Freakier Friday is a 2025 American fantasy comedy film directed by Nisha Ganatra and written by Jordan Weiss. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures, it is the sequel to Freaky Friday (2003) and is the fifth film in the Freaky Friday franchise. It stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Julia Butters, Sophia Hammons, Manny Jacinto, and Mark Harmon. In the film, Anna (Lohan) and Tess Coleman (Curtis) swap bodies with Anna's daughter Harper (Butters) and stepdaughter Lily (Hammons) respectively.
The film was announced in 2023. Curtis and Lohan reprised their lead roles from the 2003 film, and were heavily involved in the production. The film includes numerous references to its predecessor as well as other comedies such as Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986). Filming took place in Los Angeles in summer 2024. While Disney initially planned a direct-to-streaming release, the film was upgraded to a theatrical release at Curtis and Lohan's request.
Freakier Friday premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on July 22, 2025, and was released theatrically by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures on August 8. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $153 million against a budget of $42–$45 million.
Plot
Twenty-two years after the body swapping incident, a now adult Anna Coleman works as a music producer and raises her teenage daughter Harper as a single parent with the help of her mother Tess. At school, Harper is constantly annoyed by her new classmate Lily Reyes, due to her snobbish personality.
After Harper and Lily cause an incident in chemistry class, Anna is called to the principal's office. When she meets Lily's widowed father Eric, they fall in love and become engaged six months later. The soon-to-be stepsisters are dissatisfied with their predicament; Harper is worried that her mother will relocate them to London, while Lily is adamant to return there so she can attend a fashion academy in honor of her deceased mother.
During Anna's bachelorette party, Anna and Tess and later Harper and Lily have separate palm readings from the supposed psychic Madame Jen, who tells Harper and Lily a fortune about their fractured lives. An earthquake then occurs, which only the four feel. The next morning, they discover that they have switched bodies: Anna with Harper, and Tess with Lily.
The experienced Anna and Tess advise Harper and Lily to pretend to be each other rather than telling anyone about the switch until they can change back. Realizing their new identities could help them break their parents apart, Harper and Lily lie about Madame Jen giving them a reading to delay the reversal. Anna and Tess go to school and spend time in detention for a food fight that Harper and Lily caused at a bake sale, while Harper and Lily enjoy the advantages of being adults and come up with a plan to sabotage the wedding.
At a photoshoot for Anna's client, aspiring singer Ella, Harper and Lily help her overcome her recent breakup. Ella tells them about Anna's former rock star dreams and they find a love song, which they assume Anna wrote about her high school ex-boyfriend Jake Austin. Upon finding him, Harper embarrasses herself when unsuccessfully trying to seduce him in Anna's body.
After escaping detention, Anna and Tess find Madame Jen, who reveals Harper and Lily's fortune but warns them that all four of them need to "change their hearts" in order to change back. Harper, who attends the immigration interview with Eric in Anna's body, realizes how much Eric loves and cares about her mother. Eric also tells her that it would be best for their families to stay in Los Angeles, causing Harper to have second thoughts about ruining their wedding. Lily, however, remains determined, and invites Jake to the rehearsal lunch. She makes a scene in Tess's body, leading to a heated public argument and Eric calling off the wedding. Following a heartfelt conversation with Tess about her homesickness and the loss of her mother, Lily starts to realize the error of her ways.
As Tess, Lily tries to convince her father not to give up on Anna. At the same time, Anna, followed by Harper, is called to Ella's concert, learning that Ella invited Anna's old band, Pink Slip, so they could perform together again. Although happy for the reunion, Anna tells Harper she never regretted giving up her singing aspirations because Harper is the best decision she ever made, revealing that the love song was actually written about her.
Anna and Harper perform the song together on stage, and Tess and Lily arrive in time to see them, with Lily happily stating she wants to be a part of the family. With Harper and Lily's change of hearts complete, they all return to their original bodies. Eric arrives to the concert, and he and Anna rekindle their relationship.
The wedding is held the next day. Sometime later, the family attends the launch event of Tess's latest book. Tess is shocked to learn that Lily, while she was in her step-grandmother's body, took an unflattering picture of her for the book's cover with Tess's lips swollen by an allergic reaction.
Cast
Production In May 2023, Walt Disney Pictures announced a sequel to the fantasy-comedy film Freaky Friday (2003) was in development, written by Elyse Hollander, with Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan set to reprise their roles as Tess and Anna Coleman, respectively. In March 2024, Lohan confirmed the sequel was in active development, and Nisha Ganatra had been hired to direct the film, with Jordan Weiss rewriting the script. In June 2024, Julia Butters, Manny Jacinto, Sophia Hammons, and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan joined the cast, with Mark Harmon, Chad Michael Murray, Christina Vidal, Haley Hudson, Lucille Soong, Stephen Tobolowsky, and Rosalind Chao reprising their roles from the original film. The following month, Jordan E. Cooper joined the cast. Principal photography began in Los Angeles on June 24, 2024, and finished on August 21. Curtis and Lohan stated that their decades-long friendship and mutual trust were central to producing and making the film happen.
