Director: Kenny Ortega
Producers: Bill Borden, Barry Rosenbush, Don Schain (co-producer)
Writer: Peter Barsocchini
Music: David Lawrence, Matthew Gerrard, Robbie Nevil, Shankar Mahadevan
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures, Buena Vista
Released: October 24, 2008 (USA)
Budget: $13.3 million

Cast:

• Zac Efron as Troy Bolton
• Vanessa Hudgens as Gabriella Montez
• Ashley Tisdale as Sharpay Evans
• Lucas Grabeel as Ryan Evans
• Corbin Bleu as Chad Danforth
• Monique Coleman as Taylor McKessie
• Bart Johnson as Coach Jack Bolton
• Alyson Reed as Ms. Darbus
• Olesya Rulin as Kelsi Nielsen
• Chris Warren Jr. as Zeke Baylor
• Ryne Sanborn as Jason Cross
• KayCee Stroh as Martha Cox
• Matt Prokop as Jimmie Zara
• Justin Martin as Donny Dion
• Jemma McKenzie-Brown as Tiara Gold

Short Summary

As seniors in high school, Troy and Gabriella struggle with the idea of being separated from one another as college approaches. Along with the rest of the Wildcats, they stage a spring musical to address their experiences, hopes and fears about their future.

Photos

Official Trailer

Quotes from the movie

Gabriella Montez: I’m a lot better at saying goodbye than you.
Troy Bolton: Why are you saying goodbye?

Ms. Darbus: We’ll call it, Senior Year!
Sharpay Evans: [sarcastically] Genius.

Sharpay Evans: Hey, Troy when’s the big game?
Troy Bolton: Yesterday.
Sharpay Evans: Well good luck. Toodles!

Troy Bolton: East High is a place where teachers encouraged us to break the status quo and define ourselves as we choose. Where a jock can cook up a mean crème brulee, and a brainiac can break it down on the dance floor. It’s a place where one person, if it’s the right person, changes us all. East High is having friends we’ll keep for the rest of our lives, and that means we really are ‘all in this together’. Once a Wildcat, always a Wildcat!

Coach Jack Bolton: We’ve dug ourselves a hole, and the only way out is on each other’s shoulders. No more X’s and O’s. Forget the scoreboard. Here’s the number that means something… Sixteen minutes left in the game… the season… and for the seniors on this squad… sixteen minutes left in a Wildcats uniform.

Troy Bolton: My prom is wherever you are.

Troy Bolton: [on the phone with Gabriella] Hey! I just showed my mom the tux.
Gabriella Montez: We need to talk. I can’t be a little adult right now, Troy. I’m hoping you understand that.
Troy Bolton: No, don’t even say that. Gabriella, prom is in two days. You’re supposed to be on a plane right now.
Gabriella Montez: It’s taken me two weeks to get used to being away from you. From East High and all my friends.
Troy Bolton: I know. I know.
Gabriella Montez: So what? I come back, go to prom, and leave again? And when its graduation I’ll leave again.
Troy Bolton: That was our plan.
Gabriella Montez: I don’t think I can do it Troy. I think I’ve run out of goodbyes.
Troy Bolton: Why do you keep saying “goodbye”?
Gabriella Montez: I love you, wildcat. But I need to stay right where I am. I’m sorry.

Troy Bolton: I figured you’d be the last one out of the building.
Gabriella Montez: I don’t believe this.
Troy Bolton: I took a wrong turn on the way to prom. So did you.
Gabriella Montez: You are so crazy, Wildcat. And what is it with you and trees?
Troy Bolton: I guess I see things clearly from up here.
Gabriella Montez: Well, you look handsome. Prom is tonight in Albuquerque, 1000 miles away.
Troy Bolton: [he jumps down from the tree] My prom is where ever you are.
[he pulls out a corsage]
Troy Bolton: If I’m gonna have a last dance at East High, it’s gonna be with you.
[he puts it on her wrist]

Vanessa on High School Musical 3

“I am so very excited,” Hudgens told People magazine backstage at Sunday’s American Music Awards in L.A., when asked about returning for the film. “To do a third one for the big screen, I can’t begin to think how much fun we’ll have.”

“The fact that we finally get to take it to the big screen is really exciting,” she said. “We finally have the chance to create something bigger and better.”

“I was actually homeschooled. [So working on 'HSM,'] I got to have my fantasy prom and got to wear a cap and gown for the first time and graduate with people I love — the cast — so it’s been amazing,” she said. “It’s been this journey.”

“We have the most amazing time,” she said. “I think with the entire cast, as well. We are all so close. I think we’d like to keep that door open to do another project together.”