If you were a Disney fan in the 2000s, you’ll recall the buzz surrounding the smash hit film series High School Musical.

The trilogy, released between 2006 and 2008, tells the tale of two high school juniors from rival cliques Troy Bolton (Zac Efron), the basketball team’s captain, and Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens), a shy, intelligent transfer student who shines in maths and science.

In the first film, watched by over 225 million viewers, their decision to audition for the school musical seems to split their school as it defies the “status quo”. Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale), the high school drama queen, will stop at nothing to ruin their friendship, a mission she continues in the second film about the students landing summer jobs at a country club where Sharpay and Ryan’s (Lucas Grabeel) family are members.

READ MORE: High School Musical cast feuds – ‘hated each other’, death glare and on-set fight

Get more of the latest Disney news and updates here.

However, the third film sees the characters celebrating the end of their high school journey, with prom, graduation and a musical spectacle that featured some unforgettable songs like ‘Scream’ or ‘Now or Never’.

But it’s ‘The Boys are Back’ causing a stir now, more than 16 years after the franchise wrapped up, as one fan thinks she’s found a peculiar “Easter egg” concealed in the song lyrics. The term “Easter Egg” is used to denote a hidden message, image or feature in a movie or video game that refers to something else.

Typically, these hidden messages are nods to other films produced by the same company. Disney is particularly known for this, with examples such as Aladdin’s carpet appearing in Moana or Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder from Tangled casually attending Elsa’s coronation in Frozen.

However, it seems that Disney’s High School Musical 3 may have referenced a film made by animation rival Dreamworks. In a clip which garnered over 17,000 likes, TikTok user Pearl (@lydi_uhhh) shared a snippet of a song sung by Troy and Chad (Corbin Bleu), which includes the lyrics: “Just like a showdown, Will Smith and Bobby De Niro.”

If your initial thought was they were referencing Men in Black, you’d be mistaken, as Smith starred alongside Tommy Lee Jones in that film. Instead, the TikTok user clarified: “Wait. Now, what I showed you might not seem important or crazy at all, but here’s where you’re wrong. I’ve made just an incredible discovery this evening when you Google Will Smith and Bobby De Niro. Do you know what movie comes up?”

She then revealed the film reference was actually about Will Smith’s voice acting role in Shark Tale as Oscar, the so-called “shark slayer” who has a showdown with shark mob boss Don Lino, voiced by Robert De Niro.

“Yeah, yeah dude. To my knowledge, this is the only movie that they’re in together. And yes, their characters do have a showdown in it. High School Musical has a legit Can and Shark Tale reference in it. I love cinema,” she concluded.

TikTok has been buzzing with users gobsmacked by a clip revelation, with comments flooding in as fans admit their surprise. One user confessed: “I always thought it was about Men In Black… but that’s Tommy Lee Jones.”

Another chimed in with a universe-blending observation: “So Shark Tale exists in the High School Musical universe,” and a third commented: “Chad and Troy watching Shark Tale and genuinely enjoying it is sending me, I wanna believe it was a big sleepover with the whole team.”