Since its launch on April 18, 1983, American cable and satellite television channel Disney Channel has released a number of original television films. These were named Disney Channel Premiere Films until October 1997, when the current Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) branding was introduced. For a period from March 2023 to August 2024 the Disney Original Movie moniker was used, before the network reverted to the earlier branding.
Most of these films were subsequently released on home video formats such as VHS, DVD, or more recently, Blu-ray, while others were not. Beginning with Princess Protection Program in 2009, releases of DCOMs on DVD months following their television premieres got reduced to a week after television premieres. The 2009 television film also became the first DCOM to appear in high-definition widescreen, although DCOMs have been produced in such a format since the release of Go Figure on June 10, 2005.
The highest-rated premiere for the banner/brand came in August 2007, when High School Musical 2 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. DCOMs include sequels-turned-franchises such as Under Wraps, Halloweentown, Zenon, Twitches, The Cheetah Girls, High School Musical, Camp Rock, Teen Beach, Descendants and Zombies.
During the Memorial Day holiday weekend of 2016, Disney Channel began to air many older DCOMs in a specialized marathon programming block in celebration of its 100th film, Adventures in Babysitting, starting off with the 51 most popular films airing over the four-day weekend from May 27, 2016 and concluding on June 24, 2016 with the premiere of the aforementioned 100th Disney Channel Original Movie.
From April 5 to May 24, 2021, Disney Channel hosted an eight-week event called "DCOM & Dessert", where a Disney Channel Original Movie would air every Monday night at 7:00 PM. Zombies 2 stars Ariel Martin and Chandler Kinney hosted this event and had their own baking segments where they would make interactive dessert recipes that families could make at home.
Disney previously made many of these films available for streaming on Disney+. However, in 2024 the company removed 20 DCOMs from the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) regional library.
Disney Channel Premiere Films (1983–1997) The Disney Channel Original Movie branding was not established until 1997. Prior to this the channel used the label "Disney Channel Premiere Films"; this was applied to the following 44 films. Year Film Premiere date 1983Tiger Town October 9, 1983 1984Gone Are the Dayes May 1984 Love Leads the Way October 7, 1984 1985Black Arrow January 6, 1985 Lots of Luck February 3, 1985 May 5, 1985The Blue Yonder November 17, 1985 1986 July 26, 1986Spot Marks the X October 18, 1986Down the Long Hills November 15, 1986 1987Strange Companions February 28, 1987Anne of Avonlea: The Continuing Story of Anne of Green Gables May 19, 1987Not Quite Human June 19, 1987 December 5, 1987 1988Save the Dog March 19, 1988The Night Train to Kathmandu June 5, 1988Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss August 6, 1988A Friendship in Vienna August 27, 1988Good Old Boy November 11, 1988Goodbye, Miss 4th of July December 3, 1988 1989Not Quite Human 2 September 23, 1989 1990Lantern Hill January 27, 1990 Chips, the War Dog March 24, 1990Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme May 19, 1990Back Home June 7, 1990 August 17, 1990Back to Hannibal: The Return of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn October 21, 1990 1991Bejewelled January 20, 1991Perfect Harmony March 31, 1991Mark Twain and Me November 22, 1991 1992 Still Not Quite Human May 31, 1992 1993 January 17, 1993Spies March 7, 1993 The Disney Channel Magazine, Vol. 11, no. 2, February/March 1993: pp. 38, 42.Heidi July 18, 1993 1994On Promised Land April 17, 1994 July 31, 1994 1995 March 19, 1995 August 12, 1995 1996 March 24, 1996Nightjohn June 1, 1996Susie Q October 3, 1996Wish Upon a Star November 12, 1996 1997 February 25, 1997Northern Lights August 23, 1997 Notes
