The Confusing Marketing of The Mean Girls Musical Reboot
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- Опубликовано: 5 фев 2025
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Audiences who attended the very last-minute early screenings of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour were greeted with another musical surprise when the trailer for the upcoming melodic reboot of the 2000s cult classic Mean Girls was given its theatrical debut. Now, Paramount, the studio behind Mean Girls musical movie, has dropped the trailer for us all to enjoy, and it promises a real treat for fans of the original movie.
A contemporary pop culture landmark of a film, Mean Girls left a huge impact on the scene when it debuted twenty years ago, and Paramount has deemed that now is the right time to put a fresh spin on things. Angourie Rice takes on the role of Cady Heron, the role originated by Lindsay Lohan in the film upon which this is based. Cady, of course, is the fish out of water who joins mainstream school for the first time when her parents return from Africa, where she's been educated for the majority of her life.
the marketing is smart in the way it generates publicity but it alienates both audiences - people who only watched the original film, and musical theatre fans
I watched a video from sam and ryan and they made a good point that it kind of stirred the pot and caused people to talk about the movie. Whether you think it's good marketing or not, it does have people talking about the movie musical because of the controversy.
Something similar happened with the Matilda musical movie, a lot of people didn't new there was a musical. Even a few who didn't know there was a book, the whole comparison was with the 1996 version by Danny Devito.
Me being a fan of both was confused AF. Why not market it as a musical? They didn't even put it on the title 😭
Noooo. I love ending up at a film that turns out to secretly be a musical.
Not sure, watched the trailer and thought it was another tiktok era cash grab that i was going to ignore completely, was only later that i found out it was based on a musical, had this not been the case im sure i would’ve ignored any other trailer or promotion
i'm so sure that people who hate musicals will watch this film not knowing it is one and walk out of the theater annoyed
And the greedy studios don't care, cause whether people stay or walk out, tickets were bought, so they're getting their money either way
The trailer was full of old ladies complaining about "not another mean girls movie" and also the trailers are not very clear in the fact that IT IS a musical bc theres no sign of that. Honestly I didn't love the musical, it has so many things I hated and the fact that they try to correct it with their jokes and stuff was annoying, but I do think they should let theater kids enjoy what they love, specially something that not everyone can get into
Or they might be converted into Theatre Kids 😈 One of us! One of us!
No but in all seriousness, it is false advertising and will mislead a lot of people, which isn’t cool at all. And it could backfire on the movie’s reception by making misled people feel angry.
I get that maybe with movies like Sweeney Todd, advertising it as a gore horror and surprise it’s a musical! But is there really anyone that would go to watch Mean Girls and be legit mad it was a musical? I mean I would think the Venn diagram is a little more aligned with these two genres.
i think the next trailer will show it is a musical movie
I also find it interesting how the marketing centres Regina and not Kady this time.
Because the girl that plays Regina, Renee Rapp, is iconic and her performances are top notch
yet Cady is the protagonist lol
yeah i mean, cady was such a bad mc in the musical soo
In the musical Regina had the best songs, and was a standout character- Kady fell into the background. It makes sense for the musical.
And thats kind of a musical hold over because the musical was made post mean girls reception where we all know no one cares abt cady at all bc (hyperbole) regina is iconic
“This is a movie based on a musical based on the movie”.
Yes. Hairspray exists and made plenty of money. There’s nothing confusing about that concept.
@hum… the musical Hairspray was based on the John Waters movie… so… yeah.
@ no they also did that for hairspray. it’s the same thing.
@ what are you talking about. That’s literally what they did. Hairspray the musical is an adaptation of Hairspray the 1980s movie. They took a movie, and “musical-fied” it, like Broadway has done with plenty of movies. Whatever your point is, the fact that Hairspray the 2000s movie was made and was successful proves that there’s nothing confusing or off-putting about a movie based on a musical that was based on a movie. Period.
@ I mean, you’re just wrong. 🤷🏾♂️ But it’s fine, there’s no point in arguing with you. Have a good day.
@But your point is based on incorrect facts.
Hairspray was a movie first. That movie was then given the Broadway musical treatment, with all music being written specifically for the stage musical. The Broadway musical was then turned into a movie.
The same exact thing happened with Little Shop of Horrors, which began life as a music-less movie. That movie again was adapted into a stage musical which was then, in turn, adapted to a successful movie musical.
Hairspray is an excellent comparison for Mean Girls as they both even include cast members from the original non-musical films in their musical film adaptions (Jerry Stiller played Wilbur Turnblad in the 1988 non-musical film and cameoed as Mr. Pinky in the musical film, Ricki Lake played Tracy in the ‘88 film and cameoed as a record producer in the musical film). Both were even released as musical films about 20 years after their original films were released.
Literally the only thing that makes Mean Girls the musical movie unique is that Tina Fey has stayed on as writer for the original movie, the musical and the movie musical.
Rent was a musical loosely based on the opera La Bohème and was never a movie prior to being a stage show. Cats was based on a book of poetry and was also not a film before it became a musical.
If any musical adaptation of a film should be adapted into a film it’s Legally Blonde. Such a funny musical
My high school put it on years ago! It’s so good!
