‘Mean Girls’ Success Proves Once Again That Women’s Stories Make Money—so When Will Studios Take Note?

The musical Mean Girls, based on the 2004 comedy of the same name, hit theaters over MLK Jr. weekend, raking in $33.2 million and beating Jason Statham’s The Beekeeper for the top spot at the box office. The musical is expected to rake in another $11 million this weekend. Not bad for a film that was originally set to premiere on Paramount+.

The original Mean Girls grossed over $130 million worldwide and became the defining high school film of the 2000s. Quotes from the film have become iconic, with memes, GIFs, and jokes still swirling in the cultural lexicon. The Broadway musical, which opened in 2018, also grossed over $100 million.

So why did no one expect the musical adaptation to make any money? And why was it originally set for a streaming release?

Mean Girls is the latest in a long line of women-centered films that were underestimated yet overperformed at the box office. In the last year alone, we saw Greta Gerwig’s feminist masterpiece Barbie blow away expectations by earning over $1 billion worldwide. We also saw major Hollywood studios blow off Taylor Swift’s concert film, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, during two industry strikes! The film would go on to gross over $260 million worldwide.

So when will studios realize that women-driven films make money? That there is a massive audience (51 percent of the population, to be exact) that wants to see their stories onscreen? The only directive studios are following is to expand Mattel toys into their own cinematic universe.

Even in a time when women filmmakers are dominating the box office, the default movie audience (according to studios) is always men. Sofia Coppola left her planned version of The Little Mermaid after a studio executive asked her to make the film appeal to 35 -year-old men.

Will the success of Barbie, Mean Girls, and other women-centered films force Hollywood to realize that these films make money? Probably not, but at least we’ve got Yahtzee the Movie to look forward to (sigh).

(featured image: Paramount Pictures)