WATCH: Fake ‘High School Musical 4’ trailer becomes viral hit
It’s been almost 10 years since Troy Bolton (played by Zac Efron), Gabriella Montez (Vannesa Hudgens), Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale) and the rest of “High School Musical” stars sang their hearts out for East High School, and fans are itching for more.
A trailer for a fourth film of the internationally acclaimed teen musical recently circulated on Facebook, sending millions of netizens to a euphoric nostalgia.
However, the clip, which was first uploaded on YouTube last month and gained popularity after being shared on the social media platform, was proved to be a sham made by one dedicated fan.
Set 10 years after the events of “High School Musical 3: Senior Year,” the impressive teaser, entitled “Once a Wildcat,” showed spliced clips from recent projects of Efron, Tisdale, Hudgens, Lucas Grabeel, Cordin Bleu and Monique Coleman.
The trailer made it appear that the group is headed for one big reunion, as they tackle the difficulties of growing up, especially when it comes to love, marriage and relationship.
As of this writing, the clip has been viewed over 28 million times and has been shared by over 760,000 Facebook users. The trend even reached Twitter, bringing life to the hashtags #HSMReunion and #hsm4.
The initial YouTube clip uploaded by @hsmutube made it clear that the video is fan-made.
“First and foremost, this is a fan made trailer,” a text on the description tab confirmed. “We’re living in a time of reboots and remakes and so I thought it would be fun to see what Troy and Gabriella have been doing these past ten years. Still wishing that one day, they all come back to do a reunion movie.”
However, the disclaimer was lost once the video was shared on social media, leading fans to believe that it was a legitimate trailer.
Disney, meanwhile, has yet to address the fake trailer since it did use the company’s logo. /ra