Or the Heathers Musical
I agree with both of these ^^
also was gonna say Heathers, but since someone in the comment thread beat me to it I shall also put up Beetlejuice for recommendation. There's 3 solid choices they could've gone with that were actually pretty successful (so how did we wind up with the Mean Girls musical being marketed by people scared to admit it's a musical?)
I love Legally Blonde The Musical, but looking back, it was a little based. Not sure how that will go over with today's audiences.
Some tea from someone who was in test audiences:
- Many songs have been cut, including Cady's intro song.
- Aarons actor doesnt sing at all. The lead man in a movie musical.....does not sing in the musical.
i was SHOCKED when i read that he doesn't sing. i know chris briney's a bit of an "it guy" right now and i'm sure he's a perfectly decent actor, but why would you cast someone who doesn't sing for a musical? they could've given him some lessons, autotuned him a bit, literally anything. also cady's intro song ("it roars") was cut, but i think it's being replaced with a different intro song for cady
@@lustforlimerence TBF Aaron barely sings at all in the actual musical, I think he's only in 3 songs, one of which is just backing vocals for Regina at the end of one of her songs, so it's not like we're missing much from him not singing but yeah it is an odd choice. Maybe they want to avoid another Cameron Dallas situation
@@lustforlimerencehonestly, Hollywood should bring back lipsyncing to a separately casted singing voice 😩 It gives both Hollywood and the audience what they want. Being able to cast someone famous and still getting great singing. Emma Watson's monotone and heavily autotuned singing in Beauty and the Beast has traumatized me. The Greatest Showman has a song that did separate singing voice, and it looked and sounded great. You don't even notice it wasn't her voice
I really need to ask, out of 10, what would you rate it? I may go see it for my birthday so I wanna know if I’m going to see a good movie
Yikes, this sounds like it's going to be a mess...
I will say having Ashley Park, who was the original actress for Gretchen in the musical, play the school's french teacher, when Park's most known role is in Emily In Paris, is genius.
Wow I didn’t notice that. That’s pretty hilarious
Also the marketing for musical is so interesting. In 2004, Lindsay Lohan was the It Girl and the movie was for her, so it made sense that she was on the marketing campaigns. With the movie musical, (aside from the adult actors), Renee Rapp is probably the biggest star and it makes sense for her to be on the poster. In 2018, The Musical was reworked/rewritten for the Plastics to have bigger roles in the show (Taylor Louderman was even nominated for a Tony for best Lead actress for playing Regina), and all of the marketing featured The Plastics as opposed to featuring Cady. I think when creating the musical, Tina and the creative team realized that people are more interested by The Plastics then by Cady, and since it’s called Mean Girls, it makes more sense for the Mean Girls to be the focus of the promotional materials.
The actress who plays Cady (Angorie Rice) was in Spider-Man:Homecoming and the two sequels, and also two other films Senior Year, and Honour Society. She plays a character similar to Cady in both Senior Year and Honour Society.
@@caitlingillyes but renee still has a bigger fan base then her and i’d think it’s in part due to her music (3.3 million spotify listeners)
@@koiloyloI don’t think they were trying to compare fan bases
@@Idkhowtoreadyes! I was just saying she’s been in big movies
Regina George would NEVER be caught dead in a leather jacket or combat boots lol, that’s Janis’s thing
THANK YOU. it is NOT her character at all!
💯, even if they're trying to be "trendy," it's not regina at all
Exactly. So many things are the same but not that? Those outfits are confusing trash. Janis and Ian's replacements are...trash. its so confusing. And why tf would a burn book exist when social media has existed their entire lives. Theyre doing so many things the exact same except the things that made it unique.
@@whatever3145 instead of a physical burn book they should have made it like gossip girl where it’s an anonymous blog or something called “Burn Blog”
@@whatever3145 Ian seems very sassy to me and imo he could carry a lot of the film. And the Burn Book exists bc why not? People still like having physical things. It doesn’t translate narratively to have a private IG page where only the plastics have access to it. In that same line of reasoning - why have yearbooks at all?
Reminds me of the marketing for Into the Woods. Dark fairy tales were popular at the time, so they went hard on that angle, but none of the songs made it to the trailer. When we arrived at the theater to watch it, the guy selling us the tickets straight up said, "Just so you know, this IS a musical."
I had to wonder how many people walked out demanding refunds for that to be something they had to warn people of in advance.
Also, the Into the Woods movie was not great.
Huh it’s interesting you say that because I enjoyed it as a 6th grader. I might need to watch it again to see if that’s still the case
real. the marketing is just about getting more people to pay to go and see it, instead of people that would actually want to see it. which looks good for box office sales but terrible for reviews. and i agree, as a musical adaptation into the woods film does a huge disservice to the original
That movie was so weird.
I remember liking it but i remember how LONG it felt because of the songs. I like musicals but i wasnt expecting it to be one, just liked the idea on it being the grim fairy tales (i didnt see it in theaters though, this was at home)
I am the only person I know that liked the film 😅
One thing i will say, as a theater goer I have seen many musicals and movie musicals. Everyone is talking about how it is super weird how they made a movie based on a musical based on a movie, but this is nothing new at all. Even little shop of horrors and Hairspray did this. This has been done multiple times successfully and unsuccessfully, so we can really only see how it turns out.
My fair lady as well. Play to movie to musical to movie musical. (I’m sure it’s much more intricate than this, but the point stands.)
