High School Musical 3 delivered a $42 million opening weekend and Paramount Pictures decided to fasttrack Footloose, as a Zack Efron and Kenny Ortega production next spring. Efron is set to star while Ortega directs and possibly choreography.

According to the Variety article, the studio has brought on Peter Sollect the director of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist to rewrite the Jon Hartmere script.

Once Efron makes this deal he will be paid a mid-seven-figure salary and give him script approval.  He is moving up in the business folks!

Ortega has been working on the development of Footloose for two years. It looks like his hard work is coming to fruition with the fasttrack of new songs that will complement some of the memorable original tunes of the Herb Ross-directed film.

The original Footloose wasn’t a musical. It’s screenwriter Dean Pitchford wrote lyrics for songs that included the Kenny Loggins title song as well as “Let’s Hear It for the Boy,” “Almost Paradise” and “Holding Out for a Hero.”

Variety reports that at least some of those tunes are expected to be in the new movie.

Footloose created one of the biggest-selling soundtracks of its time and made a star of Kevin Bacon.

With Efron already a star, the movie could set the stage for even more musicals on the big screen.