Disney Channel to air all 100 of its original movies this summer

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E! News has referred to the summer of 2016 as a throwback to 2009 largely because of concert reunions among the popular Disney Channel stars of that era. Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas are taking their “Future Now” tour on the road, and Joe Jonas’s band DNCE is opening for Selena Gomez’s “Rival” tour. But now Disney Channel itself is taking us back to that heyday with its announcement that it will replay every Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) ever made to kick off Memorial Day Weekend.

In celebration of its 100th movie, a remake of the 1980s film “Adventures in Babysitting” starring Sabrina Carpenter (“Girl Meets World”) and Sofia Carson (“Descendants”) that debuts June 24, the network will air 51 of its most popular movies during the four-day Memorial Day Weekend. Encore presentations of these and every other DCOM ever made will continue through June. The movies also can be seen on the Disney Channel app and VOD (video on demand).

All 100 DCOMs will be available for sale throughout the summer on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video and Google Play. The “100th DCOM Celebration” begins May 27, and the schedule is posted at the end of this blog post.

In the United States, DCOMs hold the record of six of the Top 7 original cable movies ever: “High School Musical 2,” “Teen Beach Movie,” “Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie,” “Descendants,” “Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension” and “Camp Rock.” Just about all of these movies are ones that my family watched repeatedly on Disney Channel.

It’s difficult for me to believe that it’s been 10 years since the original “High School Musical” movie aired on Disney Channel and eight years since we first saw “Camp Rock.” Both of my children were young when the movies were released, but they were so in love with the characters, the music and the choreography. We had viewing parties, Halloween costumes, and just about every piece of “High School Musical” and “Camp Rock” merchandise, I think. (“Hannah Montana” was wildly popular during this time, too, but the two “Hannah Montana” movies were theater releases, rather than DCOMs.)

As a parent, I fondly remember the times we got to see some of these artists in concert at special events at Walt Disney World. In 2007 and 2008, my children and I attended the taping of the Disney Channel Games at ESPN Wide World of Sports. It aired in segments on Disney Channel and culminated with concert footage — also shot at the Walt Disney World sports facility — that featured Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato and the Cheetah Girls. Disney gave away free tickets to the concerts both years, and we were fortunate to go the second year. We also saw the principal actors from “High School Musical” and performances by Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers at the Magic Kingdom during tapings for what was then called the “Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade” special.

In 2010, Kevin and Nick Jonas, Demi Lovato and other “Camp Rock” actors shot a Friends for Change segment for Disney Channel in Tampa. At the time, I worked at the Orlando Sentinel, and I was invited to interview the performers on location. That certainly was an interesting experience!

So, my family and I definitely were immersed in Disney Channel during those years, and our nostalgia most likely will draw us to watch the network during the “100th DCOM Celebration.” We also can look forward to “High School Musical 4,” for which Disney currently is holding video and in-person casting auditions.

Let the binge-watching begin! The “100th DCOM Celebration” schedule is as follows:

FRIDAY, May 27:

10:00 a.m. — “Disney’s Kim Possible Movie: So the Drama”

11:20 a.m. — “Read It and Weep”

12:55 p.m. — “Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior”

2:40 p.m. — “Jump In!”

4:15 p.m. — “Lemonade Mouth”

6:15 p.m. — “Zapped”

8:00 p.m. — “High School Musical 2â€³

9:55 p.m. — “The Cheetah Girls 2â€³

11:45 p.m. — “Zenon the Zequel”

1:25 a.m. — “Halloweentown II: Kalabar’s Revenge”