Things are getting freaky on Disney+. The comedy Freaky Friday currently sits atop the platform’s streaming charts as its most-watched movie. The film’s resurgence doesn’t come as a massive surprise as its sequel hits theaters this weekend, however, Freaky Friday’s streaming dominance serves as a testament to the power of the movie’s early aughts nostalgia and apparent staying power. Fans are likely rewatching the original to prepare for their trip to cinema to see the sequel, which has both Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis as reprising their roles as the body-switching mother daughter duo.
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In Freakier Friday, Curtis’s Tess helps Lohan’s Anna care for her teenage daughter Harper (Julia Butters) as Anna balances career, motherhood, and her impending marriage to Eric (Manny Jacinto). Harper constantly squabbles with her stepsister-to-be, Lily (Sophia Hammons). But after the quartet has their palms read at Anna’s bachelorette party, they wake up the next morning to discover that Anna and Tess are now Harper and Lily, and vice-versa. The sequel seeks to up the ante from the original, and so far, seems to have pulled it off. According to Deadline, the legacy comedy sequel is set to have a respectable $30-32 million opening weekend, bolstered by a “certified fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 94% audience score.
And it seems that viewers can’t get enough of Lindsay Lohan, since another one of the actress’s beloved films is also climbing Disney+’s most-watched charts. While Freaky Friday handily claimed the number one slot on the Disney+ movie chart, Lohan’s The Parent Trap sits in fourth. The Parent Trap is even older than Freaky Friday, premiering in 1998 and stars Lohan playing long-lost twins Hallie and Annie who reunite at summer camo, then switch places to bring their estranged parents back together. Directed by Nancy Meyers, the film not only launched Lohan as a star, but has since been enshrined as millennial classic.
Funnily enough, both Freaky Friday and The Parent Trap are remakes of older films from the 60s and 70s. Their popularity, along with Freakier Friday’s early success, proves that when done right, sequels and remakes can indeed work when they meaningfully speak to the generation watching them. Though Freakier Friday seems to have passed the legacy sequel test, there are followups The Devil Wears Prada, My Best Friend’s Wedding, and Bend it Like Beckham which seek to replicate the same success.
Both film’s resurgence also point to Lohan’s comeback in mainstream media. The actor/singer faced a slew of controversies and struggles as a teenager in the public eye, but has since married, become a mother, and returned to acting. Lohan resurfaced in the Netflix Original films Falling for Christmas, Our Little Secret, and Irish Wish, where she proved she still retained the acting chops and killer comedic timing to merit a return to the big screen like in Freakier Friday. Her films’ success both at the box office and on streaming seem to indicate that this is far from the last we’ve seen of the star.
Freakier Friday is now playing in theaters.
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