The kids from “High School Musical” can teach a college course on economics – as in, how to create a $1 billion franchise.
That’s the value one Wall Street analyst has placed on Disney’s “High School Musical” property, the “Grease”-like television movie that started off with a roar last year and is now ready to deliver a sequel, “High School Musical 2.”
“We estimate [‘HSM’] contributed $1 billion – yes, billion – to the Disney empire in profits since its launch,” Laura Martin, with Soleil-Media Metrics, said last week.
That incredible total includes worldwide sales of 7.8 million DVDs, 7 million, CDs, 4.5 million books, a sold-out, 45-city concert tour, hundreds of million of dollars in sales of merchandise from more than 100 licenses – and even the drip-drip-drip royalties from roughly 2,000 schools across the country licensed to produce the show.
And that’s not all. With “High School Musical 2” set to debut on Saturday, Disney is also looking to keep the franchise dancing on dollars with a 90-minute professional stage production which bowed in Chicago this month, a “High School Musical: The Ice Tour.” which will start skating next month. And there’s a big-screen movie in the works.
While the pure dollars that are flowing from these actors right into Mickey’s coffers are incredible enough – Disney estimates its take at a conservative $100 million in operating profit – the true long-term advantage of the “HSM” franchise could be in the power it has given the Disney Channel.
In no small part, “HSM” has powered the Disney Channel distribution into new countries and has put the Mouse House in a position to topple longtime children’s TV ratings champ Nickelodeon.
Bob Iger, Disney’s President and Chief Executive Officer, admitted as much earlier this month.
“We have diversified well beyond motion picture merchandise,” he told Wall Street in a conference call. “With Disney Channel’s success, it has driven a lot of success for consumer products.”
That is why many on Wall Street are much more bullish on “HSM”‘s financial clout and why Martin sees the franchise at $1 billion.
HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL
Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m., Disney Channel