WHAT connects The Producers, Hairspray and Mean Girls? Though an unlikely trio in isolation, each exists in triplicate.

All three began life as a popular comedy feature and later transferred to Broadway - with added songs! - before returning to cinemas as an adaptation of the stage show adaptation.

It’s a relatively recent trend, with Susan Stroman’s musical Producers hitting cinemas in 2005 and Adam Shankman’s Hairspray landing two years later. This week, Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. reinvigorate Mean Girls, the film having released on Wednesday so as to allow debut day audiences to wear their best pink.

Released to significant critical and financial success back in 2004, the cultural legacy of the original Mean Girls cannot be overstated. An endlessly quotable juggernaut, the film has spawned two decades of merchandise, GIFs and memes. Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, J-Lo and Mariah Carey are all self-proclaimed fans. October 23 is, and forever will be, Mean Girls day.

Having penned both the original and Broadway musical, Tina Fey once again finds herself on writing duties, while reprising her role as Ms Norbury, the school maths teacher. Much is carried from iteration to iteration, although it’s the newer, more contemporary beats that find the film at its sharpest.

Angourie Rice plays Cady Heron, the school newbie first portrayed, in 2004, by Lindsay Lohan. Having been home schooled in Kenya for the first 16 years of her life, Cady’s return to the United States sees her enrol at North Shore High School. Here she meets outsiders Janis (Auliʻi Cravalho) and Damien (Jaquel Spivey), who introduce her to the cliquey hierarchy of the school.

At the apex sits Regina George - Reneé Rapp, reprising the role she took from Rachel McAdams for Broadway - Queen of the so-called ‘plastics’, a vapid trio of self-proclaimed school icons. When Janis and Damien encourage Cady to infiltrate the plastics and bring them down from within, trouble ensues.

Peppy songs interject the familiar beats of the film, which should satisfy the original’s diehard fans while picking up some fresh recruits along the way. An effervescently talented young cast can’t quite best the originals but do much to remind us why Mean Girls has proved so culturally dominant for the last 20 years.

Burn books at the ready, this week fetch happens and we’re down for it.