By Trevor Wheelright
Disney+ surpassed its four-year goal of reaching 60–90 million subscribers in only nine months, gaining a reported 100 million subscribers so far—and the streaming service isn’t even live worldwide yet.1, 2 While new hits like Onward, Beyonce’s Black Is King, and Hamilton attract viewers to Disney+, nostalgic fans can use the service to find their favorite Disney Channel Original Movies.
Using Google Trends data, we broke down searches across America to find each state’s most-searched Disney Channel Original Movie (we’ll call them “favorites”).3, 4
We decided to include films up until 2010 to nail that nostalgia factor and bring back all those warm, fuzzy memories of growing up with movies like Brink!, Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century, and Smart House.
Most Popular Disney Channel Original Movie in Your State
Do you remember these forgotten favorites?
This list might help bring back a few memories. Who remembers the basketball-playing twins in Double Teamed? West Virginia does. Basketball fans might also remember Full-Court Miracle. Or you might like the girl-powered gusto of Gotta Kick It Up!
Or did you see each of the sequels for Halloweentown, The Cheetah Girls, or Johnny Tsunami? Zenon: The Zequel was the follow-up favorite in three states: Arkansas, Iowa, and Missouri.
We were also surprised at how many older favorites were getting revisited with their own Disney Channel Original Movies. Some were Disney Channel TV shows, like The Famous Jett Jackson, which came back with Jett Jackson: The Movie (a favorite for Illinois and Michigan).
And Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars isn’t a reboot of the Nickelodeon movie you might remember, but instead it’s a modernized version based on the novel (a favorite in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia).
What’s your state’s connection to its favorite Disney Channel Original Movie?
- The Luck of the Irish is Montana’s favorite, and it turns out that Butte, Montana has the largest Irish population per capita.5 (You learn something new every day!)
- The first Disney Channel Original Movie original movie Under Wraps made it onto the list as Maine’s favorite. And there’s a bit of an urban legend in Maine around using mummies to help make paper (experts say that’s too much “dead weight” to make economic sense).6
- Utah continues to be the source for enduring High School Musical support. Last year, East High School in Salt Lake City, Utah, where they filmed the movie, had its students perform the musical.7
What do you think about your state’s favorite? Any interesting connections?