HSM Was Big; Can Camp Rock Be Bigger?
So, 9-year-old girls are kinda looking forward to Camp Rock, huh?
To quote tween expert Denise Restauri, “Let me just say, omigod!”
All signsand Camp Rock viewing partiespoint to potentially record-setting ratings for the TV-movie musical premiering Friday night on the Disney Channel. The film, about rockin’ music campers, as the title suggests, stars Barney & Friends alum Demi Lovato and, oh, yes, a little trio called the Jonas Brothers.
“The girls love the Jonas Brothers, and they particularly love Joe Jonas,” says Restauri, founder of the tween-girl site AllyKatzz.com. “I won’t say they don’t love Zac Efron, but they love the Jonas Brothers.”
Efron, for Joe Jonas fans with short, unforgiving memories, ruled the Bop/Tiger Beat world from 2006-07 as the star of the Disney Channel’s High School Musical movies.
Now, though, it’s the Jonas Brothers’ turn. It is Joe, Nick and Kevin Jonas with the No. 5 iTunes single (”Play My Music,” from the Camp Rock soundtrack), the No. 11 Amazon album (the Camp Rock soundtrack, natch, which was released just two days ago), the upcoming concert tour, the upcoming studio album (A Little Bit Longer, out in August), the upcoming TV projects, and the 16.2 million Google results (compared to elder-statesman Efron’s 11.1 million).
More than bullet points on a résuméor a completist fan blogthey are indications that Camp Rock is about to head into, and benefit from, as Restauri says, “a perfect storm.”
“It’s pretty much guaranteed to be huge,” says Tylor Skory, who has tracked the Camp Rock buildup through his new website for TV-viewing-party planning, TVPartyPacks.com. “It’s mainly just because the Jonas Brothers are already so huge.”
Skory would know. He isn’t just a webmaster who’s seen Camp Rock dominate traffic, he’s also a 17-year-old with younger siblings who are inviting friends over on Friday night to watchwell, what do you think?
If it’s a given that Camp Rock is going to be big, then the remaining question is, How big?
“Based on what the girls are saying,” says Restauri, “it has the potential to outperform High School Musical.”
The original High School Musical, which debuted in January 2006, before Efron or any of his Wildcat classmates were Jonas Brothers-size names, averaged 7.8 million viewers, then a Disney Channel record. The sequel, High School Musical 2, which premiered last August, scored a whopping 17.2 million viewers, then a cable record.
If the denizens of Camp Rock want to get really ambitious, then they’ll train their sights on Tom Brady. Last December, an ESPN Monday Night Football game featuring Brady’s then-unbeaten New England Patriots slipped past HSM2 to set a new cable record, with 17.5 million viewers.
No matter how many campers Camp Rock enlists, at least Efron won’t have to worry about competing with the Jonas Brothers on his old Disney Channel turf.
Come the fall, the latest HSM, High School Musical 3: Senior Year, will open in movie theaters. And Restauri, for one, thinks fans of the franchiseand Efronwill be in line.
“I don’t think it’s going away,” she says. “As long as you can keep entertaining these girls with the music and the allure…The girls really just want to be entertained.”
In which case, as a programming note, Camp Rock repeats Saturday night on ABC and Sunday night on ABC Family.
Surprise! Oprah Most Powerful Celeb Again
Oprah Winfrey might want to savor the honor this time around.
Despite seeing viewership of The Oprah Winfrey Show dip by 7 percent this year and circulation of her namesake magazine falling by 10 percent, the queen of all media remains at the top of Forbes’ list of the world’s most powerful celebrities for the second year in a row.
Winfrey retained the ranking based on her pretax income of $275 million over the past 12 months. That’s in addition to other factors, including Google hits, press clippings, TV/radio mentions and the number of times a celeb graces the cover of the tabs, the magazine stated on its website.
The 54-year-old talk-show host was certainly aided by plans for her to debut the Oprah Winfrey Network in partnership with Discovery Communications next year, along with a three-year $55 million deal she signed with XM Satellite Radio.
Grabbing the No. 2 spot was golf champion Tiger Woods, who earned $115 million both on and off the green.
Hollywood’s most glamorous and gossiped-about couple, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, came in third and 10th respectively. While she raked in only $14 million, Angie more than made up for it with a No. 1 Web ranking, thanks to the media’s obsession with the impending birth of their twins, her activism and her movies Beowulf and A Mighty Heart. Pitt, on the other hand, netted a bigger payday$20 millionbut was much lower in press mentions, helping him barely eke out the No. 10 spot.
Popster Beyoncé Knowles took fourth place, thanks to selling $50 million in ticket sales for her most recent tour as well as an ever-expanding business empire that includes fashion, film and publishing deals.
Soccer superstar David Beckham, now playing for the Los Angeles Galaxy, actor Johnny Depp, and Beyonce’s hubby, Jay-Z, nabbed fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.
Last year’s blockbuster reunion tour helped The Police to the eighth spot. The made $115 million after selling more than $200 million in tickets and playing to 4 million fans in stadiums and arenas around the world.
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling conjured up ninth after publishing last July the final book in her vaunted fantasy series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which has since sold an astounding 44 million copies. In total, the Harry Potter books have sold over 375 million copies worldwide and made her a billionaire and Britain’s wealthiest woman, behind the Queen.
Just missing the top 10 were Hancock star Will Smith, singer Justin Timberlake and Indiana Jones director Steven Spielberg.
This year’s survey also featured 27 newcomers, including Daily Show host Jon Stewart, The Office’s Steve Carell and reality star Lauren Conrad.
Look Out for Locker Room Looky-loos
Lord knows what’s up with Jessica Simpson and her Dallas Cowboys QB cutie Tony Romo. We thought she got jilted by the jinx, then they were reunited, after which they had a falling out before having a falling in together at Sister Aslee’s wedding, but maybe that was all just for show.
But this oscillating-romance weirdness attained a new level of whack-osity during a recent Nashville photo session:
The snoopers at the New York Post’s Page Six say that Jessica’s hair-stylist pal Ken Paves was on hand to document the proceedings, reportedly “snapping sexy photos of her butt and her boobs with his phone” and sending them to Romo.
It’s so cute when your bff is best buds with your bf. Uh, maybe. But beware emailing pics to towel snapping jocks, as Jessica’s jaunty jpegs are likely to wind up on the internets. With that in mind, Tony and Ken, why not cut out the middleman and save us all that time Google-ogling Jessica by CC-ing us with the pics in the first place? Just sayin’…
Big Bang Theory: Where to find Sheldon’s shirts
If you’re a fan of The Big Bang Theory, you’ve probably wondered at some point where they get all the fun nerdy t-shirts that the character of Sheldon wears on the show. Well, I’m sure most of you, being internet-savvy and resourceful, have probably Googled each and every shirt and already have a spreadsheet up on Google Docs that is cross-referenced by episode and topic. But what about the lazy among us, who’d rather eat glass than stare at a spreadsheet all day?
SheldonShirts.com comes to the rescue. It shows screen shots of every shirt Sheldon wears in each episode and where you can get that particular shirt. It also shows where you can get the shirts that the other main character, Leonard, wears, as well as the the belt buckles worn by their perverted buddy Howard. They also make some suggestions for shirts the nerd heroes should wear in the future, as well as provide links to some other stuff that was shown on the program. It’s a good way to waste a couple of hours, whether you’re a nerd, a geek, or neither. It’s especially good for those who are need to find their favorite geek or nerd a birthday present. To those people, you’re welcome in advance.
[via Pop Candy]