Disney Channel Original Movies (1997–2022) The following films were released during the original use of the label- starting with the channel rebrand in 1997, and running until its brief retirement in 2022. Year Film Premiere date Ratings(millions) 1997 Under Wraps October 25, 1997 1998 You Lucky Dog June 27, 1998 Brink! August 29, 1998 Halloweentown October 17, 1998 3.4 1999 Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century January 23, 1999 Can of Worms April 10, 1999 May 15, 1999 Smart House June 26, 1999 Johnny Tsunami July 24, 1999 Genius August 21, 1999 Don't Look Under the Bed October 9, 1999 Horse Sense November 20, 19993.2 2000 Up, Up, and Away January 22, 2000 February 5, 2000 Alley Cats Strike March 18, 2000 Rip Girls April 22, 2000 Miracle in Lane 2 May 13, 2000 Stepsister from Planet Weird June 17, 2000 Ready to Run July 14, 2000 Quints August 18, 2000 September 8, 2000 Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire October 13, 2000 Phantom of the Megaplex November 10, 2000 December 1, 2000 2001 Zenon: The Zequel January 12, 20013.7 Motocrossed February 16, 20013.5 March 9, 20015.2 Hounded April 13, 2001 3.6 Jett Jackson: The Movie June 8, 2001 July 13, 2001 Jumping Ship August 17, 2001 September 14, 2001 Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge October 12, 2001 6.1 'Twas the Night December 7, 2001 2002 Double Teamed January 18, 2002 5.0 Cadet Kelly March 8, 2002 7.8 Tru Confessions April 5, 2002 Get a Clue June 28, 2002 3.2 Gotta Kick It Up! July 26, 2002 August 23, 2002 October 4, 2002 2003 You Wish! January 10, 2003 Right on Track March 21, 2003 June 13, 2003 5.1 Eddie's Million Dollar Cook-Off July 18, 20033.7 August 15, 2003 6.5 Full-Court Miracle November 21, 20034.4 2004 Pixel Perfect January 16, 20043.9 Going to the Mat March 19, 2004 Zenon: Z3 June 11, 2004 4.1 Stuck in the Suburbs July 16, 2004 3.7 Tiger Cruise August 6, 20043.8 Halloweentown High October 8, 2004 6.1 2005Now You See It... January 14, 2005 4.3 Buffalo Dreams March 11, 2005 Kim Possible Movie: So the Drama April 8, 20054.4 Go Figure June 10, 2005 3.5 Life Is Ruff July 15, 2005 4.3 August 19, 20054.8 Twitches October 14, 2005 7.0 2006 High School Musical January 20, 2006 7.7 Cow Belles March 24, 2006 5.8 Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior June 16, 2006 5.7 Read It and Weep July 21, 2006 5.6 August 25, 2006 7.8 Return to Halloweentown October 20, 2006 7.5 2007 Jump In! January 12, 2007 8.2 Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board June 8, 2007 1.8 High School Musical 2 August 17, 2007 17.2 Twitches Too October 12, 2007 6.9 2008 Minutemen January 25, 2008 6.5 Camp Rock June 20, 2008 8.9 August 22, 2008 6.2 2009 Dadnapped February 16, 2009 4.6 Hatching Pete April 24, 2009 4.1 Princess Protection Program June 26, 2009 8.5 Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie August 28, 2009 11.4 2010 Starstruck February 14, 2010 6.0 Den Brother August 13, 2010 3.7 Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam September 3, 2010 7.9 Avalon High November 12, 2010 3.8 2011 March 25, 2011 5.2 Lemonade Mouth April 15, 2011 7.1 Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure May 22, 2011 4.9 Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension August 5, 2011 7.6 Geek Charming November 11, 2011 4.9 Good Luck Charlie, It's Christmas! December 2, 2011 6.9 2012 Frenemies January 13, 2012 4.2 Radio Rebel February 17, 2012 4.3 Let It Shine June 15, 2012 5.7 Girl vs. Monster October 12, 2012 4.9 2013 Teen Beach Movie July 19, 2013 8.4 2014 Cloud 9 January 17, 2014 5.0 Zapped June 27, 2014 5.7 How to Build a Better Boy August 15, 2014 4.6 2015 Bad Hair Day February 13, 2015 4.0 Teen Beach 2 June 26, 2015 5.8 Descendants July 31, 2015 6.6 Invisible Sister October 9, 2015 4.0 2016 Adventures in Babysitting June 24, 2016 3.4 October 7, 2016 2.6 2017 Tangled: Before Ever After March 10, 2017 2.9 Descendants 2 July 21, 2017 5.8 2018 Zombies February 16, 2018 2.6 Freaky Friday August 10, 2018 1.6 2019 Kim Possible February 15, 2019 1.2 Descendants 3 August 2, 2019 4.6 2020 Zombies 2 February 14, 2020 2.5 Upside-Down Magic July 31, 2020 1.3 2021 Spin August 13, 2021 0.5 Under Wraps October 1, 2021 0.4 Christmas...Again?! December 3, 2021 0.5 2022 Zombies 3 August 12, 2022 0.3 Under Wraps 2 September 25, 2022 Notes