Curtis insisted that the movie be filmed in Los Angeles and the filmmakers considered it a "love letter" to the city, particularly in light of the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires after many of the filming locations were destroyed. The family house used for both the sequel and the 2003 film burned down, and the production team was able to provide the homeowner with their location-scout photos for insurance claim and FEMA aid. Ganatra talked about getting permission to shoot in the city and being able to showcase certain parts of it she found that had not been previously captured on film: "[LA] has so much diversity, both in the people and places. [...] It was incredible to explore the city, but it then became a sad reality, as much of what we captured has disappeared due to the fires," and spoke of its importance in the film, "LA is her own character, and there are so many versions of LA, but I think for this movie, the right version was all of her. It was about showcasing the beauty, nature, from Downtown to the beaches." The scene featuring Curtis and Lohan driving a Chevrolet Camaro is an homage and recreation of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Furthermore, Ganatra was inspired by her love for Lucille Ball and physical comedy. Ferris Bueller's Day Off, along with "a lot of the films from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s," also influenced the lensing used, with Ganatra detailing: "We even went with the 1.85:1 aspect ratio because I wanted it to feel like the classic studio films that we grew up with. There's a little more grain in the lenses, so you feel like it's new and nostalgic all at the same time." The wedding dance rehearsal scene, inspired by Dirty Dancing, was developed after Jacinto suggested adding a first dance moment, drawing on his dance background.
The film's official title was announced by Curtis and Lohan at the 2024 D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event on August 9. In January 2025, it was revealed that Vanessa Bayer joined the cast. Following the release of the teaser trailer, it was disclosed Elaine Hendrix, who had previously starred in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap alongside Lohan, would also be appearing in the film. Eleanor Infante edited the film. Disney initially planned to produce the film for a direct-to-streaming release, but Curtis and Lohan pushed for a theatrical rollout, with Curtis revealing she pointed to the strong audience reception of Barbie (2023) to help persuade executives. Ganatra addressed the need to update the 2003 film's Asian representation, which was viewed as "problematic," explaining, "There were some stereotypes that were hurtful." While Chao and Soong both returned for the sequel, they are not involved in the body swapping: "It was a different time and wasn't done intentionally [in the 2003 film], but it's a real thing. It's something I, being Asian, was super conscious of." Ganatra said the scene featuring Lohan and Curtis on a beach was unscripted. She talked about directing the actresses, saying: "Comedies get a lot of flak for not being serious films, but the acting that those four actors are doing is really sophisticated. Then directing it is confusing, because it's eight different characters with the same four actors." She noted that they coordinated rehearsals and worked with the costume and production designers to ensure each character's identity was clear, reflecting their individual style, while the actors helped each other capture one another's mannerisms.
Freakier Friday marked Lohan's first Walt Disney feature since 2005's Herbie: Fully Loaded, following her debut with the studio in 1998 and multiple other projects in subsequent years. The film includes several references to the 2003 film as well as Lohan's other movies. The American indie pop band Muna makes a cameo appearance as part of the fictional artist Ella's band. Producer Kristin Burr stated that the fictional band Pink Slip was always intended to be featured in the sequel due to its long-lasting impact and meaningful role in the 2003 film's story. However, there was debate over whether Lohan's character and Muna would be a part of the band, with the decision ultimately made to retain all of the original members. Two of the Pink Slip members, Hudson and Danny Rubin, decided to form their own real-life band after reconnecting for the sequel.
Music In March 2025, it was announced that Amie Doherty would compose the film's score, after previously collaborating with Ganatra on The High Note (2020). Doherty detailed, "I think 29 tracks on the soundtrack aren't score. There's everything on there from the Spice Girls to Chappell Roan, some really nostalgic pieces mixed with very modern pieces." She elaborated that the songs were meant to establish and reference the "older two characters and the younger two in this movie, so the score was there to help with the emotional beats, first and foremost." The score blends punk-rock influences, orchestral themes recorded with a live string ensemble in Los Angeles, and modern electronic elements to create a unified musical palette inspired partly by the fictional band Pink Slip from the 2003 film. On July 11, 2025, a new version of the song "Take Me Away" by Pink Slip was released by Hollywood Records as a single for Freakier Friday. A previous version of the song appeared in Freaky Friday. The full soundtrack was released by Hollywood Records on August 1, 2025. It features three different renditions of an original song performed by Lohan titled "Baby", and a cover of "Ultimate", which she had originally recorded for the 2003 film, by Canadian rock band The Beaches.
Release Theatrical