High School Musical stars sign for HSM3

It's official!

All six stars of Disney's High School Musical franchise have signed up to star in High School Musical 3: Senior Year, Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture confirmed on Monday.

Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Corbin Bleu, Monique Coleman and Lucas Grabeel are all set to star in the third and final installment, a feature film. The first two movies aired to a record number of viewers on The Disney Channel - and the budgets have increased ever since, so no doubt the young cast will see a promising increase in their paychecks this time around!

Director Kenny Ortega revealed to People.com that he's excited about working with the cast for one last time, a group of virtually unknown actors before the first High School Musical movie made its debut in January 2006.

"I am the luckiest guy in the world and I know it," he says. "This will be our last time together and I love working with these kids so much. It's going to be great."

22-year-old Tisdale - who will reprise her role as school diva Sharpay, says she's thrilled to be returning to East High, set in Utah for one last time.

"I'm excited," she says. "But it's going to be sad. It seems like it will be graduation and I'll be crying while we're filming."

According to the studio, HSM 3: Senior Year finds high school seniors Troy [20-year-old Zac Efron] and Gabriella [19-year-old Vanessa Hudgens] facing the prospect of being separated from one another as they head off in different directions to college. Joined by the rest of the Wildcat crew, they stage an elaborate spring musical reflecting their experiences, hopes and fears about their future.

The film, written by  Peter Barsocchini, with a budget of $13.3 million, is set to be released later this year.