With a record number of advanced ticket sales already in the school satchel, expect to see the records for cinema attendance, revenue and quantity of spin-off merchandise to soon follow the cheerleader. Disney's High School Musical 3: Senior Year will be in picture houses from Wednesday 22 October 2008.
Thousands of screaming fans gathered in Leicester Square. Most of the fans and even more of the screams were for Zac Efron, 20, who plays one of East High School's basketball players, Troy Bolton.
The film's prequels were made for TV, with 18.6 million viewers watching the US premiere of High School Musical 2.
In what is said to to be the final instalment , the stresses and strains of the last year at high school before college are followed, as well as the romance between Troy and Gabriella Montez, played by Vanessa Hudgens.
No doubt a TV serial, stage production and a new generation of pupils at East High will keep this lucrative franchise earning before anyone from Disney need utter the words: "on ice?"