What happens when one Disney franchise comes to a close? Another one, in a similar vein of course, begins. Now that the High School Musical kids are all grown up and playing high school students for other studios, Disney is moving on to Prom, a comedy about the stress of prepping for the big night.
As planned, Disney opted for all unfamiliar faces casting Thomas McDonell, Aimee Teegarden, Danielle Campbell, Nolan Sotillo, Yin Chang, Jared Kusnitz, Nicholas Braun, Ben Esler, Kylie Bunbury and DeVaughn Nixon. None have too much experience under their belt, some none at all, except for Teegarden who stars in the show Friday Night Lights, Chang who plays Nelly Yuki in Gossip Girl, Kusnitz who was in Bob Saget’s short-lived show Surviving Suburbia and Braun who plays Cameron in the TV version of 10 Things I Hate About You.
The script comes from first-time feature writer Katie Wech and will be put in Sydney White director Joe Nussbaum’s hands. A major plus comes in the form of Ted Griffin, the producer of Up in the Air. He’s joining forces with first timer, Justin Springer, to produce the flick.
Deadline explains Prom will have a similar tone to John Hughes’ Sixteen Candles and Pretty in Pink, which sounds awfully presumptuous. Perhaps just aiming to create something of High School Musical’s caliber would be more realistic. HSM was never my thing, but compared to the teenage trash out there, it’s impressive stuff and the appeal is quite obvious. Could Disney have another franchise on its hands with Prom? If they make it a simple teenage romp like HSM, it’s certainly possible.
