It was announced recently that Mean Girls, the musical, was going to be made into a movie, leaving the vast majority of people scratching their heads because the musical was already based on a movie. So now, it looks like we will be living in a world where there exists, Mean Girls the movie, Mean Girls the musical, and Mean Girls the musical movie.
This announcement has just reiterated everyone’s assumption that Hollywood is indeed scared of original content and would much rather invest in sure-fire successes. But is this really going to be a success? It could be, but it’s also making us a little nervous.
We’re Excited Because… The Music!
The musical’s soundtrack is SO good! Tina Fey’s husband, Jeff Richmond, wrote the music for the musical and is coming back to write the music for the movie with his partner, Nell Benjamin, who is responsible for all of the lyrics. This is great news, and hopefully, in addition to some new songs, we’ll get to hear all of our favorites from the musical, in the film. The best song of course being ‘I’d Rather Be Me’ sung by everyone’s favorite teen rebel since John Bender, Janis Ian.
We’re Nervous Because… It’s Been Done
This is probably stating the obvious, but we already have a Mean Girls movie and it’s perfect and why can’t we just leave it at that? The general public rolled their eyes after the musical was announced, and they were wrong about that, so maybe this will end up the same way, but it still kind of feels like they’re beating a dead horse.
The name alone sounds a little silly, Mean Girls: The Musical: The Movie. Though, it did work recently for the High School Musical franchise, so only time will tell if Mean Girls can find the same success. There are worse things than a Mean Girls franchise.
We’re Excited Because… Maybe We’ll Get Some Diversity
The movie, released in 2004, boasts a predominately all-white cast with Rachel McAdams, Lindsay Lohan, Lacey Chabert, and Amanda Seyfried rounding our the main characters. In the Broadway musical’s original cast, Chabert’s character, Gretchen is played by Asian American actress, Ashley Park and the role was later taken over by Latina actress, Krystina Alabado. Hopefully, this team continues to make diverse casting choices with this next film.
We’re Nervous Because… The Music
As catchy as the music is and sure, it feels great to sing along, but it could be jarring or weird to see our favorite, well-established characters break out into song and dance at the drop of a hat. Music was used extremely well in the original film during the Christmas talent show, with Kevin Gnapoor doing an original tune.
And then, of course, the girls themselves dressed as sexy Santas and dancing to Jingle Bell Rock until the speaker breaks and Cady saves the day by belting it out Acappella. It’s such an iconic moment in the film, and may not land as well once we’re in a world where Cady sings all the time anyways.
We’re Excited Because… Tina Is Back To Write It!
In addition to bringing back the original team to write the music, we’re also getting the original writer, none other than Tina Fey herself! If anyone can reboot a comedic movie they wrote over fifteen years ago into a musical and then reboot again into another movie, it’s Tina. The original movie is still one of the most quotable films of our generation and we shouldn’t expect this new film to be any different. The idea of having a whole new library of quotes and references to choose from makes us very excited for this somewhat ridiculous reboot.
We’re Nervous Because… Aaron Gets The Boot
In the musical, Aaron gets burned by the burn book. He tells Regina that he’s at their high school “illegally” because he doesn’t live in that school district so technically he should be going to a different school. Regina puts it in the book, everyone finds out, and he gets the boot.
It’s a weird storyline that seems a little unnecessary because Aaron’s character arc in the movie is pretty much perfect. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it, right? It’ll be interesting to see how they blend the musical with the beloved because there are a couple of storylines, like this one, which don’t line up anymore.
We’re Excited Because… Social Media Is A Thing
The original film came out just a year or so before social media really took off and had it waited any longer to debut, it would’ve been a very different film. Instead of the Burn Book, we’d have the Burn Facebook, and instead of finding out Regina sent Cady a candy cane in person, Gretchen probably would’ve seen it on an Instagram story. The musical takes social media into consideration, which means the musical movie will most likely do so as well. We can’t wait to see how many followers Regina George has both pre and post getting hit by the bus.
We’re Nervous Because… We Don’t Need Another Musical Movie
Let’s all take a moment to remember what happened to Cats. Pulling off a musical movie these days is really hard. Audiences have so many options, not just in the theater, but with streaming as well, so to have a strong opening weekend, you need something great, something compelling, and/or something no one has seen before.
The fact that audiences have seen this before (twice) and the fact that musical movies in general haven’t been doing too well in recent years, makes us a little nervous for Mean Girls: The Musical: The Movie. Maybe, instead of trying to compete at the box office, they’ll release the film on a streaming service. It may be a smarter move if they want to avoid another Cats-tastrophe.
We’re Excited Because… Janis Will Shine
One of the best things about the musical is Janis’ character getting a substantial upgrade in terms of stage time. Janis has some of the best numbers in the show, and is heavily featured throughout, even more so than in the film. There’s no way this musical movie can take any of that back now, which means we should expect a lot of middle fingers and sassy remarks, but on tempo and in the key of rock.
We’re Nervous Because… It May Not Translate
The typical movie format tells a story in three acts. The typical musical format tells a story in two acts. The biggest criticism the musical received when it premiered in 2017 was that it felt like the creators were trying to jam a three-act story into a two-act production. Now, those same creators have to go back and turn a two-act production into another story in three acts, and that is much easier said than done. One of the biggest challenges musical movies face is finding a way to hold an audiences attention with a longer storytelling format. It’s also why the majority of musical movies have much longer run times than the standard ninety-minute run.
