'High School Musical' sequel update

By Stone Martindale Feb 10, 2007, 2:27 GMT

Corbin Bleu - © David Gabber / Photorazzi

"High School Musical" fans take note, the long awaited sequel negotiations have hit a tiny snag.

TMZ reports that negotiations to return three of the top four stars in the sequel to the Disney Channel's original TV movie, "High School Musical" have come to a interesting juncture, with the stars flexing their box office muscle.

The wildly popular movie out on DVD, the original Disney Channel movie "High School Musical" reached over 100 million viewers worldwide.

The soundtrack is certified as quadruple platinum and was the number one album for all of 2006.

Monsters and Critic's crack critic Jeff Swindoll reviewed the DVD of "High School Musical," and it was the official number one story of 2006!

The sold-out 42 city concert tour that featured the most of the principal cast including super hot Corbin Bleu has been making headlines everywhere, and 2,000 high schools will be licensing the production to perform locally with their own students.

However, TMZ reports the three key members of the sequel's cast, Ashley Tisdale, Corbin Bleu and Vanessa Anne Hudgens, "are in a major tussle with the Disney Channel over compensation in the sequel."

Insiders tell TMZ that while the cast is expected in Utah on Sunday to begin rehearsals, Tisdale, Bleu and Hudgens may well be staying put until their deals can be revised for a bigger payout.

The kids are savvy to the big franchise bottom line, and want a piece of the soundtrack and the merchandising too.

TMZ reports that Disney is "notoriously aggressive" in negotiations, so it'll be a wait and see how the Channel's executives will bargain with the kids who won't be so malleable given the huge success of the project.

Reps for Hudgens, Bleu and Tisdale all declined comment to TMZ, and referring all questions to Disney Channel; a spokeswoman for Disney Channel casting, Patti McTeague, would only tell TMZ "we have signed deals" with the cast, and rehearsals were expected to start on February 19th.

Disney on Thursday announced it is also prepping a seperate, theatrical feature based of "High School Musical" scheduled for release in 2008 called "Haunted High School Musical."