Regardless of what you thought about High School Musical then or now, it can't be denied that this Disney Channel film managed several impressive feats.
The movie brought musicals to a new generation, had an insanely successful soundtrack, was popular enough to spawn several sequels, gifted the world with the glory that is Zac Efron -- the list goes on.
But did you know that High School Musical wasn't always the High School Musical you know today?
Peter Barsocchini, the movie's scriptwriter, explains in quotes via Disney that early versions of the characters eventually played by Efron, Vanessa Hudgens et al were much younger than they are in the final movie. As he puts it, "It was more like a middle school musical."
"I kept saying that my daughter is that age, and she doesn't care about her peers. She wants to see where she's going, not where she is at -- so we needed to age it up," he explains.
"There wasn't a title on the early drafts, so I would just write 'High School Musical Project' because I wanted to plant the idea that it should take place in a high school. And at one point, one of the producers said to me, 'We decided to call it High School Musical.' I thought, 'You've got to be kidding! Seriously! Who made that decision, to take Project off?'"
Ultimately, it all worked out. Obviously.
But during the movie's development, even the creative team wasn't exactly sure what kind of gold they'd struck -- until callbacks, that is.
"The music wasn't written yet, so as a warm-up for callbacks, we asked them to sing a song from Hairspray. The actors were all together surrounding the piano, and I remember gazing around that room thinking, "Oh my God…this could be big," remembers Judy Taylor, senior vice president of casting and talent relations at Disney Channels Worldwide.
"As we saw how auditions were evolving, we went back into the casting room and revisited some of our favorites, having some actors read for other roles than what they'd originally auditioned for. We learned in that process what a great dancer Corbin was. Then [we brought] all our Taylors in, and when we saw Monique Coleman for that role, I was pinching myself because it was so obvious that she was a great match for the character."
The cast of High School Musical -- sans Efron, who will be seen in a taped message -- will reunite during a special airing of the TV movie Wednesday night at 8 p.m. ET on the Disney Channel.
Here are some more fun facts to get you pumped: