Dancing queens, get ready to celebrate. Universal has just announced that, 10 years after Mamma Mia! The Movie, there will be a sequel. Titled Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! and set for release in July 2018, the film promises to bring back most of the original cast, including Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, and Colin Firth, the BBC reports.
The first film was adapted from the stage version of the story, which follows a bride (played by Amanda Seyfried in the movie) who tries to find her real dad on her wedding weekend in Greece, using songs sung by Swedish pop group ABBA in the 1970s. Wow, it sounds absolutely absurd when spelled out that way, doesn't it?
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According to sources and reported by The Hollywood Reporter, the reprisal will be both a prequel and a sequel, "set in the present with the returning cast members, while new actors would play younger versions of Streep, Brosnan, and Firth for part of the story that is set in the past." Variety reports that the studio's announcement revealed the film will include ABBA songs that weren't featured in the 2008 movie, “along with some reprised favorites."
Returning along with the cast are producers Gary Goetzman and Judy Craymer, who created and produced the original stage musical. The film will be written by Ol Parker, who is best known for writing The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. The film wasn't a hit with critics, but was one of the biggest hits in studio history for Universal, according to THR, grossing $609 million worldwide.
We have a ton of questions: why did they wait 10 years before deciding Mamma Mia! needed a sequel? Which ABBA songs will we hear? Are people actually excited about this? Who has aged better: Colin Firth or Pierce Brosnan (#TeamBrosnan)?
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