Lionsgate’s ‘Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.’ Footage Delights At CinemaCon

The first trailer to the long-awaited feature adaptation of Judy Blume’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. drew great laughs from exhibitors Thursday at CinemaCon.

As Deadline first reported in early March 2020, Lionsgate won the film rights to Blume’s 1970 novel in an auction, greenlighting the feature with a $30 million production cost and Kelly Fremon Craig directing her scripted take and Gracie Films’ James L. Brooks producing. The two had teamed up on The Edge of Seventeen.

CinemaCon 2022: Deadline’s Full Coverage

Stars Rachel McAdams and Abby Ryder Fortson presented the trailer for the adaptation today. Ahead of footage from the movie there’s a montage of pop culture references to the enduring book, from TV talk shows to mainstream movies and everything in between.

The film maintains the period setting and tells the humorous and poignant story of Margaret (Fortson) as she battles the challenges of adolescence — from boy books to spin the bottle, bras and buying tampons. “Hello, girls, we’re going to talk about your changing bodies,” says the school marm at the beginning of the trailer.

Margaret lives in NYC, but the family moves to New Jersey where her mom (McAdams) tells Margaret “you’re going to make more friends.” Kathy Bates also stars.

The trailer closes out with the classic mantra, “We must, we must, we must increase our busts.”