Mitchie Torres is officially headed back to camp. Demi Lovato confirmed months of rumors that she makes a cameo in the upcoming Camp Rock 3 threequel on Tuesday (Aug. 11) when she posted a still from the film in which she stands by a road case with a big smile. The caption to the pic reads, “ya’ll miss me? xoxo, mitchie.”
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She also celebrated her history with the franchise on Instagram with an album of shots from the first two films, 2008’s Camp Rock and 2010’s Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam, featuring the caption, “mitchie 4 ever 🩵 #thisisme.” The first two are among the top 10 Disney Channel original movies of all time and have been watched for more than 535 million hours across linear and streaming to date, according to a press release announcing Lovato’s return.
Sixteen years after the second Camp Rock movie in 2010, Kevin, Nick and Joe Jonas are back as boy band Connect 3 and they’re in search of an opening act. The trio go back to Camp Rock to search for a candidate, where they discover the new movie’s stars, Liamani Segura and Malachi Barton, as well as Lumi Pollack, Sherry Cola, Hudson Stone, Casey Trotter, Brooklynn Pitts and Ava Jean.
The JoBros also celebrated their return, posting a silly Instagram video in which they lip synch to their character’s laments about going back to camp with the caption, “Connect 3 connects a 3rd time.”
Describing Lovato’s return as her signature character Torres, director Veronica Rodriguez told The Hollywood Reporter that her goal was to hold on to the tone of the originals while also updating it for a contemporary audience.
“I needed to make a movie that simultaneously satisfied the new Camp Rockers and the nostalgia campers like myself who grew up with the franchise and know it and love it so much and hold it as a beloved piece of DCOM [Disney Channel Original Movies] canon, just really threading that needle of making a movie that is enjoyable and fun,” she said. “I wanted to take everything we know and love about the original Camp Rock movies and ‘plus’ them up in every way that I could,” Rodriguez added of refreshing everything from the costumes to the characters.
Part of that was updating the musical numbers, from big group dances to quite acoustic tunes, as well as sprinkling in a variety of genres that reflect today’s pop charts. While Rodriguez didn’t want to spoil Lovato’s cameo in the franchise that helped make her, and the JoBros, superstars, she said there were “thoughtful” discussions with Demi about how to bring Mitchie back without dimming the lights of the budding younger performers.
“We wanted to find the right balance of how much she should be in the film and what Mitchie’s involvement looked like,” Rodriguez said. “Her character literally says in the movie, to her mom, ‘This isn’t about me, it’s about them. It’s their time to shine. This is the new generation of campers.’ With Mitchie and Connect 3, we wanted them to be ingrained and necessary for the story but also leave enough room and space for the world to fall in love with the new generation of campers.”
Other Easter eggs for superfans include the return of Cola as Connect 3’s tour manager — with a funny line in a hip-hop class that features a hat-related callback to the original — as well as the return of Mitchie’s songwriting book and a lovable mean girl baddie named Maddie (Ava Jean) who was modeled on the original films’ Tess (Meghan Martin). The movie features a new song from the Jonas Brothers called “Come On Over.”
Lovato let the cat out of the bag on Monday night (Aug. 10) at the Los Angeles premiere of Camp Rock 3 when she walked the red carpet with the Jonas Brothers, dressed in a body-hugging shimmery bronze lace-up vintage Dolce & Gabbana dress according to People.
Camp Rock 3 premieres at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Thursday on Disney Channel and streams the next day on Disney+.
Check out the Camp Rock 3 trailer below.
