"Mamma Mia!" Film Climbs UK Chart; Box Office Nearly Doubles

By Ernio Hernandez
and Andrew Gans
July 14, 2008

In its second week of release, the movie musical "Mamma Mia!" steadily climbed the United Kingdom box office chart.

"Hancock" topped the UK box office (with $71.4 million) followed by "Kung Fu Panda" ($41 million), but "Mamma Mia!" grossed $24 million on only 1,368 screens for a $17,544 per-screen average, according to reports. (The film debuted July 4 to $13.2 million on 495 screens.) The film, which stars Academy Award winner Meryl Streep, made its world premiere June 30 in London's Leicester Square and will hit movie theatres in the U.S. July 18.

Joining Streep in the cast are Pierce Brosnan, Amanda Seyfried, Colin Firth, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Stellan Skarsgard and Dominic Cooper. Phyllida Lloyd, who staged both the London and Broadway mountings of Mamma Mia!, makes her feature-film debut on the movie.

Using the back catalogue of 70s pop group ABBA, Johnson's plot tells the story of bride-to-be Sophie Sheridan, who hopes to discover her father's identity on the eve of her wedding. She brings three men from her mother Donna's past back to the Greek island they last visited 20 years previously.

The show and film feature music and lyrics by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. Since the original London production opened in 1999, the musical has grossed over $2 billion worldwide.

The film, according to the Universal Pictures website, is described as such: "An independent, single mother who owns a small hotel on an idyllic Greek island, Donna (Streep) is about to let go of Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), the spirited daughter she's raised alone. For Sophie's wedding, Donna has invited her two lifelong best girlfriends-practical and no-nonsense Rosie (Julie Walters) and wealthy, multi-divorcee Tanya (Christine Baranski)-from her one-time backing band, Donna and the Dynamos. But Sophie has secretly invited three guests of her own.

"On a quest to find the identity of her father to walk her down the aisle, she brings back three men from Donna's past to the Mediterranean paradise they visited 20 years earlier. Over 24 chaotic, magical hours, new love will bloom and old romances will be rekindled on this lush island full of possibilities."

The soundtrack for the new movie musical was released on the Decca label July 8.

For more information visit mammamiamovie.com.