There has been a resounding belief that musicals do not adhere to the traditional notion of enriching fans. At least Paramount’s president of global marketing, Marc Weinstock tends to agree with that. Thus, an altered marketing strategy was applied to promote the movie. However, it backfired.
Directed by Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. and written and produced by the original Mean Girls alum Tina Fey, who also starred in the new movie, had a good start at the box office. The movie made a glorious debut with $33 million in the four-day weekend. However, fans are not in line with Paramount’s marketing.
Also read: Mean Girls (2024) Review: A Fetching Musical Comedy
Mean Girls— New Movie, New Marketing Strategy
The original Mean Girls was a huge hit grossing over $130 million at the global box office against the production budget of just $18 million. Perhaps that is the reason Paramount was keen on making room for another movie with the same plot but this time with a new touch-up. “To start off saying musical, musical, musical, you have the potential to turn off audiences,” Paramount’s Marc Weinstock said (via Variety) adding, “I want everyone to be equally excited.”
“We didn’t want to run out and say it’s a musical because people tend to treat musicals differently. 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.”
The reason for the triumph of the movie at the box office is for the gravity of the writing of Fey and many fans and critics seemed to love the new approach of the re-telling of the story with songs and dance numbers. However, it did not go all well for all the fans, as many have come to criticize the marketing approach of Weinstock.
Also read: “It’s going to be about…”: Tina Fey’s Original Vision for ‘Mean Girls’ Was Wildly Different
Paramount Faces Heavy Backlash
Weinstock’s justification for hiding the fact that the new Mean Girls is a musical was far from impressing the fans. Also, contrary to his belief, several musicals have impressive box office and critical appraisal in the past, and many filmmakers are keen on following the form of storytelling as their vision demands.
For context, Todd Phillips’ most anticipated 2024 musical crime Joker: Folie à Deux has never been in a bad light for the ‘musical’ approach the filmmaker chose to tell the tale of the DC villains. Regardless, the idea of generating more mass appeal by hiding the ‘musical’ nature of the film did not bode well with fans.
They misled the audiences by lying.
— joey (@Fan_FlickOn) January 15, 2024
To start off lying, lying, lying also has the potential to turn off audiences.
— Futr_One (@Maurostwitta) January 15, 2024
didn’t wonka make like 500 million dollars
— nate ⚽️ (@tasm_nate) January 15, 2024
“We wanted to do false advertisement to make as much money as possible”
— Wey (@tinamalpotter) January 15, 2024
If the audience doesn’t like musicals……how about you don’t make a musical then.
— Mike Zero (@iMikeZero) January 15, 2024
For fans, it was a deception, and the revelation of it was hard to swallow. Still, Mean Girls is doing well to justify the $36 million production budget. The movie stars Angourie Rice, Reneé Rapp, Auliʻi Cravalho, Christopher Briney, and Avantika, and currently showing in theaters.