I mean Matilda the musical is the last thing that did that. So it is normal
The producers too
@@rachelhansen2417 my fair lady is insane lol it was greek myth to play to movie to musical to movie (and then another movie to musical after that if you want to count pretty woman as a my fair lady adaptation lol)
The Producers too! Beloved Mel Brooks movie turned musical. Massive hit on Broadway but no one saw it when they made the movie adaptation of the musical which was in 2005.
So it’s like high school musical: the musical: the show? 🤣🤣
More like hairspray:
First movie then broadway musical based on movie then movie based on broadway musical
@@scoopityboop Or the 2018 Disney Channel movie version of Freaky Friday, though that's even more complicated:
A movie based on a musical based on a movie based on a movie based on a book. (There was also a 1995 made for TV version that nobody seems to remember)
The most convoluted history of adaptations that comes to my mind is Audrey Hepburn's film My Fair Lady (1964) which is a movie musical, based on the 1956 Learner & Lowe stage musical, itself adapted from a 1938 film adaptation of Pygmalion (1913), a stage play based on the the ancient greek myth of Pygmalion.
REALL
Little Shop of Horrors is another example. The 80s movie was based on the Broadway musical which was based on a 1960s b-movie which is thought to have been inspired by a short story which was inspired by another short story by H.G. Wells.
Great video - but I will point out I think Chicago was actually the height of mainstream musical movies (not necessarily the best movie just the most mainstream and acclaimed), considering it won Best Picture plus a bunch of others, and is probably the only reason shows like Les Mis were able to be adapted into big budget movies.
Was hoping someone mentioned this. Fully agreed. Was surprised she went straight to hairspray
That and Moulin Rouge (which wasn't an adaptation, but was still a big success) the year before really brought in the 2000s/early 2010s movie musical revival.
@@drakeburnett7254 yes!! Moulin Rouge isn't perfect for sure, but it deserves some flowers for helping somewhat bring back the movie musical. It (with Chicago) did what the Rent movie was probably supposed to do, and could not 😂
The thing that got me was the styling. To the point it takes me out of my suspension of disbelief. It kinda looks like the outfits/styling they show you when buying something on a website. Or asking AI to compile 2020s outfits statistically. lt works individually standing still in a photoshoot but in the film it looks like clothes they were given not the characters’ actual clothing. Regina is supposed to be the queen bee of the school and look good but that one outfit the trio wore outside didn’t flatter her (Renee) at all. Overall it didn’t look as cohesive and seeing clips from the og movie hammered it home.
They actually made a Matilda musical movie based on the musical based on the movie based on the book, and ngl the musical movie slapped, I still listen to 'revolting children' in my day to day. Like, this is the concept Mean Girls was trying to achieve, but actually achieved correctly
Matilda isn't actually this. The original movie and the musical are both based on the book but separately (the musical writer I believe even deliberately didn't watch the movie) and the new movie is just based on the musical rather than the old movie.
However, Hairspray is a very good example of a movie based on a musical on a movie.
@@deeplyshalllow8967 Also, Little Shop of Horrors, The Producers and The Colour Purplre releasing later this year
@@deeplyshalllow8967yeah, i’m pretty sure tim minchin (the guy who wrote the musical) hadn’t seen the film when he watched it because he wanted it to be different, but this musical is directly based on the 2004 movie
i hate hate HATE the costuming like what were they thinking…thats one of the thing that makes the original movie soo iconic
i wouldn’t say mean girls has a cult following, but from what i’ve noticed, a lot of theatre fans loved the show specifically because of the cast. The cast members were all super close friends, always doing things together, bonding, and promoting the show. (the OG Cady and Aaron actors were dating and just recently got married too) It was very noticeable and gave a great vibe to seeing the show. Erika Henningsen’s vlogs were extremely popular as well, and I remember massive crowds of people rushing/getting tickets for a show if it was a last performance of a departing cast member. It’s not the greatest show ever (it’s definitely entertaining) but the fan base was more of a devotion to the actors than to the actual musical IMO.
Also lots of Renee rapp and Barrett Willbert Weed fans
@@caitlingill I wasn't as into Musical Theatre during that time, unlike now, but I'm willing to bet a lot of the fans were just Heathers fans who wanted to see Barrett playing another iconic teen character
@@fashionablechangeling2003yes a lot of Barrett fans came from the Heathers fandom initially
The sad thing is that it feels like they put their whole budget on Regina's songs, and all the others feel very meh in comparison. The best song that is not a Regina song is Apex Predator, and I feel like that should have been the blueprint of the entire show. That catchy, that entwined with the plot. Instead, we got... Stop and Fearless...
I was hoping they make some different songs for this adaptation, but I guess that's a vain hope, huh.
@@fashionablechangeling2003 oh there were so many Heathers Fans who came over to the MG fandom, and it honestly was very odd bc of how they’d treat Barrett. I’d be at the Stage door and people would be shouting “Veronica!” or just bringing Heathers merch for her to sign. Although there were a huge chunk of Heathers Fans just worshipping Barrett, i would argue that the fandom really was just because of the whole cast. Taylor Louderman and Erika had so many fans because of their online presences. Also the OBC had three newsies in it (DeMarius Copes, Iain Young, and Ben Tyler Cook) so of course there were a ton of newsies fans following the show too. Like I said the Mean Girls promo was insane, the cast was always going to events in NYC and participating magazine/website segments even months after they opened on Broadway.
