‘Mean Girls’ Movie Musical Trailer Tries to Make Fetch Happen
Paramount has released the first trailer for Mean Girls, the movie musical adapted from the 2018 Tony-nominated musical that is based on the 2004 movie. Reneé Rapp — who played Regina George on Broadway — reprises her role for the 2024 film.
Like the recent trailer for Wonka, the new Mean Girls trailer downplays — if not straight-up disguises — the fact that it is a musical, probably to not turn off moviegoers with allergies to impromptu song-and-dance numbers. According to Variety, “Joining the cast are Auli’i Cravalho (Moana), Angourie Rice (Mare of Easttown), Christopher Briney (The Summer I Turned Pretty), and Jaquel Spivey (A Strange Loop). Rice portrays Cady Heron, the new girl at school who is taken in by Janis and Damian, played by Cravalho and Spivey, respectively.”
Tina Fey Reprises Her Role as Ms. Norbury from the Original Mean Girls
Tina Fey — who penned the screenplays for both 2004's and 2024's Mean Girls — reprises her role as math teacher Ms. Norbury in the movie musical. Tim Meadows — who plays Principal Duvall in the 2004 movie — also reprises his role for the new installment. The official synopsis of 2024's Mean Girls reads:
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.”
A running joke in the original Mean Girls is when Gretchen Wieners (Lacey Chabert) desperately tries to make the word “fetch” happen. Whether or not fetch happens in 2024 depends on the general public's appetite for movie musicals, especially if they feel duped into seeing one from a somewhat misleading trailer (watch below).
Mean Girls — originally scheduled for release on Paramount+ — will premiere exclusively in theaters nationwide on January 12, 2024. No word yet on when it will drop on Paramount+.
Robert DeSalvo is a professional writer and editor with over 25 years of experience at print and online publications such as Movieline, Playboy, PCH, Fandango, and The A.V. Club. He currently lives in Los Angeles, the setting of his favorite movie, Blade Runner. Robert has interviewed dozens of actors, directors, authors, musicians, and other celebrities during his journalism career, including Brian De Palma, Nicolas Cage, Dustin Hoffman, John Waters, Sigourney Weaver, Julianne Moore, Bryan Cranston, Anne Rice, and many more. Horror movies, sci-fi, cult films as well as gothic, postpunk, and synthwave music are what Robert geeks over.
