This isn’t your mother’s Mean Girls, the trailer for the Mean Girls (2024) musical movie wants you to know. Ouch. That does make us feel like we’re back in high school. But honestly, from what we can see, this movie musical captures all the true spirit of Mean Girls and brings us right back to 2004. Of course, this movie is an adaptation of the hit Mean Girls stage musical, which was released in 2017. But the musical was based on the 2004 movie. So, while this movie is for an adaptation of an adaptation of Mean Girls, it speaks to the power of this iteration that its essence is not diluted at all. And that, my friends, is so fetch.
We’re also happy to finally hear and see the movie start to resemble a musical in its latest tease. Take a look at the trailers for Mean Girls, the 2024 movie edition, below.
This movie musical feels like a great way to celebrate twenty years of Mean Girls. The movie really did shape our culture in a big way. In the Mean Girls trailer, we see all the greatest hits, but reimagined for a slightly new audience and age. There’s The Burn Book, health class, the epic performance of “Jingle Bell Rock,” Cady’s scary Halloween look, and more. But this time, everyone’s phones are out. We imagine that makes the jungle of high school that much wilder. We only get a tease of the music in store for us, but as big musical fans, we’re ready for more. We wish the marketing for the Mean Girls movie would have leaned into its musical aspects just a little harder.
In addition to the trailers, Mean Girls has shared a synopsis for the movie. It notes:
From the comedic mind of Tina Fey comes a new twist on the modern classic, MEAN GIRLS. New student Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) is welcomed into the top of the social food chain by the elite group of popular girls called “The Plastics,” ruled by the conniving queen bee Regina George (Reneé Rapp) and her minions Gretchen (Bebe Wood) and Karen (Avantika). However, when Cady makes the major misstep of falling for Regina’s ex-boyfriend Aaron Samuels (Christopher Briney), she finds herself prey in Regina’s crosshairs. As Cady sets to take down the group’s apex predator with the help of her outcast friends Janis (Auli’i Cravalho) and Damian (Jaquel Spivey), she must learn how to stay true to herself while navigating the most cutthroat jungle of all: high school.
So we agree, we think that’s pretty excellent. Jumping from original to adaptation, once-removed, are Tina Fey and Tim Meadows, who reprise their roles as Ms. Norbury and Principal Duval. There’s no word yet on whether any other cast will cameo or act in this Mean Girls musical movie. But Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Seyfried, Lacey Chabert, Daniel Franzese, and Rajiv Surendra all came together recently for a Mean Girls reunion/sequel of sorts—by way of a Walmart ad. So maybe, just maybe, we’ll see them.
In the meantime, we’ll look forward to a new generation of Plastics and friends. The Mean Girls movie musical releases on January 12, 2024.
Originally published on November 18, 2023.