High School Musical: el desafío is a spin-off film to the High School Musical franchise. It is one of three feature film adaptations of a script written by Pablo Lago and Susana Cardozo and based on the book Battle of the Bands. The film stars the finalists of the Argentine reality television High School Musical: La Selección competition series, and features Andrea del Boca, Adriana Salonia, Peter McFarlane, and Liz Solari. Principal photography commenced in February 2008, and is notable for being the first Disney-branded feature film made in Latin America. The film was developed for theatrical release in the Argentina market. Eight new songs have been produced exclusively for the film. In addition to these songs, Alejandro Lerner also composed the main theme, which he performed. High School Musical: el desafío was released in Argentine theaters on July 17, 2008, reaching in its debut week second place in the national box-office charts.

Plot

A new school year begins at the High School Argentina (HSA), and the students return from the summer vacations. Fer, the captain of the school rugby team, the Jaguars, discovers that Agus, his neighbour and classmate, has changed a lot over the summer. Delfi, however, continues being vain and wastes her time dominating her poor brother, Walter, and her associates Alicia, Clara and Valeria, or, as she prefers to call them, "The Invisibles". The principal of the school and Ms. D'Arts, the art teacher, invite the students to take part in the school's first battle of the bands, where the kids will have a chance to be showcased as true music stars. Anne-Claire, a former student and now a famous singer, comes to the school as adviser to the contest. Delfi envies her greatly. Working against the clock and with limited resources, the kids put all the forces for the big day. Fer and Agus, together with Juanchi, Sofi, Facha, Gaston and Walter participate in the contest, forming a band called the Scrum. At the same time, Delfi participates with her friends, and she tries the impossible task of separating Walter from his new friends. But only one band could be the winner, the one that understood teamwork, personal development, and studying would make them better artists and also better people.

Characters

Main

Other students

Supporting

Minor characters

Premiere

The special premiere took place on July 14, 2008 at the Gran Rex Theater. Following the film, the cast and the director, Jorge Nisco, went to the Alvear Hotel for a photo session and a press conference. The film debuted in cinemas throughout Argentina on July 17, 2008.

Soundtrack

Before the release of the film, the film's soundtrack CD was released, featuring eight new songs produced by Fernando López Rossi. The album has a bonus track with the song "Now Is Time to Shine" (originally in Spanish, "Ya es tiempo de brillar") written by Alejandro Lerner especially for the film, and includes the music video of the song "Summer Has Ended" ("El Verano Terminó").

List of songs

Other international versions

Following this production in Argentina, the film was also remade for Mexico and in Brazil: