Paramount seemed to be scared to promote Mean Girls as a musical.
Scared to promote it for what it was
In Variety's box office report for Mean Girls, Marc Weinstock talked about the film's marketing. “To start saying musical, musical, musical, you have the potential to turn off audiences.”
Mean Girls was first a 2004 film based on Rosalind Wiseman's 2002 book, Queen Bees and Wannabees. Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried, and Lacey Chabert starred in the film which was written by Tina Fey. The film would soon be adapted into a Broadway musical whose book was written by Fey.
Now, in 2024, Paramount released yet another take on it. Angourie Rice, Reneé Rapp, Auli'i Cravalho, Avantika, and Jenna Fischer star in the new film. Tim Meadows and Tina Fey reprise their roles from the 2004 film as well. Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. make their directorial debuts with the film.
Mean Girls isn't the only recent mainstream musical to be released. Warner Bros released Wonka with Timothée Chalamet in December. Paul King, director of the Paddington films, directed it. The film was a musical though the studio didn't market it as such.
Going forward, it will be interesting to see if studios have more faith in musicals. Mean Girls opened to $28.6 million at the box office and has made over $322 million to date. The original 2004 film grossed $130 million at the box office. Wonka, on the other hand, has made over $500 million at the box office to date after debuting with $39 million domestically.
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