Yes, the movie may have been released at the height of the DVD trend, but Paramount is trying to make "fetch" happen on a platform with a core audience that wasn't even born in 2004.

You can visit the official Mean Girls TikTok page and watch this creation here. 

The account also links to Paramount’s website, listing retailers that offer DVD, Blu-ray and digital versions of Mean Girls for purchase.

Written by an co-starring Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock regular Tina Fey, the film became a cult classic before inspiring a musical, a live production which Paramount is set to adapt back into a film for release on January 12.

Oct. 3 isn't an arbitrary calendar listing for "Mean Girls Day" -- it's lifted from scene in the 2004 movie where Aaron Samuels (Jonathan Bennett) asks Cody Heron (Lindsey Lohan) what day it is, and she replies, “It’s Oct. 3.”

Fey is also auctioning her original annotated script of Mean Girls: The Musical, which included handwritten notes, sketches in the margins, and extra scenes including one with audience-favorite Mrs. June George, played by Amy Poehler.

Fun aside: The bio for the official Mean Girls TikTok account reads, “Get in loser, we’re going shopping.”

As president of animation and development for Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation, Naito will oversee all projects for the film studio as well as for the kids-targeted cable network, where she has served as president since last year. Naito replaces current Paramount Animation president Mireille Soria, who is leaving the company. 

Naito, who joined Nickelodeon Animation in 2018, has orchestrated the launch of the network's largest animation slate in network history, feeding its content pipeline across all formats and platforms. In 2021 alone Naito has overseen the launch of such projects as PAW Patrol: The Movie; The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run and two original spinoffs, Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years and The Patrick Star Show; Baby Shark; Blue’s Clues & You!; Santiago of the Seas; The Loud House Movie; and Rugrats, which was recently renewed for a second season. 

Read Also: The Five Spot: Ramsey Naito, President, Nickelodeon Animation 

“Ramsey is one of the savviest executives and creative minds in our industry,”  Paramount Pictures president and CEO Brian Robbins said in a statement. “During her time at Nick, she has transformed and reinvigorated the Animation Studio division with her sharp business instincts, deep stable of relationships and unique eye for great storytelling, and I’m thrilled to have her bring her talents to this expanded role where she can further elevate our overall animation business.” 

Naito will now oversee several upcoming projects for both Paramount and Nickelodeon, including Star Trek: Prodigy from Nickelodeon Animation and CBS Studios; the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theatrical motion picture, best selling book adaptations of Big Nate and Real Pigeons Fight Crime, an original Transformers series and an animated series based on the Monster High franchise. 

Soria had led the Paramount Animation division since 2017. ”Mireille has been a driving force in building out a new, dynamic and modern chapter of Paramount Animation,“ Robbins said. ”We thank her for her many contributions to the organization and wish her the best in her future endeavors.“   

Paramount has also moved another Cruise-led franchise follow-up, Mission: Impossible 7, from May 27, 2022 to September 7, 2022. And Jackass Forever has moved shifted from October 22 to Feb. 4, 2022. 

It's a major setback for North American theatrical distribution, which seemed poised for a rebound as recently as early July, when Disney-Marvel film Black Widow debuted to around $80 million in theaters domestically, even though it was available as a $30 premium offering on the Disney Plus subscription streaming platform. 

Since then, the COVID-19 Delta variant has led a case surge that has surpassed 160,000 new cases daily in the U.S., ending any summer momentum U.S. theater chains might have had. 

According to research company NRG,  67% of moviegoers say they are "very" or "somewhat" comfortable visiting their local movie theater, which is down 11 points from July.

Scrolling down the remainder of the 2021 release calendar, few major releases are left, save for Warner Bros. titles that are simultaneously committed to HBO Max day-and-date streaming premieres. The Clint Eastwood-made drama Cry Macho (Sept. 17) and David Chase's The Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark are next on the schedule. 

And titles keep dropping off the theatrical calendar, some of which are going the straight-to-streaming route. 

Peacock, for example, announced Tuesday that STXfilms' English adaptation of French thriller My Son, starring James McAvoy and Claire Foy, will debut on the NBCUniversal streaming service on Sept. 15. 

Here's a trailer for that movie:

beIN Media will retain a 51% in Miramax and the studios current executive team will continue to run the company.

“Miramax is a renowned global studio, responsible for some of the most iconic films of the last three decades, including Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting, Kill Bill and more,” said ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish.  “This partnership with beIN will be a unique opportunity to gain access to a valuable library, deepening our already substantial pool of IP at a time when demand for premium content is only accelerating. We look forward to working closely with the Miramax management team as we explore new ways to deliver its titles across a variety of platforms and create new, compelling projects.”

Miramax is known for award winning films including Chicago, Shakespeare in Love, The English Patient, No Country for Old Men.