Another case of a similar thing happening is Hairspray. A movie. Turned into a musical. Turned into a movie musical.
There’s no way of rightly talking movie musicals without mentioning La La Land. It was a huge success, Hollywood thought for a few minutes the musical fever would come back… Specially since it’s a homage to a lot of classic. Alas, it didn’t work for the genre itself. I don’t think we’ll have it again like in old Hollywood; more like individual movies having success than a whole genre.
They should try to bring back the Studio Musical. Do movie musicals that aren't based on a known stage show like La La Land. They might fail they might succeed either way it would at least be original. And hopefully they know how to market. The garbage marketing for Mean Girls is so disappointing
Hollywood's relationship to musicals is so fascinating to me as someone who loves the genre. The last ~20 years have been an interesting period to follow for hollywood movie musicals because they keep trying to make fetch happen with them despite most movie musicals being commercial flops critical flops or both. I think this recent wave of movie musicals has really been carried by the Hamilton mania and the unexpectedly massive box office numbers of The Greatest Showman. As a lover of the medium I always hope movie musicals will be good and a lot of recent ones have been. Shout out to Matilda, In the Heights, West Side Story (2021) and Tick Tick Boom. But I fear the lackluster box office numbers for musicals and the massive flop of Cats and Dear Evan hansen will see less produced.
The same man that kinda put musicals in people's minds with Les mis ruined it with Cats, he needs that oscar taken away
they don't do movie musicals like chicago anymore and that's the big mistake they are making. Those other movie musicals don't show any respect or love for the material (except for in the heights or tick tick boom)
I love this comment because it’s always the musicals they don’t try to make a thing which become a hit, as soon as they trying to lean into that they don’t do well
Just here to drop La La Land bc that's what got me into musicals
@SnapeArgento chicago revived the movie musical. I need Rob Marshall and Bill Condon to get on their zoom and do more, they are the goats of the movie musicals
I keep forgetting that other people don’t know about the musical version because it was literally unavoidable if you were into theater at the time 😭 the theater fandom was THE fandom at the time I’m shocked so many people didn’t hear of it
Quick thing: On your point about mainstream movie musicals you consider Les Mis to be a sort of first as a blockbuster musical, and while that one was certainly a huge stepping stone I think Chicago probably did a lot to pave the way to that beforehand. That one also received massive acclaim and a lot of box office attention
yea i’m going into this movie knowing that it’s gonna be bad especially because they’re hiding that it’s a musical. when i saw the musical on broadway it was cringe but at least i could suspend my disbelief a little more because it’s theater and this movie doesn’t look like it can make up for the cringe that is already so evident in the trailer
It feels like, ever since Cats, people are afraid to market movie musicals as movie musicals. I love musicals. But I know people hate musicals would hate to get surprised with a movie musical.
And I hate that Cats was such a colossal dumpster fire because I love Cats. But it was adapted made no sense. It was adapted by someone who didn't understand the material. (You can't literally have a character scream "Touch me! It's so easy to leave me!" literally two seconds after Victoria picks up Grizabella. It negates the ENTIRE THING.)
Do I think this will be as bad as Cats? No. Do I think it'll have that air of "yeah, we're embarrassed to be in a musical"? I think maybe a little bit. Which is frustrating.
Oh my god another person who likes Cats but hates the movie? I was legit beginning to believe me and my best friend were the only ones since the sentiment in the fandom seems to be "Yeah it's Cats and I like Cats so I like the movie."
Back in 2007, moviegoers were excited to see the new Tim Burton/Johnny Depp/Helena Bonham Carter team-up... and then walked out of the movie because none of the marketing indicated that Sweeney Todd was a musical. It's going to happen all over again and I am utterly bewildered - NO ONE likes being tricked by a trailer into thinking they're watching one thing, only for it to be something very different. It's also deliberate and mean-spirited (no pun intended); if you know what to look for you can kind of see where people are actually singing and dancing, but this has been edited around to fool the viewer. Who is this movie being marketed to? Musical theatre fans aren't going to watch this because there's nothing here to indicate this is a musical. Maybe some would recognise Renee Rapp (I've never heard of her outside of the context of this) but there are PLENTY of actors who take on musical and standard acting roles. Just because Eddie Redmayne played Marius in Les Mis we're not going to assume that all of his projects will be musicals. Fans of the original film aren't going to watch it because as a society we are BORED with remakes. Even the costumes are so similar that it could be a shot-for-shot duplicate, without the nostalgic pull of beloved actors. So who is going to be left to buy tickets? Is the pool of teenage girls that large? Maybe, I don't know.
