Paramount Pictures uploaded the entirety of Mean Girls on TikTok this week in honor of “Mean Girls day.” In one scene of the iconic movie, the date Oct. 3 is given arbitrary significance, and since then it has become a bit of a meme on social media. This year, Paramount decided to give fans a real celebration.
The studio created a specific TikTok account just for this occasion, uploading all of Mean Girls in short, mobile-friendly clips. The movie is one hour and 37 minutes long, and the entire thing was briefly available on TikTok in 23 consecutive clips. At the time of this writing, the full-length movie has been taken down leaving only a few stand-alone clips, so it seems this stunt was only meant to last for Oct. 3. Still, it gave some fans a chance to experience the movie for the first time – particularly younger viewers who might be more likely to engage with mobile content than to sit down for a movie.
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The Mean Girls TikTok account now directs visitors to the Paramount Movies website where they can see all their options to rent or purchase this film. It is available on Blu-ray and DVD as well as on digital stores, but the website fails to mention that Mean Girls is currently streaming on Paramount+ for subscribers. Those who missed the TikTok window have plenty of other ways to catch the film in its entirety.
Many culture critics pointed out that this was probably more than an attempt to capitalize on a meme – it was a response to a rising form a piracy. Earlier this summer, CBC News reported on an increasingly common phenomenon where entire movies or TV episodes are uploaded in short, consecutive clips on TikTok. The format often protects the individual clips from copyright strikes because of their length, but when organized together into a playlist they allow users to watch an entire production for free.
This strategy has been in use for years on platforms like YouTube with mixed success, and this isn’t the first time a studio has imitated it for social media engagement. For example, last year HBO uploaded the pilot episode of House of the Dragon on YouTube for free in the hopes of enticing new or lapsed subscribers to Max to watch the rest, while earlier this year Apple TV+ uploaded the entire pilot of Silo onto X to try and get viewers hooked.
In the case of Mean Girls, the stunt seemed to be more of a celebration than a promotion since the movie is already iconic and successful. Mean Girls is streaming now on Paramount+ and is available to rent or purchase on other platforms. Those that want to watch it for free on TikTok may be in luck if they wait until next October.
