‘Saw it three times’: Defying low expectations, betrayals, and double decades, a PG-13 charmer dominates the box office

Of late, studios have been one bad decision after another, especially when it comes to releasing a film on streaming when it has all the potential of winning the box office. Thankfully, Paramount Pictures gained enough sense to sidestep this particular minefield.

Now, almost exact replicas of decades-old classics aren’t exactly everyone’s cup of tea, but Mean Girls, the 2024 musical version of the original film, is proving to be a preferred exception. As you read this and indulge in all the X-chat about the new Plastics and fresh Queen Bee, Mean Girls is busy ruling the box office with a surprising and impressive $32 million opening weekend. So far, it has been steadily keeping David Ayer’s action thriller, The Beekeeper, at the second position.

Looking at the film’s opening weekend performance, the studio’s distribution chief Chris Aronson couldn’t help but gush to Variety bout how it is a “testament to the longevity of Tina Fey’s iconic property” and highlighting that “her contemporary twist resonated with moviegoers.” Hmm, that’s rich considering how initially Paramount had planned to drop the film on streaming but was only convinced to go for a theatrical release later given the positive test responses.

It wasn’t just the low expectations of the studio that Mean Girls had to make peace with. The trailers and promotional material for the film suppressed the detail that there is a lot of singing and dancing involved in the film. Many have been vocal about being caught unawares and put off when a character suddenly started singing and/or broke into a dance amid seemingly normal scenes. As per reports, 16% of the audiences were so “disappointed by the genre” that they even left the theaters.

Well, the number of critics, already less to begin with, is dwindling or is at least being dwarfed by the rising figures of those appreciating the reboot. Though the initial predictions — based on how the reliance on nostalgia often backfires in such cases — feared the irreplaceable performance of Lindsey Lohan and Rachel McAdams would make it difficult for viewers to accept the rising stars of the musical (even though the latter is actually based on a Tony Award-nominated Broadway musical of the same name).

But the 20 years between the two films have only made hearts fonder and the nostalgia is working its magic in tandem with the skilled performances of the musical’s cast as Mean Girls heads towards a box office high it was never expected to touch in the first place.

Mean Girls is currently in theaters.