I noticed with the recent discourse surrounding who should be the next to get the Disney legends awards, as well as a recent thread on here comparing Hilary and Raven, there's been some people online discrediting Hilary's career. 

 

Hilary was the only one out of all of her peers at the time that excelled in TV, music, and movies simultaneously.

 

Between 2002-2007:

- Filmed 12 films

- 5 album cycles

- 4 sold-out concert tours (3/4 being international tours)

- Lizzie McGuire aired new episodes until 2004 (reruns would air on Disney Channel and ABC Kids until 2006 and went into syndication right after)

- Guest starred on hit shows like Frasier, George Lopez, American Dreams, etc.

- Dozens of commercials and endorsement deals, including a multi-year deal with Barbie

- Launched a successful fashion and lifestyle brand

- Dolls, perfumes, books, etc.

 

Some facts that speak to how in demand Hilary was in all facets of entertainment: 

 

Cadet Kelly, released in 2002, held the record as the highest rated DCOM with 7.8 million viewers during its premiere, which wasn't surpassed until The Cheetah Girls 2 in 2006. This means that Cadet Kelly's premiere had more viewers than DCOM classics like the original High School Musical, Cheetah Girls, all of the Halloweentowns, and all of the Zenons. It was also the only DCOM to air on ABC's Wonderful World of Disney until Camp Rock aired there 6 years later.

 

In 2003, after filming commenced on Lizzie McGuire, Hilary and her mom walked away from negotiations with Disney that would've included a primetime series on ABC that followed Lizzie and her friends to high school, a sequel to The Lizzie McGuire Movie, and an animated series. Disney would go on to still milk Lizzie for all she was worth with books, clothing lines, video games, toys, board games, school supplies, home decor, a McDonald's Happy Meal, etc. Hilary would continue to make appearances on Disney Channel through promos and constant airings of her music videos since she was signed to their Hollywood Records. They would also acquire the rights to air some of her non-Disney movies including Casper Meets Wendy, Agent Cody Banks, and A Cinderella Story.

 

Not only was Hilary still heavily promoted on Disney Channel, she was also regularly featured on other tween/teen-oriented networks like MTV, The WB, and Disney Channel's rival Nickelodeon.

 

Soon after walking away from negotiations with Disney, there was an intense bidding war between CBS, NBC, and FOX to sign Hilary to a development deal for a new series. CBS eventually won that war. The deal fell through, with Hilary deciding to focus more on film and music

 

A Cinderella Story director revealed that once Hilary signed onto the film, there was a bidding war between all of the major film studios like Warner Bros, Disney, Universal, etc. The film eventually found it's home with Warner Bros. Hilary ended up working with all of the major film studios on her other films. Warner Bros had to push back the release of Sisterhood of Travelling Pants so that they could rush release ACS. 

 

Something else that the director of A Cinderella Story revealed is that Hilary had at least 10 potential film projects that she was offered at the time, which is known to have included Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen.

 

 

 

Yes, it is. The fact that Hilary used to tour and was making the Forbes and Rolling Stone lists of top money makers in music alone speaks volumes.  

Yeah her career is very underrated !!!

Because her main audience was teens and she didn't pursue her music nor film career probably in the 2010s, some decided to be forgetful or blind about her impact.

 

Other major milestones: Metamorphosis actually debuted at #2 then went #1 on its SECOND week.

Her compilation Most Wanted was #1 for 2 weeks in a much more challenging sales climate in 2005.

 

Again, all of this happened 2 decades ago and she didn't follow up much unfortunately.

I feel like she was huge (?) in the US but not really relevant in Europe. At least not in germany. I don't know if her disney show was aired here but she had a cute 2,5 minutes when So Yesterday peaked at 45 and the album missed the charts, I think. 

Imagine if she was stuck at Disney until 2007 like Raven.

9 minutes ago, Schami66 said:

I feel like she was huge (?) in the US but not really relevant in Europe. At least not in germany. I don't know if her disney show was aired here but she had a cute 2,5 minutes when So Yesterday peaked at 45 and the album missed the charts, I think. 

Her biggest European markets were Italy (by far) and the Netherlands. 

she was a FORCE

I used to have a big crush on Hilary Duff when I was a kid. She's definitely a Disney legend. 

38 minutes ago, Schami66 said:

I don't know if her disney show was aired here

It did

 

31 minutes ago, MikeyDuff1D said:

It did

 

Wow that was painful to watch, especially that she was only 16!

 

He should have respected her more, isn't her grandma of German descent? smh

Yes tbh

She was massive yes but sadly wasn't driven enough to keep the momentum going. It's crazy to think that she basically went into semi-retirement at TWENTY and since then has been doing the occasional tv show to escape her mansion for a bit.

She was the Original Disney Queen