The theatrical box office this holiday weekend was awash in “Mean Girls,” and TikTok may have been at least partly responsible for its domination.
The new PG-13 rated film, a musical rendition of the 2004 original starring Lindsay Lohan, with songs that turned the 2018 Broadway adaptation (and two national tours) into a resounding hit, grossed $28 million over the holiday weekend. The movie landed in first place, beating the Jason Statham action film “The Beekeeper,” which earned $16.8 million. (Paramount Pictures expects “Mean Girls” to reach $32 million once receipts from the federal holiday on Monday in observance of Martin Luther King’s Birthday are added.)
The news was a welcome reprieve for the theatrical box office, which did not benefit from a giant year-end blockbuster that often carries over into the new year. (Last year, during this weekend, “Avatar: The Way of Water” grossed an additional $40 million in its fifth weekend.) “Mean Girls” also offers confirmation that Paramount’s aggressive digital marketing strategies were successful.
The studio also spent considerable effort using the original film, which grossed $130 million worldwide, as the best form of promotion for this new version.
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
