Brothers Media Corp. to produce the film, due out in 2010. China normally has a strict rule of only allowing 20 foreign-studio films, but by working with these Chinese companies, Disney can skirt this rule.

High School Musical: China will still feature a basketball player who ends up joining the school musical. According to Variety, Disney manager Jason Reed said, "Disney had initially contemplated making martial arts the main sport in the film, until its Chinese partners pointed out that basketball is vastly more popular."

Chen Shizheng will direct the upcoming film. Shizheng directed his first feature film, Dark Matter, in 2007.

The U.S. High School Musical franchise is already well-known around the globe, having been seen in 100 countries in more than 30 languages. A fourth film is planned, which will not star any of the original actors.