I've heard of Renee Rapp recently because some people I follow have been reacting to her album Snow Angel but didn't know she became famous because of this
I saw the musical on my 16th birthday, and seeing it live definitely made me like the songs better. It was fun and campy. I got to meet Renee and she signed my playbill. I'm now 20, and when the news came out about the movie I was really happy- until I saw the trailer. The marketing was confusing, the outfits are... just terrible, and I just don't think it translates well to a movie musical. That being said I will be there opening day with a pink outfit to relive my teenage years.
yea the trailer barely had any singing or dancing
4:00 lest you forget mean girls 2004 is technically based on a book as well, so it's a movie based on a musical based on a movie based on a book
To be fair, the only reason I’m so hyped for this movie is because I absolutely love Reneé Rapp and everything she does but if she wasn’t cast, I literally wouldn’t care about the movie even though I’m intimately familiar with the musical
samee this movie could be trash (probably will be) but god i love her so much
@@arobarbie they’re just giving me an excuse to stare at her everytime she’s on screen and listen to her sing, what more could I ask for
They really set up these young actors sooo bad to get dragged. While no one asked for a mean girls remake that's not even what this is supposed to be!
It is absolutely Trojan horsing. I have told multiple people that it is an adaptation of the Broadway musical and they had no idea one even existed.
My sister and I are already planning to see it together when it comes out. I can’t wait to love it, but if it’s bad that’s just as fun.
omg my thoughts exactly haha. i have no idea if it will be good or bad but man i can tell it will be fun
Surprised you didn’t mention a color purple. It’s the exact same situation- movie to musical to movie- and it’s coming out in like a month.
When I saw the trailer I was so disappointed bc I was like wow historical drama with ... Black lesbians? For the first seven seconds But then it was just the same thing again....
"The Producers" did that too
And they are not advertising it as a musical. And it was an awesome musical. Great novel too!
It’s so funny hearing ppl say they don’t know/don’t like the means girls musical cuz DEM MEAN GIRLS MUSICAL ANIMATIIIICSSSS they were all over RUclips for me and my friends (we were literally obsessed) and they were the only things I would watch before actually seeing it on broadway. Also Sabrina carpenter was in the musical for a bit as kady I believe and I saw a lot of Sabrina fans talking about that when it happened
I didn't see nearly that many mean girls animatics compared to like heathers but that might just be my experience
fr tho, it was my theatre kid awakening
(( mid-video need to say; have rewatched Mean Girls recently and honestly, it still holds up. I'd argue theres not much thats cringe that wasn't already considered cringe when we first got it )) their insistence on refusing to directly acknowledge that this is going to be a musical movie is so damn weird though - I legitimately had no realization it was based on the musical until I saw a movie critic I follow on Twitter mention that fact which forced me to investigate the marketing from that angle to confirm it.
It’s gonna age so poorly cause of the gen z references
Mean Girls still feels like it could have been made today. The only thing that's really dated is the use of slurs, but hey, the title spells it out for you, plus the musical still uses them. If they're not gonna market it as an adaptation of the musical, then they shouldn't be surprised if it flops.
what's interesting is that the teaser trailer i saw that played before the eras tour movie HAD world burn as the background song or at least they played a snippet of it, then the official trailer drops and theres just olivia rodrigo?? i was so confused but im glad im not the only one who noticed
There’s actually a joke in 30 Rock in which Liz gives Jenna fake award for Best Actress in a Movie Based on a Musical Based on a Movie (which is later revealed to be a cookie)
Omg please go on more theatre tangents, they're great. 😂
Also I also saw a trailer for mean girls the musical the movie and they did use Renee Rapp's "My name is Regina George...." line for it, but I had the exact same convo with my best friend sitting next to me "They're making another Mean girls movie?" "No, this is a movie of the musical from a few years ago."
I was so confused about your introduction because in my bubble everyone knows the musical and liked it XD I didn’t know it was so unpopular. But you’re right about your criticism regarding the movie! I’d be so happy about a hamilton-like recording of the musical but they really don’t need a whole reboot…
The trailer has MULTIPLE shots of people singing and dancing plus the title has a musical note in it. The only way anyone can think this is not a musical is by not watching the trailer
The girl playing Cady is Angourie Rice who absolutely deserves the attention
The trailer could be this way due to potential production issues. The fact that this is dropping in January is not a good sign because that’s when studios typically dump their projects they anticipate as not doing well financially. Also, remember we’re only just now coming out of a strike that put a good chunk of the film industry on ice for about a year. Perhaps there are elements pertaining to the soundtrack (or even the film itself) that aren’t finished yet, but they had to get a trailer up by a certain deadline anyway so they just put something together out of whatever they could use without needing to call the actors back in.
i would say that chicago and moulin rouge also broke into the movie musical scene back in the 2000's heck chicago won an oscar
i gave the musical a chance and i didn't think it was that great either. i'm definitely a believer that some movies can make great musicals (the groundhog day adaptation is genuinely amazing), but it has to be done in a way that makes full use of theatre as a medium. when you kind of just throw songs into an existing story, and especially when you put that back onto the screen, a lot of that potential is lost.
speaking of paramount, i'm so sad that they've now dragged frasier into the reboot circle. it's one of my favorite shows of all time and the new one is pretty much just generic modern sitcom but frasier is there now 😭
I liked the musical. I thought it was good but not great. The thing about it that surprised me the most, and I think the movie promo is falling into the same trap, is how little Regina George is actually in it. I thought she was the lead based on the advertising and how they do the cast listing, but she literally has two songs, if you arent counting the Jingle Bell Rock scene and the finale. Only one, "World Burn," is a solo song and the other is a song about the Plastics where she sings a few lines. Every other main character, besides Aaron, has way more stage time and stuff to do than Regina. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I actually think Janis the co-lead of the musical with Cady. Janis is the narrator and most of it revolves around her and Cady's relationship, which is even funnier because they barely even show Janis in the trailer. Its just so interesting how Regina, a character who can just barely be called a supporting character, is somehow the star now.
