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Disney has been doing a series of ez-remakes of script material that worked for them in years past - 101 Dalmatians (with sequels, live and animated versions), The Parent Trap, That Darn Cat, and many others, both in the can and on the drawing boards. (The same production company is also doing the latest remake in the Witch Mountain series for Disney.)

In the case of Freaky Friday, the original in 1977 spawned a TV movie in 1995, and now a full remake with an entirely rewritten script which varies greatly from the original. The main remainder is the high concept - teenage girl and harried mid-30s mom are totally at odds with each other on a gut level, and can't fathom the other, and end up mysteriously trading bodies - mom's mind in teen's body and so on. Wackiness ensues, things break, and lots of confusion, with the question of how this could all be undone hanging over the heads of the switched parties who may be regretting the transfer big time.

This formula, to work, requires you to believe that the mental transfer has taken place by the way that the actresses show the switcheroo and their difficulties in handling things that the other one deals with on a daily basis - teenager without a clue now has to handle Mom's boyfriend or Mom's medical patients, Mom handles life at high school, et cetera. In this case, you have Jodie Foster, one of the better kid actors of her generation and later Oscar winner, being replaced by Lindsay Lohan, who also did repeat duty for Disney's 1998 remake of the Parent Trap. Can Lohan do as well? It's a steep climb. On the other hand, imagining Jamie Lee Curtis (as the mom, who is about to get married to her boyfriend Mark Harmon the day after the switch) pulling off a teenager-inside-the-woman isn't a far stretch.

An oddball choice in this was that of the director, Mark Waters, who is best known for The House of Yes and a few fairly darker, more adult films. (Jim Rittenhouse/BOP)

Vital statistics for Freaky Friday Main Cast Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Mark Harmon Supporting Cast Chad Michael Murray Director Mark S. Waters Screenwriter Heather Hatch Distributor Walt Disney Pictures Trailer Click Here for Trailer Official Site http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/freakyfriday/index.html Rating PG Running Time 93 minutes Screen Count 2,954 Also see David Mumpower reviews Freaky Friday Kim Hollis reviews Freaky Friday Awards Awards page for Freaky Friday Talent in red has entry in The Big Picture

Comparison films for Freaky Friday
Title	Date	Opening	Adjusted Opening	Screens	PSA	Adj PSA	Total BO	Adjusted Total	Mult
Princess Diaries, The	8/3/01	22.86	24.39	2537	9011.00	9250.2	108.24	115.52	4.73
Lizzie McGuire Movie, The	5/2/03	17.34	17.34	2825	6138.00	6138.0	42.67	42.67	2.46
Big Fat Liar	2/8/02	11.55	12.00	2531	4565.00	4565.0	47.81	49.70	4.14
What a Girl Wants	4/4/03	11.43	11.43	2964	3858.00	3858.0	35.99	35.99	3.15
Parent Trap, The (1998)	7/31/98	11.15	14.33	2247	4962.00	6136.4	66.30	85.24	5.49