In totally fetch recent news, the upcoming Mean Girls adaptation was upgraded to a theatrical release set for early 2024. The movie, adapted from the Broadway musical inspired by the cult 2004 teen comedy, was originally set to release directly onto Paramount Plus, but fans will now get to see the song-and-dance extravaganza play out on the big screen.
Like its source material, the new Mean Girls was penned by iconic comedian Tina Fey, who drew inspiration from Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman, a nonfiction book for parents of adolescents. The Broadway show’s musical numbers were composed by Fey’s husband, Jeff Richmond ⏤ who also wrote the music for 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt ⏤ and the lyrics were written by Nell Benjamin, best known for her work on the musical adaptation of Legally Blonde.
Even though we don’t have an official trailer yet, Mean Girls die-hards are understandably wondering when the musical adaptation will be hitting the big screen as well as who we can expect to see in it. Here’s what we know so far.
Mean Girls release date
Mean Girls recently confirmed that it will be releasing in theaters on Jan. 12th, 2024 over the four-day MLK Day weekend. As mentioned, the adaptation will debut on the big screen before streaming on Paramount Plus later in the year. The announcement came as a surprise given that the only trailer we’ve been given so far is a teaser at best and isn’t even on YouTube yet, and principal photography is said to have begun in May 2023, making for an unusually quick production.
The new Mean Girls cast
As for the new movie’s cast, Angourie Rice of Marvel’s Spider-Man trilogy is stepping into Lindsay Lohan’s former role as protagonist Cady Heron. Reneé Rapp, best known for the comedy series The Sex Lives of College Girls, is reprising her Broadway role as Regina George and will be joined by College co-star Avantika Vandanapu, who will play fellow Plastic Karen Shetty (formerly Karen Smith, as played by Amanda Seyfried). Bebe Wood of The New Normal and Love, Victor completes the clique as Gretchen Wieners.
Tina Fey will reprise her role as Ms. Norbury, as will Tim Meadows in the role of Principal Duvall. Auliʻi Cravalho, best known for voicing the titular voice role in Moana, will portray Janis I’mi’ike (formerly Janis Ian, as played by Lizzy Caplan) and is joined by Tony Award nominee Jaquel Spivey as best friend Damian Hubbard. Other notable faces in the ensemble include Jon Hamm as Coach Carr, Jenna Fischer as Cady’s mother, Busy Philipps as Mrs. George, and Tony nominee (and original Broadway Mean Girls cast member) Ashley Park in an as-yet undisclosed role.
Is the plot of the new Mean Girls the same as the original?
If the teaser trailer, which is currently playing in movie theaters ahead of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Movie, is any indication, then yes, the new movie will feature an identical plot to the original. We have further evidence of this in a line sung by Rapp in the trailer ⏤ the same line Regina sings when she’s first introduced in the Broadway musical: “My name is Regina George.” This heavily implies that the new movie will stay true to the musical, which of course remained faithful to Fey’s original film.
For the uninitiated, both Mean Girls and its musical counterpart revolve around Cady Heron, a socially awkward girl who moves back to the United States from Africa and is quickly thrust into “Girl World,” a very different jungle than she’s used to. After a life of homeschooling, Cady quickly learns from two new friends ⏤ social outcasts Janis and Damian ⏤ the social structure of the American high school, and more importantly, how to survive it. She’s soon embraced by “The Plastics,” a trio of the most popular girls in school, led by Queen Bee Regina George. Janis and Damian support this surprising new friendship as a scheme to bring the Plastics down, but things get complicated when Cady starts to enjoy the perks of being at the top of the social food chain. Her attempt to balance the two worlds inevitably leads to disaster, especially when the Plastics’ Burn Book ⏤ a notebook in which they write cruel words about their fellow students ⏤ is unleashed into the wild.
With a two-and-a-half-hour runtime, 2024’s Mean Girls is an hour longer than the movie it is based on. Much of this runtime is due to the inclusion of full-length song-and-dance numbers, which will add a completely new dimension to the cult classic for anyone who didn’t get a chance to see it on stage. In addition, greater emphasis is put on the story’s supporting characters in the musical, notably Regina and the Plastics, with much more fleshed-out ⏤ and generally more sympathetic ⏤ character arcs, especially for Gretchen. Similarly, Janis and Damian have more expanded roles and essentially serve as narrators in the stage musical, something that could easily be carried into the movie version. Damian in particular is given much more depth in the musical adaptation, especially in regards to his sexuality and self-discovery as a gay man.
Additionally, the musical adaptation embraces social media and technology more than the original film (as reflected in the musical’s lyrics and on-stage storytelling conventions), which makes sense given how far both have come since 2004. In turn, some of the more controversial material in the original, such as racist jokes and the affair between Coach Carr and a student, have mostly been scrubbed from the musical.
Fans of the original can enjoy the new Mean Girls when it struts into theaters Jan. 12th, 2024.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated from its original version to reflect new information about Mean Girls, formerly believed to be called Mean Girls: The Musical.