being offered a salary closer to $3 million, not $5 million, for the follow-up, which focuses on senior year at East High. Whatever the price, he's still perceived as a steal." The film was originally titled Haunted High School Musical with plans of a Halloween theme that were later scrapped. Ortega stated that pre-production would most likely start in January 2008. Filming began May 3, 2008, at East High School in Salt Lake City, Utah. He stated that the script had been submitted before the writers' strike started and that they were developing music. He added that filming would take place in Salt Lake City as in the first two films, hinted that the plot will be something of the nature of the Wildcats' final year in high school and stated, "it looks like we've rounded up the cast." Before filming began, the HSM3 board and cast held a press conference at East High School announcing the start of filming. The film was set for release in theaters in the United States on October 24, 2008, though the film was to open in several countries, including the United Kingdom, at least one week earlier. The film had an $11 million budget and a 40-day shooting period. The film was said at the time to be the final installment with the current cast. Vanessa Hudgens photo controversy Despite early reports that Vanessa Hudgens would be dropped from the film due to her nude photo scandal, The Walt Disney Company denied the reports, saying, "Vanessa has apologized for what was obviously a lapse in judgment. We hope she's learned a valuable lesson." Release Sing-along version A sing-along edition with lyrics highlighted on the screen was released in select theaters on November 7, 2008, two weeks following its initial release. Box office High School Musical 3: Senior Year opened with $17 million on Friday, setting the biggest opening day for a musical film of all time, until the record was topped in 2012 by Les Miserables ($18.1 million). It debuted at the #1 spot (beating out Saw V) with an opening weekend of $42,030,184 in the United States and breaking the record, previously held by Enchanted, for the biggest opening ever for a movie musical. This record would later be broken by Pitch Perfect 2 in 2015 ($69.2 million). The film also opened at #1 overseas, with an international opening of $42,622,505. The