Disney Channel Original Movies

In 1983, the Disney Channel debuted on television. By 1997, the Disney Channel Original Movie had begun, spanning a series of kid-centric, family-friendly movies. They were initally low-budget and featured a mixture of different genres, including sports, sci-fi, and Halloween. By the 2000s, Disney Channel Original Movies – or DCOMs, as the cool kids call them – were starting to find their feet, becoming successful television movies to suit their target audience.

But then, something inexplicable happened. A DCOM had managed to become something so much bigger than that. In 2006, High School Musical hit the screen and tweens and teenagers loved it, turning these “small screen” actors into big name stars. It was a big deal and that film spanned a huge franchise, gaining legions of fans. From this point, DCOMs couldn’t just be television movies. They had to be big, they had to measure up.

I first began watching DCOMs in the early 2000s, so I was around for the High School Musical hype, as well as the similar reaction to Camp Rock (2008). I also enjoyed many other DCOMs, some musical, like StarStruck (2010), and some not, like Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off (2003) and Go Figure (2005). I stopped watching the Disney Channel around 2011, but with the launch of Disney+ in 2019, I’ve been able to see some of the more recent DCOM successes, including the Descendants and ZOMBIES movies.

Because DCOMs have been made for years, with some of the 2000s seeing multiple new movies in a single year, I’ve been a bit creative in how I’ve categorised these movies, grouping them by theme instead of by year or decade. Some of these do fit into two or more categories but I’ve done my best with them. So, click around, see what you find, try and figure out how my mind works.

Or you can take the conventional route and just go to the Search bar below to find your favourite DCOM. Your choice.

Image from: https://www.seventeen.com/celebrity/movies-tv/a11993545/disney-channel-movies/

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