Unrelated, but I saw the tour with Mariah Rose Faith as Regina and she was absolutely amazing. Highly recommend everyone check her out if they aren't familiar with her.
OH this is a really good point!! And having read your comment I'm now halfway to convinced that the focus on Regina is essentially like... an attempt to piggyback on the comparatively greater popularity of Heathers in terms of the musicals, and to create that same sense of iconography/branding as Heathers built around Heather Chandler. Except obviously, the difference is that Candy Store is probably the most recognisable song from Heathers, and also Chandler has much more of a claim to the co-lead status given the whole thing with her ghost as a figment of the lead's imagination, so there's so much more scope for her to interact with Veronica.
So it's like, trying to draw parallels between Regina and the way Chandler can be used to popularise Heathers makes sense on the surface as a marketing strategy, it's just also... not a strategy that holds up when people see the actual finished product. So there's a definite possibility that it'll backfire when applied to a more widely-accessible and widely-publicised movie.
It’s particularly interesting they went with this angle when you consider the teaser trailer (that played before the Eras Tour movie) was definitely not shy about letting people know it’s a musical
The trailer really just looks like an SNL skit to me.....or like a really high budget parody of the original movie
I will say despite the issues with the marketing, I think people that don't like musicals don't get how happy this makes me, a musical theater fan.
Renee Rapp was a goddess on her musical runs, and for so young too. I genuinely cannot wait to have another musical made into a watchable format just so I don't need to give money to support the BS that is affording broadway tickets.
I thought Shein was pronounced "She-in" not "Shine"
It is lol
honestly what makes me most annoyed is the fact that they fumbled the costuming so hard. The outfits from the original movie are so good but in the on-stage version of the musical and this the costuming is so horrible.
Them marketing it as if it's just a reboot is doing more damage. People want to know why they're remaking a film that's not even 20 years old and they don't want to see it. I think if they made it clear that it's a musical, more people would be interested.
I've actually been using Hairspray as my best comparison because that was also a movie that became a musical and then was adapted into a movie musical.
"The Producers" as well. Though "Hairspray" did it much better.
why do we have to put down angourie rice to prop up renee rapp? women fighting women
I lowkey think they should've just released the pro shot of the original show with the OBC, aka Erika Henningsen, Barret Wilbert Weed, etc. this movie feels like a Netflix original
Just like people were tragically confused when the Matilda musical was on Netflix. People need to get out more
As someone who is a musical fan, I saw this and was like ugh another reboot. Didnt even realize it was the musical. They literally almost alienated someone (me) from watching it because of the trailer.
I thought it was Chicago and Moulin Rouge that revived the movie musical, hooper really doesn’t deserve the credit for reviving them lmao
when I heard you say be more chill I had so many flashbacks. please do a deep dive on bmc.
the book felt like it had to hit certain points to make the fans happy...like there was a glen coco shoutout that did not feel natural and that pretty much encompasses the musical as a whole. it was a fun night because all of the obc was still there when I saw it and they had some good-themed cocktails but I don't think it'll do what they think it will. In terms of girl boss energy, it'll be a step up from the Camilla Cabello Cinderella
The Color Purple is another movie musical based on a musical based on a movie based on a book. It will be out in a few months and fans of the movie seem pretty excited for it overall. But it’s also being promoted as an adaptation of the stage musical (a musical that has more public awareness than Mean Girls the musical since been around for much longer.) So I guess that’s why there hasn’t been any drama or confusion surrounding the movie to musical to movie musical direction.
Coincidentally Walmart just released a big commercial series that's sort of a sequel to Mean Girls with nearly all the original cast so all the more reason for this movie trailer to differentiate itself from that by highlighting the musical elements. I also find it baffling the teaser trailer (that came on in some showings of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour) that did highlight the songs isn't available online (besides people uploading recordings off their phones in the theater). The marketing is real dropping the ball!! As someone who loves the movie and was pretty meh about the musical, I'm still rooting hard for the new movie
2:36 I totally freaked out when you mentioned BMC lmao, I love bmc a little too much
That was the way the Sweeney Todd movie adaption was marketed! I was in high school back then and every single person I knew that went to see it had no idea it was a musical before they were in the cinema 😂
Contrary to popular belief, “Sweeney Todd” did not try to hide it was a musical. Sondheim’s score is the trailer music, and “The Epiphany” is shown. The issue is that Johnny Depp has such a horrible singing voice, that it caused him to sound like he was shouting.
