DISNEY - MUSICAL COULD BE BIGGEST MUSICAL OF ALL

MUSICAL COULD BE BIGGEST MUSICAL OF ALL

Disney is expecting a big graduation crowd to gather in theaters thisweekend for its High School Musical 3 Senior Year . The originalmovies, which aired on the Disney channel, set viewer records and touchedoff mind-blowing sales of CDs and merchandise, and launched a stage show. (ATV reality series based on the franchise failed to catch on.) The new movie,expected to draw a large crowd of young women, faces competition from itspolar opposite, the horror flick Saw V , expected to draw a largecrowd of young men. (It was not screened for critics.) A third new widerelease is Gavin O'Connor's crime drama, Pride & Glory , starringColin Farrell and Edward Norton. While most box-office analysts arepredicting the High School Musical 3 will open with about $30-35million, the Los Angeles Times' s Projector column forecasts anopening of about $45 million. Analysts are predicting Saw V will windup with $25-30 million, while Pride & Glory is expected to takein $10-15 million.

24/10/2008