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Mean Girls is a Paramount Pictures teen comedy film franchise created by Tina Fey. The franchise itself consists of one theatrical film, an upcoming direct-to-video sequel, an upcoming theatrical spin-off, and two video games. The first film in the series, Mean Girls, was written by comedian actress Tina Fey and was based on Rosalind Wiseman's book, Queen Bees and Wannabes. The film stars Fey, Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried and features a number of Saturday Night Live alumni. The film, released in 2004, received positive reviews from film critics and was a success at the box office, grossing $129,042,871 worldwide.

In late 2008, it was announced that a direct-to-video sequel to the film would be released. These plans were later scrapped, but in 2010, it was revealed that filming for the sequel would begin in July 2010. It was also announced that Adam Shankman would be directing a spin-off to the film, titled Mean Moms, which is set for a theatrical release in 2012. The film will be based on Rosalind Wiseman's other book, Queen Bee Moms and King Pin Dads.


The characters in the franchise[]

Mean Girls[]

  • Cady Heron, a 16-year-old girl who transfers to a public high school after being homeschooled her whole life in Africa and Aaron Samuels' love interest.
  • Regina George, a rich, popular mean girl. Regina is Janis' ex-best friend, rival and the leader of The Plastics.
  • Gretchen Wieners, an insecure rich girl and a member of the Plastics who only wants Regina's acceptance.
  • Karen Smith, the airhead, yet sweet member of The Plastics. Karen is Regina and Gretchen's best friend.
  • Janis Ian, a goth artistic girl who befriends Cady and hatches a plan to take down Regina. Janis is Damian's best friend and Regina's ex-best friend and rival.
  • Damian Leigh, Janis' gay best friend who is flamboyant and musical and also befriends Cady.

Mean Girls 2[]

  • Jo Mitchell, an 18-year-old high school senior from Ohio, attends North Shore High School with the hopes of attending Carnegie Mellon University, her late mother's alma mater.
  • Abby Hanover, whom perceives to be Mandi's rival and Jo's best friend.
  • Mandi Weatherly, a equivelent to Regina George in some ways
  • Tyler Adams, is Mandi's stepbrother and Jo Mitchell's love interest.
  • Quinn Shinn, the school news reporter.

Films[]

Mean Girls[]

Main article: Mean Girls (film)

This is the very first film of the franchise. The plot of the film starts when a 16-year-old homeschooled Cady Heron and her parents, Betsy and Chip Heron, return to the United States after a lengthy research trip in Africa, settling in Evanston, Illinois. On her first day at North Shore High School, Cady attempts to make new friends, but to no avail. The next day, she befriends outsiders Janis Ian and Damian Leigh. They tell Cady about the school's various cliques and warn her to avoid the "Plastics", composed of the wealthy but insecure Gretchen Wieners, the sweet but dimwitted Karen Smith, and led by "queen bee" Regina George. Janis holds a grudge against Regina after a previous incident in middle school but refuses to divulge details. The Plastics defend Cady against a perverted classmate, thereafter taking an interest in her, and inviting her to sit with them at lunch. After learning about the invitation, Janis persuades Cady to befriend the Plastics and spy on them for her, which Cady is reluctant to do. The development of the film started when Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels to suggest it could be turned into a film. Michaels contacted Paramount Pictures, who purchased the rights to the book. As the book is nonfiction, Fey wrote the plot from scratch, borrowing elements from her own high school experience and her impressions of Evanston Township High School, upon which the film's fictional "North Shore High School" is based. The casting of the film had Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried, Lacey Chabert, Daniel Franzese and Lizzy Caplan play different roles but Jonathan Bennett was a last-minute cast replacement after the actor originally slated to play Aaron Samuels got fired.


Mean Girls 2[]

Main article: Mean Girls 2

A made-for-television sequel Mean Girls 2 premiered on ABC Family (now Freeform) on January 23, 2011, then subsequently released on DVD February 1.[1][2] The plot takes place after the first movie and it has entirely different cast members, with the exception of Tim Meadows, who reprises his role as Principal Ron Duvall. Mean Girls 2 is directed by Melanie Mayron and stars Meaghan Martin and Jennifer Stone.[3]

Film remake[]

Mean Girls: The Musical[]

Main article: Mean Girls: The Musical

A 2023 musical film remake of the original film and it's on-stage musical counterpart has been finally announced by Paramount+ and Paramount Players which the Development of the film began in January 2020 while filming commenced in March 2023.


Documentaries[]

:Main article:Mean Girls: Only the Strong Survive

The document based on the franchise is completely seen in a different direction. It was shown as a 2004 featurette documentary on the making of Mean Girls. This making-of is featured on the Special Collector's Edition DVD.


