Mean Girls Trivia | 55 facts about the musical comedy

“Mean Girls” is an American musical teen comedy film based on the Broadway musical, which in turn was based on the 2004 comedy film.

So let’s find out some trivia and facts about the film.

1. Mean Girls is a 2024 American musical teen comedy film
2. It is directed by Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr.
3. This marks their feature directorial debuts
4. From a screenplay by Tina Fey
5. It is based on the Broadway musical of the same name
6. In turn the musical was based on Mark Waters’s 2004 comedy film
7. Both written by Fey
8. And based on Rosalind Wiseman’s 2002 book Queen Bees and Wannabes
9. It stars Angourie Rice, Reneé Rapp, Auliʻi Cravalho, Jaquel Spivey, Avantika, Bebe Wood, Christopher Briney, Jenna Fischer and Busy Philipps
10. While Fey and Tim Meadows reprise their roles from the original film
11. Rapp also reprised her role from the Broadway production
12. Paramount Pictures announced the film’s development in January 2020
13. With Fey returning to write the screenplay and serve as a producer alongside Lorne Michaels, who produced the 2004 film
14. Composer Jeff Richmond and lyricist Nell Benjamin returned to rework their songs from the stage musical
15. While Richmond also composed the film’s score
16. Casting began in December 2022
17. Principal photography took place in New Jersey between March and April 2023
18. The film was originally set to premiere on the streaming service Paramount+
19. But in September 2023, the distributor opted to release the film theatrically first after the film received positive test scores
20. Mean Girls premiered in New York City on January 8, 2024
21. It was theatrically released in the United States by Paramount Pictures on January 12
22. It received generally mixed reviews from critics
23. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the filmh holds 72% rating
24. Based on 129 critics’ reviews
25. With an average rating of 6.4/10
26. The website’s consensus reads: “Preserving the essence of the original while adding a few new wrinkles—not to mention musical numbers—Mean Girls is a sweet (if slight) update with an outstanding cast”
27. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 58 out of 100
28. Based on 40 critics
29. Indicating “mixed or average” reviews
30. In the United States and Canada, Mean Girls was released alongside The Beekeeper and The Book of Clarence
31. It is projected to gross $27–30 million from 3,791 theaters in its opening weekend
32. It made $3.25 million from Thursday night previews
33. In 2013, Tina Fey announced that a stage musical adaptation of Mean Girls was in the works
34. The musical premiered in 2017 in Washington, D.C., and later transferred to Broadway at the August Wilson Theatre in 2018
35. Fey wrote the book of the show, while her husband, Jeff Richmond, composed the music with lyrics written by Nell Benjamin
36. The show received positive reviews from critics
37. It was nominated for twelve awards at the 72nd Tony Awards, including Best Musical
38. In January 2020, Fey stated that a film adaptation of the stage musical was in active development
39. In September 2021, Arturo Perez Jr. and Samantha Jayne signed on to direct, making the film their feature film directorial debuts
40. It was also confirmed that Lorne Michaels, who produced the original film, would return to produce the musical film under Broadway Video, alongside Fey’s Little Stranger
41. Principal photography took place in Middletown Township, New Jersey from March to April 2023
42. To make the story’s musical form translate to the screen, changes were made to shorten the runtime compared to the stage show’s two and a half hour length and to improve on certain plot elements
43. Such as shortening the length of some of the musical numbers
44. Like the stage show, this film takes place during the social media age
45. With the incorporation of social media and mobile technology into the plot, compared to the 2000s setting of the 2004 film
46. Fourteen songs were cut for the film, including “Where Do You Belong?”, “Fearless”, “Stop”, “Whose House Is This?”, “More Is Better”, and “Do This Thing”, along with the reprise of “What’s Wrong with Me?”
47. A new song, “What Ifs”, was written to replace “It Roars”
48. This was the introductory song for Cady in the stage version
49. Jeff Richmond and Nell Benjamin returned to rework their songs from the stage musical for the adaptation, while Richmond also composed the film’s score
50. Alongside Richmond and Benjamin, Reneé Rapp co-wrote “What Ifs”, a new song for Cady, replacing “It Roars” from the stage production
51. Other songs removed from the original score include “Where Do You Belong?”, “Fearless”, “Stop”, “Whose House Is This?”, “More Is Better”, and “Do This Thing”
52. The film’s soundtrack was released on January 12, 2024, by Interscope Records
53. The album features twelve musical numbers from the film, and the track “Not My Fault” by Rapp and Megan Thee Stallion
54. It was released on December 15, 2023 as a single
55. Lindsay Lohan, who played Cady Heron in the 2004 film, makes a cameo as the moderator of the mathematics competition