Many
television film
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
s have been produced for
Disney Channel, an American family-oriented basic
cable channel and former
premium television channel
A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the terrestrial or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with ...
since its launch on April 18, 1983. Until October 1997, films were released under the banner name of Disney Channel Premiere Films; since then, the films are currently released under the Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) banner.
Most of these films were subsequently released on
VHS,
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
, or, more recently,
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
. However, many more entries in the Disney Channel film library were never released in any home video format. Originally, the films were released on DVD months after their Disney Channel premieres, but beginning with ''
Princess Protection Program'' in 2009, DVDs for DCOMs have been released one week after their television premieres. Also, although DCOMs have been produced in widescreen HD format since mid-2005, the 2009 release of ''
Princess Protection Program'' became the first DCOM to appear in widescreen DVD viewing format.
The highest-rated premiere for the banner/brand came in August 2007, when ''
High School Musical 2
''High School Musical 2'' is a 2007 American musical television film written by Peter Barsocchini and directed by Kenny Ortega. The 70th Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM), it is the sequel to ''High School Musical'' (2006) and the second inst ...
'' set a record for basic cable with 17.2 million viewers. The second highest-rated premiere is held by ''
Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie'', which premiered with 11.4 million viewers. Other major DCOM franchises include ''
Camp Rock
''Camp Rock'' is a 2008 American musical television film directed by Matthew Diamond from a screenplay by Karin Gist, Regina Hicks, Julie Brown, and Paul Brown. The 73rd Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM), the film stars Demi Lovato, Joe Jo ...
'', ''
The Cheetah Girls'', ''
Twitches'', ''
Halloweentown'', the ''
Teen Beach'' films, the ''
Zenon'' trilogy, and the ''
Descendants'' series.
During the
Memorial Day
Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...
holiday weekend of 2016, Disney Channel began to air many older DCOMs in a specialized
marathon programming block
Block programming is the arrangement of programs on radio or television so that those of a particular genre, theme, or target audience are united.
Overview
Block programming involves scheduling a series of related shows which are likely to attra ...
in celebration of its 100th film, ''
Adventures in Babysitting
''Adventures in Babysitting'' (also known as ''A Night on the Town'' in certain countries) is a 1987 American teen comedy film written by David Simkins and directed by Chris Columbus in his directorial debut. It stars Elisabeth Shue, Keith Coo ...
''. Disney Channel broadcast all previous 99 Disney Channel Original Movies that came before it, beginning with the 51 most popular films airing over the four-day weekend, beginning May 27, 2016 and continuing throughout the following month until the June 24 premiere of the aforementioned 100th Disney Channel Original Movie.
Disney Channel Premiere Films
; Notes
Disney Channel Original Movies
;Notes
Upcoming Disney Channel Original Movies
Notable non-Disney Channel Original Movie films
The following films were not originally premiered under the "Disney Channel Original Movie" label, though they were sometimes later promoted as such:
* ''
Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars'' (March 26, 2010)
* ''
16 Wishes'' (June 25, 2010)
* ''
Back of the Net'' (June 15, 2019)
Highest-rated Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) premieres
Top 10
While ''
Descendants 2'', which aired in July 2017, only drew 5.3 million viewers on the Disney Channel, it was simultaneously aired on the
ABC broadcast network (where it drew an average of 2.4 million viewers) and four other cable channels (
Disney XD
Disney XD is an American pay television channel owned by the Disney Branded Television and Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution units of The Walt Disney Company. The channel is aimed primarily at older children ages six to eleven yea ...
,
Freeform,
Lifetime, and
Lifetime Movies) as well, and drew a combined viewership of 8.9 million across all six television networks.
Within a calendar year
See also
*
Disney Channel
*
List of Disney novelizations
*
List of programs broadcast by Disney Channel
References
External links
Available DCOMson
DisneyNow
DisneyNow (stylized as DisneyNOW) is an online TV Everywhere app and website/URL for Disney Channel, Disney Junior, and Disney XD. It launched on September 29, 2017, replacing the individual "Watch" apps that originally launched for these networ ...
DCOM menuon Disney Channel shows website
at Ultimate Disney
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Disney Channel Original Movies
Disney Channel Original Movies
Disney Channel Original Movies