Mean Girls Crosses Major Box Office Milestone

Mean Girls cross the major box office milestone this weekend. While the entire world is talking about Bob Marley: One Love and Madame Web, Paramount’s new version of mean girls crossed $100 million at the global box office. For context, Mean Girls wasn’t even supposed to release in theaters. It was originally slated for Paramount+ and got bumped up to the big screen as the company decided to prioritize theatrical releases. That strategy worked out as this movie musical is going to do very respectable numbers for the budget behind it. While it won’t win the box office this weekend, it adds to the growing evidence the audiences will show up for these kind of movies.

On the Bob Marley front, One Love stands to continue making fans feel all right at the box office with a $47 million projection for the weekend. It seems as though Madame Web got twisted up in second place with a $24 million projection for the weekend. While this result might take casual observers by surprise, the writing was on the wall for this one. Paramount’s Bob Marley movie broke a Valentine’s Day record at the box office on Wednesday. The biopic also has a strong A CinemaScore with theatergoers. So, poor Madame Web just couldn’t overcome the music.

Keeping Mean Girls Intact

There were certain parts of Mean Girls that audiences were expecting walking into the theater. This new version of the movie is already a deviation by nature of being a Broadway musical. So, the creative team made sure to include nods to the beloved 2004 film. Director Samantha Jayne told The Hollywood Reporter that they had to keep that Glen Coco line in there. But, also thought about a massive cameo as well.

“There’s certain comedy that flew and was funny 20 years ago, that just doesn’t fly today. We all knew that. But there are certain iconic lines where we would joke that there would be riots in the streets if it wasn’t in there. Like ‘You go, Glen Coco!’ Give the people what they want. Give me what I want! But when we were like, ‘Who’s Glen Coco?,’” co-director Samantha Jayne explained to The Hollywood Reporter. 

“Who can it be? I remember us going, ‘Could we ask, like Harry Styles?’” co-director Arturo Perez Jr. chimed-in. “We were like Harry Styles could be Glen Coco! Then we were like, hold on, we love to break the fourth wall: What if we are all Glen Coco? So, after 20 years, we can all feel like Glen Coco,” Jayne continued.  

Why Keep Mean Girls Being A Musical Secret?

There has been a lot of social media commentary about the recent wave of movie musicals hitting the big screen. One reason for that chatter is that few of these projects are being marketed as musicals. Paramount President Mark Weinstock spoke to Variety about Mean Girls and their approach to promoting this movie. In his opinion, people are always open minded about musicals and this was a good way to get them in the door. Clearly, that fact did not hurt this adaptation.

“We didn’t want to run out and say it’s a musical because people tend to treat musicals differently,” he explained. “This movie is a broad comedy with music. Yes, it could be considered a musical but it appeals to a larger audience. You can see in [trailers for] Wonka and The Color Purple, they don’t say musical either. We have a musical note on the title, so there are hints to it without being overbearing.

Did you see Mean Girls in theaters? Let us know down in the comments!