Just Add Music: A Surprising Movie Trend

As with any popular art form, film has a habit of following trends. From historical epics to sci-fi blockbusters and, of course, superhero films, many a genre has had its time to shine. And as 2024 begins, it looks like the current trend will offer something a little bit more melodic: musicals seem to be taking over as the genre du jour. Whether silver-screen adaptations of Broadway shows or mellifluous remakes of conventional films, many of the year’s most anticipated movies put song and dance at the centre of the story. Let’s take a look at what’s to come.

Musical Makeovers

January brings two melodic remakes of popular Hollywood movies, adding musical numbers to give these modern adaptations a fresh perspective. 

Twenty years after the original classic, millennial cult movie Mean Girls returns to the big screen. The first film was a generational success, telling the story of a young transfer student (Lindsay Lohan) as she learns to navigate the complex social hierarchy of her new clique-ridden high school. Recast and reimagined, the new version actually comes to us via Broadway, where the original film had been adapted into a successful stage musical in 2017. That’s right: first Mean Girls was a movie, then it was a musical, now it’s a movie musical. 

While the concept may be foreign, much of the 2024 film will be familiar, given that it was written by Tina Fey, who penned all three iterations of the story and who will reprise her original role as maths teacher Ms Norbury, alongside fellow cast member Tim Meadows as Principal Duvall.

Another unexpected musical remake this year is The Colour Purple, the heart-wrenching 1985 drama adapted from Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. The original film, directed by Steven Spielberg, was nominated for 11 Oscars and established talk show host Oprah Winfrey as a show-stealing actor. The new version is produced by Winfrey and Spielberg, but brings in a tantalising new cast including Taraji P Henson, Halle Bailey and Colman Domingo.

While the story, with its traumatic themes and heavy emotions, might seem an odd choice for a genre more associated with lighthearted and uplifting tales, the success of the 2005 stage production of The Colour Purple, along with the stellar talents enlisted for the film, has many people believing this version – set to debut in January – will live up to its predecessors. 

Another film one might not immediately connect with showtunes is Joker, the 2019 Batman spin-off which saw the descent into madness of Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), who would eventually become the Gotham City scourge known as The Joker. Nevertheless, upcoming sequel Joker: Folie à Deux is being billed as a “musical thriller”, perhaps offering an altered vision of reality for the now-incarcerated Joker. A big musical needs a big singer, of course, and the film has cast none other than Lady Gaga in the role of Harley Quinn, The Joker’s true love and partner in crime. Given the gritty, unflinching tone of the previous film, fans are on the edge of their seats wondering what this take might look like when it premieres in October.

Broadway Stars

Another consistent quality among these forthcoming films is a connection to Broadway, with both Mean Girls and The Colour Purple coming via New York City’s iconic theatre scene. Broadway fans have even more reason to rejoice this year, with another mainstay of musical theatre finally making its way to the big screen: Wicked, the mega-successful show that debuted on Broadway in 2003, is finally getting a film adaptation after decades of Hollywood studios attempting to make it work as a movie.

Directed by Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians), Wicked chronicles events leading up to the beloved story of The Wizard of Oz, portraying the early years of the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good. The stage production launched the career of Broadway legend Idina Menzel, who would go on to find movie fame as the voice of Elsa in Disney’s Frozen. Those are big ruby slippers to fill, for sure, but Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo is just the person for the job, co-starring with pop superstar Ariana Grande as Glinda the Good. Jeff Goldblum, Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh and Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey also star. The film has been split into two parts, with the first slated to hit theatres in November and the second heading our way in 2025.

Throw in the success of Wonka, Disney’s Wish and Trolls Band Together, and a trend seems to emerge: several recent big hits have come with a full list of unforgettable tunes for audiences to sing along to. But why now? While musicals have always had their moments in Hollywood, it appears as though the current wave of lyrical cinema is inspired by breakout musical movies of the past. Six years since its release, The Greatest Showman still has screenings around the world, thanks to a masterful soundtrack with beloved songs like “Never Enough”, “This Is Me” and “The Greatest Show”, while Encanto charmed viewers – and hit the record charts – with catchy standout number “We Don’t Talk about Bruno”. 

Music and song are, undoubtedly, a means of giving a film longevity: long after you discover the twists and turns of the plot, you’ll want to sing along to the musical numbers at home or in the cinema. It’s a similar thrill that saw the success of both Taylor Swift and Beyoncé’s concert films when they hit cinemas in 2023, giving the movie-going experience a sense of interactivity that you’ll want to come back to again and again.

Hits Of The Future

Another reason for this new craze could be the symbiotic nature of the theatre and film industries in the US. Mean Girls and The Colour Purple aren’t by any means the only popular movies to get a Broadway makeover: at the time of writing, stage adaptations of Back to the Future, Disney’s Aladdin, Moulin Rouge!, Some Like It Hot, The Notebook and perennial favourite The Lion King are all playing to packed houses in the Big Apple, each given a slightly new twist or perspective that could make it suitable for a return to film. 

Are there likely candidates for new hits? Well, with Beetlejuice 2 on the horizon, an adaptation of the musical based on Tim Burton’s first film may seem like a good idea for the future, while Billy Elliot or Sunset Boulevard could also take advantage of reinvention in the way Hairspray, The Producers and Matilda: The Musical have in the past. 

Additionally, certain original stage musicals could follow the path of Wicked. The creators of The Book of Mormon, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, would be well-suited to make their smash hit into a movie, being the duo behind South Park and Team America: World Police. Another potential option could be Six, the British musical that found success on Broadway by turning the six wives of British monarch Henry VIII into pop divas and telling their story through song. Show creators Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss confirmed that talks are ongoing, but given that the songs take inspiration from Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj, the cast would have to be very impressive! 

Perhaps the holy grail of movie adaptations, however, would be the most talked-about musical of the past decade: Hamilton. The groundbreaking production, which tells the story of United States founding father Alexander Hamilton mostly through rap songs, continues to sell out everywhere it runs globally, and became a streaming success when a filmed version of the stage show was brought to Disney+ in 2020. The creator and original headliner, Lin-Manuel Miranda, acknowledges that a film adaptation will one day come to fruition, but the Moana and Mary Poppins star wants people to discover the live performances first. “I have no distance from Hamilton. It’s still happening to me in ways large and small,” he told Digital Spy, explaining that more time would have to pass before a film is made. “It would take a real director with vision to do something that would set it apart from the stage production”.

It’s only a matter of time: given the success of current musical movies, not attempting a project that could have fans dancing and singing their way to the cinema would simply be leaving money on the table. 

Musical icon Bob Fosse once said, “The time to sing is when your emotional level is just too high to speak anymore, and the time to dance is when your emotions are just too strong to only sing about how you feel”. The joyful, cathartic experience of an invigorating performance set to rousing music has drawn audiences in for centuries – and it seems that Hollywood is only just beginning its next act.