DISNEY CHANNEL ORIGINAL MOVIE "LET IT SHINE" DIVINES 5.7 MILLION VIEWERS, BECOMES #1 TV MOVIE OF THE YEAR ACROSS TARGET KIDS 2-11, KIDS 6-11 AND TWEENS

5.7 million Total Viewers gave 'cred' to Friday's premiere of the kid-driven, family inclusive "Let It Shine" (8:00 p.m.), which also now ranks as the year's #1 TV movie across all core kid demographics with its strong delivery of 3.0 million Kids 2-11, 2.6 million Kids 6-11, 2.3 million Tweens, plus 1.2 million Adults 18-49.

"Let It Shine," a re-imagining of the classic Cyrano de Bergerac story (an 1837 play written entirely in verse) set in the contemporary world of hip-hop, rap and gospel music, is another achievement for the powerful Disney Channel Original Movie franchise which has delivered basic cable TV's #1 movie in Total Viewers for the past five consecutive years (2006-11) and the #1 movie telecast among Tweens for 10 consecutive years (2002 -11).

Encore telecasts of "Let It Shine" are scheduled for Saturday, June 16 (11:00 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.) and Sunday, June 17 (6:05 p.m.). During last night's telecast, viewers were invited to download the WATCH Disney Channel app, an innovative new app available at watchdisneychannel.com to get the lyrical jump on the "Let It Shine - Rap Battle Edition" airing Saturday, June 30 (7:30 p.m.). The WATCH Disney Channel app is available for free from the App Store on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore.

The movie stars: Tyler James Williams, Coco Jones, Trevor Jackson, Brandon Mychal Smith, Courtney B. Vance, Dawnn Lewis, Nicole Sullivan and Alex Désert. It was directed by two-time DGA Award winner Paul Hoen and includes an A-list of songwriters and music producers on the soundtrack which is climbing the digital music and Radio Disney charts. The teleplay was written by Eric Daniel and Don D. Scott and choreographed by Danny Teeson and Brandon Shaw.

Its lead-in was a 'Name that Baby' episode of the hit series "Good Luck Charlie" (7:30 p.m.), which delivered 3.6 million Total Viewers. The series' story arc has the Duncans preparing for the imminent arrival of a baby brother or sister (scheduled for Sunday, June 24). Viewers cast 25 million votes for the baby's name at www.DisneyChannel.com and results will be revealed June 24.

Immediately following "Let It Shine" (9:55 p.m.), Disney Channel programmers scheduled the special preview of Disney Television Animation's comedy series "Gravity Falls," which delivered 3.4 million Total Viewers and 2.0 million Kids 2-11 and 1.7 million Kids 6-11. "Gravity Falls" premieres in its regular timeslot Friday, June 29 (9:30 p.m.). "Gravity Falls," created and executive-produced by Alex Hirsch, and stars Greg Ellis, Jason Ritter and Kristen Schaal.

The premiere of "Let It Shine" gives another advantage to Disney Channel which now has the year's Top 5 scripted TV telecasts among Kids 2-11 and Kids 6-11 (two episodes of "Wizards of Waverly Place" including the series' finale, January telecasts of "Jessie" and "Fish Hooks").

Source: NTI, early ratings, U.S. 2012 to date: 12/26/11 - 6/14/12.