Summary

• The new Mean Girls movie is an adaptation of the Broadway musical, but the trailers have been coy about its musical elements.
• The final trailer suggests the presence of production numbers with dance sequences and drumsticks banging against a locker.
• The movie follows Cady Heron's culture shock as she moves to the US and gets caught up in the superficial and cruel Plastics clique.

The final trailer for Mean Girls has come close to itting that the movie is a musical. The movie, which stars Angourie Rice as Cady Heron and Reneé Rapp as Regina George, is an adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name by Tina Fey, Jeff Richmond, and Nell Benjamin, which was based on the iconic 2004 teen movie of the same name. However, the trailers for the new movie have been coy about advertising it as a musical, generally reducing the onscreen singing to a single line, "My name is Regina George."

Mean Girls release date. Check it out below:

At first, the trailer seems to be pulling back on its musical elements, featuring "My name is Regina George" in voiceover rather than showing it sung by Rapp (who was one of the stars to play the role on Broadway). However, the trailer does feature a variety of moments that imply the presence of production numbers, including several shots of dancing and a pair of drumsticks banging against a locker.

Why Is Mean Girls Hiding Its Music?

The Mean Girls musical being d as a remake rather than a Broadway adaptation plays into a common trend in modern movie musical promotion. The end of 2023 saw the release of similar trailers for the holiday season musical releases Wonka and The Color Purple. The former movie's trailer focused on Timothée Chalamet stepping into the iconic role of eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka, while the latter featured one of the movie's songs in the background without necessarily implying that it's sung by one of the characters.

This trend of shying away from embracing the movies' musical elements is likely a reaction to the box office failure of several splashy recent musicals. The 2021 trio of In the Heights, Dear Evan Hansen, and Steven Spielberg's West Side Story remake were all financial disappointments. Check out how the box office takes of those titles compared with their budgets below:

However, both Wonka and The Color Purple had box office success during the 2023 holiday season, which could be good news for this new 2024 outing in the genre. It will likely also put in a strong performance thanks to its strong IP connection and the presence of several original Mean Girls cast including Tina Fey herself. If this new trio of movies indicates a new trend for audiences embracing musicals, this may result in the reversal of the trailer trend, though it could reinforce studios' insistence on hiding musical elements until audiences are in theaters watching the movie.

Source: Paramount Pictures