I'm such an original Mean Girls fan, and i'm a huge fan of Renee from SLOCG. I don't really know anything about the musical & havent heard any songs from it, but I am excited for this musical movie as someone who's a fan of musical movies like Hairspray and WSS. Alot of the comedy is like this newer Gen-Z referential stuff, but there's some of that in SLOCG too, where I think it works because of like the modern college setting, and I think it could work in this context too, (as opposed to where it doesn't work, like Zoey 102). I would love for their to be some newer original shows and movies besides all of these reboots. New shows/stories like Your Honor, Class of 07, Deadloch, Yellowjackets, are all so good and brings new stories and perspectives into the zeitgeist and I wish there was more focus on that as opposed to the constant remakes/reboots which all kinda just feel like soulless cash-grabs and a ghost of their original product
Big 🚩flags of it sounding bad and they’re scared of it being clowned for terrible music and singing
i think it's because they are scared of showing musical theatre to the masses because they don't know if it will sell. I already know Renee as Regina will knock it out of the park because shes incredible, so will a couple others that I know are good singers. I don't think vocal performance is the issue
Yeah, I don’t think terrible singing is gonna be the issue. As someone very familiar with the musical, the lyrics just aren’t that great and I remember not liking it when I first started listening to it but I stockholm-syndromed myself into liking it by listening to it enough. The cast is fantastic and I think that some of the added nuance to the characters that the musical brought could be nicely immortalized in the movie(like anxious and codependent Gretchen), and Renee is an insanely good vocalist. I’m really not sure why they’re trying to hide that it’s a musical.
the music being bad has been a debate for a hot minute--people love it or hate it. vocal performance is the one thing i'm pretty confident in with this movie. auli'i cravalho and renee rapp are very skilled vocalists, and i would argue that it's those two parts (janis and regina) that are really vocally demanding.
@@dasiasaurthe lyrics aren’t great because they’re sung by people acting as Gen Z teenagers so it kinda makes sense
Even if it doesn't, tbh people would probably see "musical" and "high school setting" and either think "oh it's like HSM, let's take my seven year old to see it!" or get Dear Evan Hansen movie flashbacks and not touch it with a ten-foot pole.
It also happened with Matilda recently (book to movie to musical to movie musical) but I think mean girls is too beloved that anything else will just be forgotten. I imagine people will still watch but it’s not going to have any impact a second time round, just maybe get a brief mention when people talk about the overuse of popular franchises (or rather, something popular then overused to become a franchise)
The Matilda musical isn't based on the movie. People just assume that because the movie is a childhood classic to a lot of people. Apparently, the writer of the musical, Dennis Kelly never even saw the movie
Okay. Here's the thing. I love musicals. Literally all of my top 5 favorite movies are musicals. I also love Mean Girls. I am a 33 year old woman, I've loved Mean Girls for the majority of my life and remember seeing it in theaters. I say all this because....NOT EVEN I WANT THIS. I hate this. I can't tell you how much I don't want this.
honestly, stop being dramatic. This movie is just for funzies and will not replace the original! I think the movie itself will be good and does not warrant all of this hate.
I thought the exact same thing when I saw the trailer. They don’t even have enough confidence in the songs from the musical to put them in the trailer. And it’s a good trailer but it’s funny that they’re trying to market the musical as edgy and “not your mothers mean girls” when half of the songs from the show sound like a bunny and a hummingbird frolicking in the woods while listening to pasek and Paul.
4:38 About this: I went to the Eras Tour movie with my sisters last month, and a teaser for the film played and we got ONE snippet of Regina singing “My name is Regina Geooooorge”. That’s the only thing we have.
It’s so weird to me that they removed it! I guess they’re so afraid of non musical fans bashing it they’d rather just hide the fact it’s a musical entirely
I knew about the musical, and I was so confused by how the trailer had no music!
In the first teaser (I saw it in front of eras and then it seems to have been scrubbed) that they took down in like a minute, they had the start of world burn/regina’s part of meet the plastics and it sounded so good and I’m sad in the new one they don’t have it
Thanks for making this video. I was just so so confused on why they would market this movie like this. Also this isn't the only movie doing this. Wonka and The Color Purple have no real displays to show that they are musical movies...Musicals are such a certain genera of film, acquired taste is a great way to described it. The way they truly went out of their way is so dumb.
I was initially excited to see Busy Phillips play the new Regina George’s mom bc she played Kim Kelly in Freaks and Geeks and she’s my fav on-screen mean girl. Then my friend told me that he saw an early screening and that it’s actually a really good film and just as good as the first Mean Girls film. He also mentioned that the music is actually good, so idk if they tweaked the music for this version of the musical but I trust him, so let’s see
Musicals have always been an obsession and a comfort for me but I will say, having cats be the last musical media I consumed before the panini definitely made me wary of everything that's come out since
I blame Disney on this trend… LoL Tangled and Frozen were heavily marketed as seeming like non-musicals until they were proven to be a success. Even the marketing for Into the Woods (my mom had no idea it was a musical either 😅).
I rewatched Mean Girls the original movie a couple weeks ago for the first time in years and I was surprised by how many times I laughed outloud - it stood the test of time for me. Sure, it had a few lines that wouldn't appear in a 2023 movie, but compared to its early 2000s peers, it was pretty mild.
Have you seen the latest Wonka trailer? Interestingly, they chose to go with no music this time. The director might not label it as a 'musical', but let's be real - it definitely has that vibe. On another note, I'm super excited for 'The Color Purple'! The trailer gave us a glimpse with the song 'I Am Here,' and it sounds amazing.
In other news, Paramount decided to scrap 'Rise of the Pink Ladies', citing tax reasons. As for the 'Mean Girls Musical', it was initially set for streaming exclusively on Paramount+, but the overwhelming positive response has thankfully shifted it to a theatrical release. That's a relief for me, as I wasn't keen on subscribing to Paramount+ again!
calling her sarah zee is erasure of canadian culture but otherwise banger of a video
I have never seen Mean Girls. I know literally nothing of the plot. I also know nothing about the musical. But I love musicals so I'm here.
