The little "Musical" that could

Yet another record for the “High School Musical” franchise: “HSM2” debuted last night on the Disney Channel to an all-time record audience for basic cable, 17.2 million viewers. And it’s re-airing tonight and Sunday, so Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens and the rest of the gang could reach around 40-million sets of eyeballs in one weekend.

To put this in persepective: Broadcast network programs over the summer have ranked No. 1 for a week without managing even 10 million viewers, and a huge chunk of network fare hasn’t drawn close to half of what “HSM2” did. And broadcast has a far broader reach than Disney Channel has on cable, and numerous viewing parties means the final total may have actually been much larger.

Also: The other big “teen” flick this weekend, the Apatow entertainment machine’s acclaimed “Superbad” (granted, they're aimed at waaay different audiences), earned an impressive $12 million at the box-office on Friday. But that still translates into fewer than two million tickets sold.

Other records: It’s the all-time TV champ in terms of kid viewers 6-11, only the 2004 Super Bowl had more tween viewers and it’s the largest audience for a Friday-night TV show on any platform in more than five years. (Damn, these Disney folks are good at uncorking statistics.)

So it’s safe to say that there’ll be a “High School Musical 3,” and no doubt the Disney leviathan will optimize their profits by making it a theatrical release. As if they haven’t already maximized their income with the CDs, DVDs, games, toys, clothes, etc., etc. Paul Krugman, economist and columnist for the New York Times, estimates that once the “High School Musical” phenomenon is over, only parents in the top 3% income bracket will actually have been able to afford to buy their kids all the affiliated products Disney will have produced.