Sky High (Movie)



"Saving the world... one homework assignment at a time."

Details
Sky High was released on July 29, 2005, by Walt Disney Picture, Inc. It was written by Paul Hernandez and Robert Schooley.

Synopsis
Life is hard enough when you enter high school, but it is even harder for Will Stronghold. You see, the school is Sky High, a school for young superheroes, and Will’s parents are the Commander and Jet Stream, two of the greatest superheroes in the world. As if that’s not hard enough, so far, Will has evidenced no super-powers at all.

What will his dad think? What will the other kids think? This is going to be a very rough freshman year!

Cast
(As appeared in the closing credits of the movie)

Will Stronghold – Michael Angarano

Steve / The Commander – Kurt Russell

Josie / Jetstream – Kelly Preston

Layla – Danielle Panabaker

News Anchor – Chris Wynne

Ron Wilson Bus Driver – Kevin Hefferman

Ethan – Dee Jay Daniels

Magenta – Kelly Vitz

Little Larry – Loren Berman

Zach – Nicholas Braun

Penny - Malika

Penny - Khadijah

Lash – Jake Sandvig

Speed – Will Harris

Gwen / Royal Pain – Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Principal Powers – Lynda Carter

Coach Boomer – Bruce Campbell

Carbon Copy Kid – Dustin Ingram

Warren Peace – Steven Strait

Nurse Spex – Cloris Leachman

Mr. Grayson / Stitches – Jim Rash

Mr. Boy – Dave Foley

Mr. Medulla – Kevin McDonald

Twin – Amy Brown

Evil Twin – Kimmy Brown

Cook – Lucille Soong

Young Commander – Zachry Rogers

Mr. Timmerman – Tom Kenny

Mrs. Timmerman – Jill Talley

Voice of Royal Pain – Patrick Warburton

Storyline
William “Will” Stronghold begins ninth grade at Sky High, a high school that exclusively teaches teenagers with superpowers. Will's parents are The Commander and Jetstream, two of the world's most famous superheroes. Will's best friend, Layla, who happens to have a crush on him, has the power to manipulate plant life. Will is anxious about attending Sky High, located on a floating campus reached by a flying school bus, because, unbeknownst to his parents, he has not developed any superpowers.

On the first day, he and the other ninth graders are harassed by a duo of bullies: Speed, a burly senior with super speed, and Lash, a skinny senior with extreme flexibility. Because of his lack of powers, Will is slated to enter a curriculum for "Hero Support" and becomes a sidekick. His classmates include Ethan, who melts into a fluid; Zach, who glows in the dark; Magenta, who transforms into a guinea pig; and Layla, who joins the class in protest against the two-track nature of the school's education system. The class is taught by The Commander's former sidekick, "All American Boy."

Will learns that not everybody gets powers, and there are such cases of those who have two superpower parents but do not get any superpowers, such as the Bus driver Ron Wilson. The Commander is unaware that his son has been relegated to Hero Support, and shows Will his hidden trophy room. He is particularly proud of the mysterious weapon, "The Pacifier", which he took from his science-themed nemesis, Royal Pain, years ago, but unknown to either of them, Royal Pain, who had been presumed dead, watches them from a hidden camera in one of the other trophies.

As Will settles into Sky High and makes friends with the other sidekicks, he comes into conflict with pyrokinetic student Warren Peace, whose supervillain father had been imprisoned by The Commander. During a fight between the two, Will eventually manifests super strength, impressing Gwen Grayson, a beautiful and popular technopath who controls machines with her mind. Will is subsequently transferred to the "Hero" track.

Gwen visits the Stronghold's house and asks Will's parents to attend the Homecoming Dance to accept an award for Superhero of the Year, which they accept. Later on, while walking to her house, Gwen asks Will out to Homecoming and, to his delight, becomes his girlfriend. Will then begins spending more time with Gwen and her clique of friends, ignoring the sidekicks and Layla, who reveals to Warren that she has loved Will for a long time.

On the night before the dance, Gwen tricks Will into throwing a party at his house and uses Speed to steal the Pacifier, which goes unseen by Will when he takes her into the secret sanctum. After Gwen lies to Layla, who shows up to investigate the noise and believes the lie, Will breaks up with Gwen, refusing to attend the dance, even though his parents were invited as honored guests. Later, he looks through his father's old yearbook and sees a student who resembles Gwen holding the Pacifier, which he subsequently discovers has been stolen. Believing that the student is Royal Pain and that Gwen is her daughter, he rushes to the dance.

At the dance party, Gwen reveals that she is actually Royal Pain. During her previous confrontation with the Commander, the Pacifier, which is meant to turn its target into an infant, had malfunctioned, turning her into a baby instead, thus faking her suspected death. She has since waited seventeen years for revenge. With the help of Speed, Lash, and Penny, she takes over the school and uses the Pacifier to turn the faculty and students into infants.

After returning to school, Will apologizes to Layla and teams up with Warren, the sidekicks, and Ron Wilson to try to save the day. The sidekicks demonstrate their heroism after Royal Pain sabotages the school's anti-gravity drive and their powers come in handy restarting it. Meanwhile, Will discovers that he has Jetstream's powers of flight when he is thrown off the edge of the school grounds and prevents the campus from falling using his two abilities.

Gwen and her henchmen are defeated and arrested, and the faculty and students are returned to their proper ages. His parents thank all of the sidekicks and admit they are heroes. Will and Layla kiss and a voiceover by Will at the end reveals that they become a couple, he and Warren became best friends, and Ron Wilson gained superhuman powers after falling into a vat of toxic waste, thus becoming a superhero.

Box Office
Sky High was created for an estimated US$35,000,000, and was released on July 29, 2005. It grossed $14,631,784 in the United States on its first week end, and $63,946,815 during the course of its run there. It earned a further $22 million worldwide for a cumulative gross of $86,369,815.

Soundtrack

 * Main article: Sky High (Soundtrack)

Sequel
During a January 2019 interview, Sky High’s director, Mike Mitchell, stated that it was intended to make at least one sequel to the movie. The proposed sequel would have been called Save U., and would have followed the characters graduating from high school, and moving on the Save University, a college for superheroes. Sadly, due to Sky High’s limited box office success, the plans for Save U. were shelved.

Also during this interview, Mr. Mitchell stated that the cast of the movie, excluding Kurt Russell and Kelly Preston, signed contracts to do a Sky High television series. Sadly, this idea was also shelved, However, with Disney looking for content for their new streaming service, it is not out of the realm of possibility that new Sky High productions might become reality in the near future!