The trailer frustrated me, not because they played an Olivia Rodrigo song over it instead of one of the songs from the musical, but because they played "Get Him Back" instead of "Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl". Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl the perfect song to describe Cady. If they were going to not play a song from the musical, they could've at least played that. Talk about a missed opportunity. 🤦♀ They were so close yet so far...
I thought it was so weird that the weird musical is nowhere near the marketing for this movie. I was aware of the mean girls Musical for years and was excited enough when this was announced, and the marketing is so anti-musical I actually started to doubt myself on where or not it was a musical at all.
I genuinely think that this adaption is going to be so much better than the musical. The costumes (while different from the original) are surprisingly a step up from the musical and the cast list seems really promising besides a few i'm not sure about. The musical seemed to have trouble finding what style or era it wanted to mimic, it came off as adults trying to write gen z and it turning out incredibly cringey. The costumes, jokes, and overall vibe just didn't feel like anything that would happen in a modern mean girls, where as this movie seems much more contemporary and I get a clearer idea of what they're going for. I think it benefits from being on a screen, mean girls just feels like it belongs as a movie, not on a stage. Also, I heard that some songs are being removed or added which is good because hopefully they'll take some weaker ones out. (please get rid of the house party song). I'm actually excited for this, because even if it's not great, it's going to probably be better than the musical.
i know everyone is shitting on the costumes, but all of karen's costumes from the OG musical give me nightmares. what the fuck was that rainbow miniskirt? at least everyone is dressed in a way that a high schooler would conceivably dress, even if it's based on trends that are like ~3 years old. if this is giving shein, the og musical was giving justice
@@lustforlimerence I agree! She felt like a little kid, Karen would never wear that. Honestly the musics outfits are a trillion times worse than anything this movie has. Gretchen’s outfit is my least favorite that I’ve seen but even hers is better than the musical costumes.
when I first saw the trailer, I didn't even realize it was a musical, just thought it was a remake of the Og movie.
I did the musical last year in high school and when the news and trailer dropped the cast was just like "aint no way"
appreciate the BOTTOMS shoutout -- it's so so so good
❤️ u grrrl but get your facts straight! “Mean Girls” was extremely well-received on Broadway, was nominated for 11 Tony Awards & has been on a successful national tour since 2021. Renee Rapp was fine on B’way but she was a replacement…she’s the only “name” they have so they’re pushing her. Agreed, the marketing choices are very bizarre but this is a solid musical property.
Girl I love MG the musical but they didn't even win a single one of those tony noms😭 pretty much every Broadway musical gets nominated, it doesn't mean it's good
ok, but the FIRST actual trailer of it, HAD regina singing in it with a small bit of Cady singing too. It was also played in theaters. This is technically a second trailer that youre talking about.
Also i think quite a lot of people were aware of the musical. when it went on tour, it sold out pretty quickly in most cities it stopped at.
Kayla.... as someone who's roman empire is also Funny Girl revival on Broadway.... I would watch the shit out of it.
Also I love your content and CANNOT get enough!
Saw Mean Girls live on tour, it was just alright imo. Not a bad time but the movie was just so much funnier and more fun. The musical just feels,,, safe.
They’re doing the same thing with the color purple. The amount of times I’ve had to tell people the new movie is not a remake but based on the musical 😅
Didn't they put songs in the trailers so far? I think that should be a sign that the movie is a musical adaptation
I didn’t even know this was a thing so thanks for keeping me in the loop lol
I used to think I was a musical fan, but . . .
I recognized Angourie Rice as Cady but not Rene Rapp as Regina George.
The only song from the musical that really sticks with me is "Sexy".
There were several other songs I liked a lot from the show, and I came here to say "AHA!" . . . but they turned out to be from Heathers.
im so sad theyre not marketing it as a musical, especially as a big lover of the broadway show (my school is also doing it in the spring). i can't help but think this will be a bad and unfaithful adaptation, yet i am still excited? im mostly confused about like whats going on with the casting, especially because with many of the ads it doesnt seem like theyre basing it off of the musical but rather like the next generation of mean girls (???) im so lost lmao
I think one of the main issues of it not being advertised as a musical is that it's going to become a tiktok trend of people acting surprised that it's a musical and walking out and clowning on it. I'm not a big fan of the musical, but I know it has its audience, and I think it would've done just fine going straight to streaming as a movie musical. If they were this worried about it bombing in theaters... maybe it shouldn't have gone to theaters.
The way they wrote "not your mothers mean girls" in the trailer sounds like they are disrespectful to the og
please make a video about the funny girl reboot if you haven't already !! i'd love to hear more :3
The Walmart Black Friday commercials are my sequel to the OG mean girls movie lol
That opening is amazing
i love mean girls and im very excited for this musical tbh, even though i dont watch many of those
I just saw this ad and my only thought was “I thought they were making a movie musical, why are they making a regular remake as well?”
There has been a teaser trailer from before with the "My name is Regina George..." line, and the Eras Tour movie had a separate Mean Girls trailer that called it a musical. I don't understand lol
I feel like I’m more into the musical then I am the Movie so I’m really excited😭