The clip features some brief dance numbers, but no original music — just Olivia Rodrigo’s “Get Him Back”
Mean Girls is headed back to movie theaters in musical form — not that you’d really get that from the highly-anticipated film’s first trailer.
Taking the two-minute clip at face value, you’d more or less expect a full-on Mean Girls remake for Gen Z, all the classic bits, quips, and plot points recycled and reconfigured for the TikTok era. There’s weirdly little to suggest — let alone state outright — that this will be a musical. The title of the movie isn’t even “Mean Girls: The Musical.” It’s just Mean Girls, with only a quarter note embossed into the logo providing any hint.
At most, the trailer features someone saying “dance break” and some quick choreography shots. Even the music in the trailer doesn’t give anything away. Sure, the Broadway adaptation of Tina Fey’s hit 2004 movie featured over 20 original songs worthy of Tony nominations, but why highlight any of those when you could just sync Olivia Rodrigo’s “Get Him Back”?
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(And just to prove we aren’t being nit-picky here, as of publication, the top comment on YouTube reads: “I’m surprised the trailer doesn’t feature any aspect of this being a musical, since u know, that’s the main difference in this version.”)
Anyway, Mean Girls (the musical) is set to hit theaters on Jan. 12, 2024. The film will star Angourie Rice as Cady Heron and Reneé Rapp as Regina George, with Bebe Wood and Avantika playing Gretchen and Karen. The cast also includes Christopher Briney (Aaron), Auli’i Cravalho (Janis), Jaquel Spivey (Damian), as well as Jenna Fischer, Busy Phillipps, and Jon Hamm. Fey and Tim Meadows will reprise their roles from the original movie, too.