ViacomCBS sees synergies between its Paramount studio and Miramax. Paramount has entered into an exclusive, long-term distribution agreement for Miramax’s film library and a first-ling agreement allowing Paramount to develop television projects based on Miramax intellectual property.

“This represents a major investment in and endorsement of our thriving Miramax business, which has grown in value under beIN Media Group’s ownership and has a fantastic future ahead with major new movies and unexploited premium dramas,” said Nasser Al-Khelaifi, chairman of beIN Media Group. “We are thrilled to partner with ViacomCBS and Paramount to explore further opportunities around Miramax’s iconic IP, and also at Group level; while substantially increasing the scale of our entertainment business. This deal further underlines beIN’s ambitions on the global stage – we are very proud to have established ourselves as one of the leading groups in sport, entertainment and media.”

Under the terms of the transaction, ViacomCBS will acquire 49% of Miramax from beIN for a total investment of $375 million. That includes an upfront cash payment of about $150 million, along with a commitment to invest $45 million annually over the next five years. Those funds will be used for new film and television productions and working capital.

The move all but ends any attempt to sell a stake in the movie studio – Redstone controls 80% of Viacom’s voting shares and sits on the board of both companies. Redstone has increasingly raised the stakes in his battle with Dauman – he first removed him as a trustee in the trust that will hold his Viacom shares after his death or incapacitation in May – and the latest slap evoked a strong response from the Viacom CEO’s camp.

“These illegitimate actions stem directly from the invalid changes made to the National Amusements, Inc. board and are completely at odds with good corporate governance,” a spokesman for Dauman said in a statement. “They are clearly intended to impede the ability of the Viacom Board of Directors to fulfill its obligations to all stockholders, including the public non-controlling stockholders who own 90% of the equity of Viacom."

Dauman has sued Redstone in a Massachusetts court claiming his former boss is no longer competent to handle his affairs. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for tomorrow.

“While National Amusements is not opposed to a transaction that would unlock value at Paramount, it firmly believes that any proposed transaction should be thoroughly vetted and approved by Viacom’s full board, and the rationale for such a transaction should be clearly articulated to Viacom’s stockholders in advance,” NAI said in a statement.

Dauman has said he has received several offers for the Paramount stake and hoped to seal a deal as early as the end of this month. Analysts have favored a sale of a partial stake in the studio, adding that it could help to reduce overall debt.

Comcast said it has added Paramount Pictures to its content partners for the Xfinity On Demand digital store, the cable operator's multi-screen electronic sell-through product.

The addition allows Comcast to sell titles from Paramount, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Wolf of Wall Street, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Anchorman 2, World War Z and Star Trek: Into Darkness, and enable Comcast to offer some Paramount fare prior to their respective DVD windows.

Comcast, which now offers “thousands” of titles through the EST product, has similar deals with Twentieth Century Fox, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, Warner Bros, Sony Pictures, and MGM, as well as A24, Relativity, Starz, and Vertical Entertainment.

The MSO hasn’t released EST sales figures, but in a blog post, Nancy Spears, Comcast’s VP of digital media distribution and monetization, noted that 42% of Comcast customers who own a movie or TV show via operator’s EST offering own more than one title. On average, they own at least two movies and/or four or five TV episodes, she added.

Comcast launched its EST platform late last year,  allowing customers to purchase and playback movies and TV shows via the set-top and PC browsers. Comcast has also developed apps (for playback—streaming and downloading) for iOS and Android smartphones and tablets.

Comcast competes in a heated EST market that also includes iTunes, M-GO, Target Ticket, Google Play, VUDU, Amazon Instant Video, and Verizon FiOS, among others. 

Viacom International Media Networks, The Americas said Thursday that it will launch Paramount Channel Latin America to about 10 million subscribers in the region on Nov. 14. 

“Latin America has a strong affinity and connection with Paramount Pictures as well as a passion for great storytelling and compelling characters, so it’s no surprise our Pay TV partners have readily come on board for this highly anticipated launch,” said VIMN The Americas SVP of distribution Rita Herring in a statement.

The 24-hour network, which has already had success in earlier launches in Spain, France, Russia, Romania and Hungary, offers a mix of movies from Paramount Pictures’ 100-year-old library, as well as third party acquisitions and local studio films representing the best of Latin American cinema.

“Paramount Channel will bring the classics everyone knows to a contemporary space where fans can engage in a curated film experience driven by the brand’s unparalleled library as well as local and third party films - a proven formula for Paramount Channel around the world.” said Paramount Channel brand manager and VIMN The Americas SVP of strategy and business development Carlos Penzini in a statement.

Paramount Channel Latin America is part of a portfolio of new movie channels owned and operated by Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) around the world. In Spain, the 24-hour network’s year-over-year ratings have improved by 51% with a 2.1% market share. In France, the network has an average monthly viewership of more than 5 million.