Yes, Disney has announced that there will be a sequel to High School Musical 3, the winner of this year’s Best Movie in The Brians. HSM4 will return to the roots of the franchise and debut on The Disney Channel just like the first two movies in the series. The release is planned for some time in 2010.

This is a great move by Disney. They know that any re-invention of the series could never carry the box office cache of the most recent movie. In fact, I think they could have gotten away with releasing HSM2 on the big screen, but realized that they had so much more to gain by staying on cable.

The only way this series will continue and plague parents like me on down the line is by putting the film on TV, building up interest through weeks of promotion, then running the stinking thing so many times that you just can’t get the songs out of your head. And I use plague in the most positive of ways.

The only question is who will fill the cast. The stories I have seen do not address whether the two new students introduced in HSM 3 will play any role in the new movie. I think they would be better off just starting fresh. The plot will apparently revolve around a rivalry with another school so that opens up some interesting possibilities.

I just hope my daughter hasn’t outgrown her interest in the franchise by next year.