10 Great Movies That Were Made into Bad Musicals

Some movies are iconic and beloved for their compelling stories, unforgettable characters, and immersive worlds. However, not every film can make a successful transition to the stage. Cinema and theatre are very different, and while a plot may seem amazing on screen, it often doesn’t translate well when songs are added.

Here are 10 great movies that were made into bad musicals.

Related: 10 Times Live Theatre Went Spectacularly Wrong

10 Mean Girls

You’d be hard-pressed to find a movie that’s come in the last 20 years that’s been quoted more than “Mean Girls.” Tina Fey’s iconic high school comedy was adapted for the stage in 2017 and opened on Broadway a year later.

Fey herself worked on the book, though the decision to change the setting from 2004 to modern day did not sit well with some fans. Many claimed that the original movie was a product of the early 2000s teen culture, with jokes about bulimia and slurs no longer being seen as funny. Despite this, Mean Girls stayed on Broadway for two years, only shutting down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

So why is it on this list? Mean Girls is unique because while the stage version of the show is fine (if underwhelming, according to critics), the 2024 movie version of the musical was a huge flop. It gained notoriety on TikTok for its odd directing choices, which included filming some songs from a cell phone and lead Angourie Rice’s subpar singing. It was a commercial flop, with reviewers noting it was a “hot mess.”^[1]

9 Fame

With both a TV show and a musical based on the original movie, Fame is one show that really lives up to its name.

“Fame” follows a group of students at a performing arts high school in New York City as they navigate adolescence. The theatrical nature of the original source material makes this an obvious choice to adapt into a stage musical.

One of the main problems critics had with this show was that it was pretty much just the movie… on a stage. While this is, of course, the point of adapting a movie to the stage, Fame made no effort to vary the plot or add character development, opting instead to reuse jokes and songs from the 1980 movie. Even the cult status of the original film and a 2020 pro-shoot recording couldn’t save this show.^[2]

8 Tootsie

Faced with the reality that he’s gained a reputation for being difficult, actor Michael Dorsey assumes a new identity and new gender. Thus lies the premise for the popular 1982 comedy “Tootsie.”

Such a ridiculous and theatrical plot seems tailor-made for a Broadway musical, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be. While the comedy and writing were praised, most critics agreed that the music was repetitive and dull anathema to the innate energy of the movie.

The nail in the coffin for Tootsie was a blowback from the transgender and non-binary communities, which pointed out that trans people were the butt of many jokes and the perpetuation of transmisogyny.^[3]

7 The Devil Wears Prada

Without Meryl and Anne, this story just isn’t the same.

Based on the 2006 movie, The Devil Wears Prada musical was a surprise flop considering the talent involved, which included Tony nominee Shaina Taub, screenwriter Paul Rudnick, and Sir Elton John. It’s Elton’s involvement that makes the negative reviews so shocking. Not only were the music and lyrics underwhelming, but the New York Post noted that the show was “alarmingly in-fun and sluggish.” Not quite what you’d expect from the Pinball Wizard, especially when paired with a cult classic movie.

Worst of all, the costumes didn’t quite steal the show—which is a problem for a musical about fashion.^[4]

6 Ghost

Patrick Swayze broke hearts in the 1990 movie Ghost, where he played a specter desperately trying to reconnect with his still-alive lover. With Demi Moore as the aforementioned girlfriend and the hilarious Whoopi Goldberg as a psychic who can help them, it’s no surprise Ghost still brings many to tears.

As a matter of fact, so did the 2011 musical adaption, but not for the same reasons. The musical version of Ghost premiered in the Manchester Opera House and transferred to Broadway less than a year later. Though the show did garner a few Tony Awards for some cool social effects, reviewers were not impressed with the “innocuous, forgettable pop songs” and noted that the show seemed almost to exist purely to show off the set and effects, leaving audiences wanting something a bit more human.^[5]

5 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Roald Dahl’s famous 1964 children’s novel has been adapted multiple times, most notably in 1971 with Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka and in 2005 with Johnny Depp in the lead role.

It’s a classic story of selflessness and the magic of sugar, and one that audiences have flocked to approximately every 25 years (if we consider the box office smash of 2024’s Wonka). It seems impossible to mess up. But when the musical adaption hit Broadway in 2017, critics weren’t happy.

Their unease mostly stemmed from the production’s decision to cast adults as all of the Golden Ticket winning children. This combined with a minimalist set which failed to capture the magic and whimsy of Wonka’s world caused Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to be sent down the chocolate river.^[6]

4 Big

Like most of the musicals on this list, Big should have been a hit, just like the 1988 Tom Hanks movie of the same name.

Hanks played a 12 year old boy who suddenly turns into an adult and learns that growing up isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Even with Hanks as the impervious lead, the film is often criticized for its main romantic relationship between Hanks and Elizabeth Perkins (who, of course, has no idea she’s actually dating a child). Hanks’ charm and the sharp writing saves the movie from being too weird—Something that the musical doesn’t have the advantage of.

As one reviewer noted, “Big just doesn’t grow up,” referring to the show’s childish writing and forgettable musical, which fails to elevate the coming-of-age material.^[7]

3 King Kong

Large animals and monsters have been done well on stage many times before—Take Audrey 2 from Little Shop of Horrors, the gigantic man-eating plant, or the Joey puppet from War Horse.

So when an Australian production company announced in 2013 that they’d be turning the iconic 1933 film King Kong into a musical, it was big news, but not unprecedented. Theatermakers around the world anxiously waited to see how the gigantic ape could be recreated on stage.

And it didn’t disappoint. Though reviewers tore into the “stupefyingly banal book,” “forgettable lyrics,” and “shrill, one-note performances” from the actors, King Kong the musical performed for months on Broadway thanks to the sheer spectacle of the titular character’s puppet, who required 15 people to operate and weighed 1.2 tons.^[8]

2 Rocky

Besides Damn Yankees, sports generally don’t make successful musicals, and the Broadway adaptation of Sylvester Stallone’s hit film Rocky helps prove this.

After eight years of workshops and rehearsals, Rocky the Musical opened on Broadway in 2014. Even hunky lead man Andy Karl as the titular boxer and some impressive set design couldn’t save the show, which featured bland and predictable songs according to critics. One of the most infamous of these is a ballad Rocky sings to his pet turtles, titled “My Nose Ain’t Broken,” which is about exactly what it sounds like.

Since closing on Broadway, Rocky the Musical has grown a cult following, particularly in Europe, where it was revived in Prague. Most of this is because of the theatricality of the musical’s design, which elevates the material. But, as the old theater adage goes, “nobody leaves a theater humming the scenery.”^[9]

1 Gigi

By all accounts, the 1958 movie Gigi shouldn’t work. Based on the 1944 novella by Colette, the film follows a teenage courtesan named Gigi as she explores turn-of-the-century Paris and grapples with the realities of her career. The lush costumes and detailed sets made for a Best Picture winning-movie, but not a Best Musical winning musical.

The sensitive nature of the material wasn’t very controversial in the 1950s, but by the time a new musical version landed on Broadway in 2015, audiences weren’t too keen to watch a young girl be bought by old men. Though Gigi was aged up and her love interest made a little less creepy, the overall story remained awkward.

Critics pointed out there wasn’t much substance behind the main character. “Her great triumph is up to her sexual servitude from temporary to permanent.” The show tried to live the best of both worlds by keeping the sexual plot but making the songs clean enough for family audiences, creating a weird and vague plot that captured no one.^[10]