Video Games[]

:Main article: Mean Girls DS, Mean Girls High School Showdown and Mean Girls: Return of the Plastics

A game for PC was released in 2009 featuring characters specifically created for the game.[4] In 2010, a Mean Girls video game developed by Crush Digital Media and planned to be published by 505 Games for the Nintendo DS handheld game console was announced, but was cancelled before release.[5][6] The DS game was nearly completed before cancellation and was found in 2021 by Youtuber Bobdunga, who got a file for the game in her email by an anoymous person.[7] A full playthrough was uploaded on a her channel on July 15, 2021.[8] In 2015, an iOS game based on the film was released.[9] Since 2015, Pocket Gems' mobile app Episode also released various Mean Girls interactive stories following the characters from the film due to "overwhelming fan response".[10][11][12]


Theatre[]

:Main article: Mean Girls: The Musical

On January 28, 2013, Fey confirmed that a musical adaption of Mean Girls was in the works. Fey wrote the book of the show, 30 Rock composer and Fey's husband Jeff Richmond worked on the music, and Casey Nicholaw directed. Paramount was also involved.[13] The musical premiered at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. on October 31, 2017.[14] Mean Girls opened on Broadway at the August Wilson Theatre, with previews beginning March 12, 2018 and opening on April 8, 2018.[15] On January 23, 2020, Tina Fey announced that a film adaptation of the Mean Girls musical was in active development. "I'm very excited to bring Mean Girls back to the big screen. It's been incredibly gratifying to see how much the movie and the musical have meant to audiences. I've spent sixteen years with these characters now. They are my Marvel Universe and I love them dearly," Fey said.[16] During the film's cast reunion on October 3, 2020, Fey shared that fans could be involved in casting actors for the new adaptation by sharing their dream cast on the project's website and be featured in the musical film's "burn book".[17]


Inspiration[]

The Mean Girls franchise is definitely the Queen Bees and Wannabes and the Queen Bee Moms and Kingpin Dads of the ViacomCBS family (via Paramount). In the unexpected music video, The music video for Ariana Grande's song, thank u, next incorporates references from the movie. Obviously Ariana Grande parodied the film in the music video for her 2018 song "Thank U, Next". The actors Jonathan Bennett and Stefanie Drummond, who were originally part of the film's cast, appeared in the video.


Comics[]

Main article: Mean Girls: Senior Year (graphic novel)

The graphic novel of the franchise has been initially been announced by the Insight Comics Team and Paramount during the outcomes of the COVID-19 era (since the start of March 19th 2019) has been motivated for more of the film's origins after the film's epilouge. It is set to be released on September 29, 2020. A comic book sequel to the film, titled Mean Girls: Senior Year, was written by Arianna Irwin and released by Insight Comics in September 29th, 2020.[18][19]


Audio[]

:Main article: Mean Girls: Music from the Motion Picture

The soundtrack based on the Mean Girls film was released by Rykodisc and Bulletproof Records on September 21, 2004 by , the same day as the DVD release.


References[]

  1. Lyons, Margaret (December 6, 2010). "'Mean Girls 2' to debut on ABC Family". Entertainment Weekly.
  2. Moore, Shosanna (January 11, 2011). "'Mean Girls 2' Premieres on ABC Family". Buddy TV.
  3. Yahr, Emily (January 21, 2011). "'Mean Girls 2' twice as nasty as the original". The Washington Post.
  4. "Mean Girls: High School Showdown".
  5. "Mean Girls Game Capitalizes on Film's Popularity, Lohan's Career – games for girls". Kotaku (April 12, 2010).
  6. "Mean Girls (lost build of cancelled Nintendo DS game based on teen comedy film; 2009-2010) - The Lost Media Wiki". lostmediawiki.com.
  7. Template:Cbignore
  8. Template:Cbignore
  9. Cabral, Matt (January 27, 2015). "Watch the 'Mean Girls' iOS video game trailer--exclusive".
  10. "Mean Girls game Senior Year now available for mobile devices" (November 18, 2015).
  11. "'Mean Girls' Heads to College in Episode's Interactive Story App" (August 11, 2016).
  12. Castillo, Michelle (June 6, 2017). "Episode app animates millennial classics like 'Mean Girls' for Gen Z". CNBC.
  13. "So Fetch! Tina Fey Confirms Mean Girls Musical In Early Development | Broadway Buzz". Broadway.com (January 28, 2013).
  14. "Tina Fey's Mean Girls Musical Will Make World Premiere at Washington's National | Playbill". Playbill (March 21, 2017).
  15. Paulson, Michael. "The 'Mean Girls' Musical Is Coming to Broadway in March", The New York Times, September 6, 2017. 
  16. Malkin, Marc (January 23, 2020). "Tina Fey Announces Movie Adaptation of Broadway's 'Mean Girls' Musical". Variety. Retrieved January 23, 2020.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  17. Lee, Janet (October 3, 2020). "'Mean Girls' Cast Reunites After 16 Years to Encourage Voting". Variety. Retrieved October 4, 2020.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  18. "Insight Comics Announces 2020 FCBD Silver Offering MEAN GIRLS: SENIOR YEAR" (December 19, 2019).
  19. Johnston, Rich (June 21, 2020). "Mean Girls Sequel Delayed Until September".


External links[]


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