Disney Original Movies (2023–2024) A brief rebrand was in effect during this period, amid the rise of Disney+ and declining viewership of the channel. The DCOM moniker was set aside in favour of the "Disney Original Movie" label. Year Film Premiere date Ratings(millions) 2023 Prom Pact March 30, 2023 0.2 The Slumber Party July 27, 2023 The Naughty NineNovember 22, 2023 0.3 2024 Big City Greens the Movie: Spacecation June 6, 2024 0.2 Descendants: The Rise of Red August 9, 2024 Notes
Revived Disney Channel Original Movie label (2025–present) The network returned to the earlier label amid a general rebranding of the channel in 2025.
Year Film Premiere date Ratings(millions) 2025 Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires July 10, 2025 0.6 2026Descendants: Wicked WonderlandJuly 16, 2026 0.3Camp Rock 3August 13, 2026 Notes
Upcoming films Year Film Projected premiere 2027The Cheetah Girls: Next Gen 2027 Hidden Heroes: A Descendants Story Zombies 5: Secrets of the Sea Untitled Phineas and Ferb film
Related films The branding has at times been inconsistently applied in promotional material; this section lists some of those edge cases.
Films that did not originally premiere under the "Disney Channel Original Movie" label, but were later promoted as such: Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars (March 26, 2010) 16 Wishes (June 25, 2010) Back of the Net (June 15, 2019) The Curious Case of Dolphin Bay (June 11, 2022)
Films that were produced by Disney Channel, but premiered on Disney+ without the branding: Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe (August 28, 2020; premiered on Disney Channel on April 8, 2023) Secret Society of Second-Born Royals (September 25, 2020; premiered on Disney Channel on February 26, 2023) Sneakerella (May 13, 2022; premiered on Disney Channel on August 13, 2022)
Films based on Disney Channel shows or Disney Channel Original Movies, but premiered theatrically. Some later aired on the Disney Channel: The Lizzie McGuire Movie (May 2, 2003; premiered on Disney Channel on November 26, 2005) Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert (February 1, 2008; premiered on Disney Channel on July 26, 2008) High School Musical 3: Senior Year (October 24, 2008; premiered on Disney Channel on April 4, 2010) Hannah Montana: The Movie (April 10, 2009; premiered on Disney Channel on November 19, 2010)
Films that were not considered Disney Channel Original Movies in the United States but have been labeled as such elsewhere; often originating with the channel's international versions:
Ice Princess (premiered theatrically on March 18, 2005) High School Musical: El desafío (Argentina) (premiered in Argentine theaters on July 17, 2008) High School Musical: El desafío (Mexico) (premiered in Mexico on September 5, 2008) Luck Luck Ki Baat (premiered on Disney Channel India on September 30, 2012) Bunks (broadcast on October 27, 2013, premiered on Disney XD on June 16, 2014) Pants on Fire (premiered on Disney XD on November 9, 2014) Mère et Fille: California Dream (premiered on Disney Channel France on February 5, 2016)
Highest-rated Disney Channel Original Movie premieres
Top 10 No. Movie Viewers(millions) Year High School Musical 217.22007 Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie11.42009 Camp Rock8.92008 Princess Protection Program8.52009 Teen Beach Movie8.42013 Jump In!8.22007 Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam7.92010 Cadet Kelly7.82002 The Cheetah Girls 22006 High School Musical7.7 Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension 7.62011
By calendar year