Tina Fey Announces ‘Mean Girls’ Musical Movie Adaptation

The limit for Mean Girls fandom does not exist. Tina Fey announced that a movie based on the 2018 Broadway musical—based on the 2004 Mean Girls movie—is coming. Deadline reports that the hit stage show, with a book by Fey, music by Jeff Richmond, and lyrics by Nell Benjamin, will be adapted for a film at Paramount.

Coincidentally, Paramount also released the original Mean Girls, which was also written by Fey and earned $129 million at the box office. Its musical iteration was nominated for 12 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Fey, Richmond, Benjamin and the film and musical adaptations’ producer, Lorne Michaels, are on board for the new movie.

“I’m very excited to bring Mean Girls back to the big screen,” Fey said in a statement, per Variety. “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.”

Paramount president of production Elizabeth Raposo said, “We’re thrilled to be bringing this iconic property back to the big screen in musical form with our incredible filmmaking team.”

Although it’s not common for a musical inspired by a movie to be re-adapted into a musical movie, Mean Girls can’t help that it’s popular. According to Deadline, the Casey Nicholaw-directed and -choreographed stage adaptation has recouped its investment. Producers Michaels, Stuart Thompson, Sonia Friedman, and Paramount Pictures are finalizing a run on London’s West End in Spring 2021, Variety reports.

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“It has been a joy to work on Mean Girls and to watch it go from film, to musical, and now to musical film,” Michaels said in a statement to Variety. “I am very proud that Tina’s story and characters continue to resonate with new generations. We are all excited to continue to work with Sonia Friedman and her team as we prepare for London.”

No director or cast has been named for the musical movie adaptation. (Freaky Friday‘s Mark Waters directed the 2004 Lindsay Lohan- and Rachel McAdams-led version.) But it follows in the footsteps of 1960’s Little Shop of Horrors as one of the only movies adapted into a hit Broadway musical before becoming a big-screen musical as well. Fingers crossed for an original cast cameo (or several).