It seems a little ridiculous for a movie to be successful enough to warrant adapting as a stage musical and for that stage musical to then be successful enough to warrant adapting into a musical movie. Yet this specific confluence of events occurs surprisingly often, with two examples ( The Color Purple and Mean Girls) opening in theaters in just the past few weeks.
The tradition goes back at least to the 1950s (and the line between the stage and screen was much more permeable during Hollywood's Golden Age). In some cases, these movies originate with other source material - both The Color Purple and Mean Girls are originally based on books - but the musicals owe their existence to the movies, and the subsequent movie musical adaptations are always presented as remakes of the earlier films, rather than new interpretations of the books.
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