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Library/Film/Mean Girls (2004)
Grade A20 sourcesHIS-01370

Mean Girls (2004)

Film · 2004 · Notable

52Editable slideCertificate

Mean Girls turned a $24.4 million opening into years of quoted dialogue and fan rituals.

Clip · Paramount Movies on YouTube
Mean Girls 2004 theatrical poster
Box Office Mojo
Lizzy Caplan as Janis Ian in Mean Girls
Box Office Mojo
The "It's October 3rd" scene, reposted by the Obama campaign
Barack Obama campaign / Tumblr
The Plastics at the mall in Mean Girls
The Hollywood Reporter
Tina Fey at the Mean Girls Broadway opening night
Variety
The three-way phone call scene in Mean Girls
TIME
Lindsay Lohan as Cady Heron in Mean Girls
The Hollywood Reporter
Fathom Events poster for Mean Girls anniversary screenings
Fathom Events
Regina and Cady at the cafeteria table in Mean Girls
Paramount Movies on YouTube
The stage adaptation's Jingle Bell Rock number at the Tony Awards
The Tony Awards / Wikimedia Commons
The Broadway cast of Mean Girls on stage
Broadway.com

Spread Score

How it works
Reach70Contagion35Breadth90Velocity0Longevity4152

Numbers

Worldwide gross, Box Office Mojo, all releases
$130.2M
As of Oct 22, 2026 · Box Office Mojo
Seed to peak proxy
19.7 years
Apr 30 ’04 to Jan 10 ’24
Platforms
7
Started on Box office
Leverage
7.2×
$130.2M on $18M budget

Mechanics

  • CatchphrasePrimary
  • Identity badge
  • Platform jump
  • Press loop
  • Political adoption

How it spread

Trace the origin

Mean Girls opened at number one, then fans reused lines such as “On Wednesdays we wear pink” in tweets and Tumblr mashups. October 3 became a fan observance. Stage and film musicals followed, alongside studio promotions of the original.

Proxy date; not a directly measured attention peak.

Wikipedia views · Google searchesJun ’03Jan ’05Oct ’08Jul ’12Apr ’14Aug ’16Nov ’18Feb ’20Nov ’21Aug ’23May ’24Peak proxyBox officePressXOpen webInstagramTikTokTV
Box officePressXOpen webInstagramTikTokTV

13 more events on this chart

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Timeline (16)

  1. April 2004

    Paramount Pictures seed · Apr 30 ’04

    Paramount released Mean Girls in US theaters.[1][2]

    Open the first post ↗

  2. San Francisco Chronicle press · Apr 30 ’04

    The San Francisco Chronicle reviewed the film and praised its script.[3]

  3. May 2004

    US and Canadian moviegoers commercial · May 2 ’04

    Mean Girls led the domestic weekend box office with $24.4 million.[4][1]

    Lizzy Caplan as Janis Ian in Mean Girls

  1. platform jump · Oct 3 ’12

  2. platform jump · Oct 3 ’12

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Why it worked

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  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3

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Origin
Mixed
Sector
Entertainment
Region
US
Worldwide gross, Box Office Mojo, all releases
$130.2M
As of Oct 22, 2026 · Box Office Mojo
Evidence
Grade A

Spread the same way

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Broadcast Thai Television / Channel 3

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Peaked at #1

1 / 8

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New cases, every week

How the next thing spread, the week it does.