Holiday weekends usually mean some great TV viewing as networks trot out marathons and top films to entice us away from barbecues and board games. The Disney Channel has typically used Memorial Day as a platform to kick off their summer programming lineup of new episodes and original movies. This year the network is looking back, celebrating the upcoming release of their 100th original film with a marathon weekend on May 27-30.
Those 4 days the Disney Channel will will air their 51 most popular productions. That includes Wizards of Waverly Place, The Cheetah Girls, Camp Rock, and Brink! (which I’m surprised and happy to hear other people like too.) The rest of the Disney 100 originals will be mixed in with regular programming throughout June.
The landmark 100th movie is a remake of Adventures in Babysitting, the 1987 action-comedy starring Elisabeth Shue as a sitter who just can’t seem to get to the Chicago bus station to retrieve her friend. This re-imagining is being written by Tiffany Paulson (Runaway Bride, Nancy Drew) and directed by John Schultz (Drive Me Crazy, The Honeymooners). It features competing babysitters played by Sabrina Carpenter (Girl Meets World) and Sofia Carlson (Descendants: Wicked World), and co-stars Gillian Vigman (The Hangover), Max Lloyd-Jones (Flicka), and Kevin Quinn (Bunk’d).
All the films will air on the Disney Channel, the Disney Channel app, and VOD through the summer.
It’s almost hard to believe its taken 33 years for the network to get to 100 original movies, but it’s a bit of a matter of semantics. From 1983 to 1997 original movies were produced under the banner Disney Channel Premiere films. Those productions included Anne of Avonlea, The Parent Trap II, Heidi, and Escape to Witch Mountain.
Disney Channel Original Movies (DCOM) was created in 1997, launching with the film Northern Lights. (Kind of an odd kick-off since it centered on the story of a woman (Diane Keaton) whose brother dies under suspicious circumstances.) The number of films made increased each year until, in 2000, the channel released a new movie every month. After that production gradually fell off to the current level of 2-4 films each year. These 100 films are all DCOM productions.
2007’s High School Musical 2 is the most popular movie in the pack, pulling in 17.2 million viewers for it’s debut showing.
From TV Line here’s the entire weekend schedule. Feel free to claim sunstroke, find an air conditioned couch and curl up for High School Musical.
FRIDAY, MAY 27
10 am: Kim Possible Movie: So the Drama
11:20 am: Read It and Weep
12:55 pm: Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior
2:40 pm: Jump In!
4:15 pm: Lemonade Mouth
6:15 pm: Zapped
8 pm: High School Musical 2
9:55 pm: The Cheetah Girls 2
11:45 pm: Zenon the Zequel
1:25 am: Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge
2:55 am: Twitches Too
4:25 am: Alley Cats Strike!
SATURDAY, MAY 28
6:25 am: You Wish!
8:05 am: The Proud Family Movie
9:50 am: Quints
11:25 am: Horse Sense
1:10 pm: Cow Belles
2:50 pm: Twitches
4:30 pm: The Even Stevens Movie
6:15 pm: Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie
8 pm: Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam
9:50 pm: Princess Protection Program
11:30 pm: The Cheetah Girls: One World
1:05 am: Zenon: Z3
2:40 am: Halloweentown High
4:20 am: The Thirteenth Year
SUNDAY, MAY 29
6 am: Right On Track
7:45 am: Full-Court Miracle
9:35 am: Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off
11:20 am: Brink!
1:10 pm: Double Teamed
2:55 pm: Rip Girls
4:35 pm: Motocrossed
6:20 pm: Cloud 9
8 pm: Teen Beach 2
9:55 pm: Bad Hair Day
11:40 pm: How to Build a Better Boy
1:20 am: Pixel Perfect
2:55 am: The Other Me
4:30 am: Genius
MONDAY, MAY 30
10 am: Stuck in the Suburbs
11:30 am: Halloweentown
1:05 pm: Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century
2:55 pm: Smart House
4:25 pm: High School Musical
6:15 pm: Camp Rock
8 pm: Descendants
10:05 pm: Teen Beach Movie
11:55 pm: Cadet Kelly
1:50 am: The Cheetah Girls
3:35 am: Johnny Tsunami