“Teen Beach Movie†is a certified smash. Disney Channel said on Monday that about 13.5 million people had watched the beach party musical, which had its premiere on July 19. That total includes the number of viewers who watched it live (8.4 million) and a week’s worth of DVR playback viewing, a standard industry measuring stick.
Among children ages 2 through 11, a total of eight million tuned in. A kooky mash-up of “Grease†and “Beach Blanket Bingo†overlaid with a movie-within-a-movie construct and a contemporary girl-power theme, “Teen Beach Movie†now comfortably ranks as the No. 2 film in cable television history, behind “High School Musical 2†from 2007, according to Nielsen.
While Disney Channel has not announced a sequel, its young viewers can surely expect one; in addition to strong ratings, tie-in products like a cast album have sold briskly. Gary Marsh, the president of Disney Channels Worldwide, is clearly thrilled. Even before the final viewer numbers became available, he was said to have pushed an ice cream cart around the network’s Burbank, Calif., corporate offices to celebrate.
