High School Musical without Zac Efron would be like Friday Night Lights without Kyle Chandler.

Therefore, after the record-setting peformance of High School Musical 2, the only question fans care about is:

Will Zac Efron sign on for High School Musical 3?

Here's the celebrity gossip we have on the topic: in February, plans were set in motion for a Halloween-themed feature film the studio dubbed Haunted High School Musical. Of course, somewhere between then and now, this plan was scraped.

Today, Disney says it will instead focus on the senior year of key characters (such as the one played by Corbin Bleu) at East High to complete this film's triology. The original writer from the first two films, Peter Barsocchini, is writing the script. The original producers and director Kenny Ortega are also on board.

As far as Zac, Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Tisdale are concerned, Disney released the following statement:

"There is no contractual obligation for any of the cast members to return. That said, we are in active negotiations with all the principle cast members and are feeling optimistic."

When Billy Bush asked Zac last week at the High School Musical 2 premiere about another installment, the golden boy replied: "A third movie would be a dream come true. Finishing High School Musical with a third movie, that would be in theaters, is just sort of a tribute to everything we kind of did here."

Bottom line: Don't worry, ladies. Efron will return. You haven't seen Daniel Radcliffe bail on Harry Potter, have you?