 High School Musical has been called "Grease for the noughties" |
Disney is hoping to repeat the success of hit TV film High School Musical with a big-screen follow-up next year. The feature film spin-off is titled Haunted High School Musical but no plot details have been released yet.
The original TV film was a surprise hit last year - Disney said it made profits of $100m (�51m).
The company also plans to release a second made-for-TV film called High School Musical 2 on its cable network, the Disney channel, this summer.
"High School Musical sky-rocketed to heights never before achieved by a TV movie, so it's only fitting that its next incarnation should be as a major motion picture," said Gary Marsh, president of Disney Channel Worldwide.
The soundtrack to the TV film was the biggest-selling album in the US last year, shifting 3.7m copies.
Hand-drawn revival
Meanwhile, Disney have also announced a return to traditional hand-drawn animation alongside the 3D animation which has dominated the industry over the last few years.
"We will be bringing back hand-drawn (two-dimensional) films," said Disney's Ed Catmull, president of Pixar and Disney feature animation.
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Last year Disney bought Pixar, the animation company behind such 3D hits as Toy Story, Cars and Finding Nemo. The 2D artform made Disney's name, with hand-drawn classics such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Catmull said Disney would do both hand-held animation and computer animation from now on - with a third instalment in the Toy Story saga spearheading the latter.
Scheduled for a 2009 release, Toy Story 3 will be directed by Lee Unkrich - a co-director on Toy Story 2 - from a screenplay by Little Miss Sunshine writer Michael Arndt.
"The greatest thing about the merger of the two companies is the creators of Toy Story 1 and 2 can make 3 with the story that we wanted," said Pixar's John Lasseter.
Disney has two nominations in the best short animation Oscar category this year - the 3D Lifted and 2D film The Little Match Girl.