Following the success of one of the biggest musical franchises in history, the entrepreneurial front figures of the Swedish 70’s hit band ABBA, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeu, is taking their show Mamma Mia! to the silver screen. The trailer (embedded above) just hit the Internet and it looks like its going to be a big budget movie with stars such as Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth, together with Dominic Cooper (The History Boys) and Amanda Seyfried (Mean Girls) as bride and groom-to-be, Sophie and Sky (due out in theatres this summer). Remains to be seen if it will be a success like High School Musical or a Flop like celeb blogger Perez Hilton thinks. Safe to say that with masses who have already seen the show around the world and love the music of ABBA, there is enough name recognition to carry a movie and eventually make Björn and Benny even richer. Believe it or not, since its opening in 1999, the musical Mamma Mia! has grossed US$1.6 billion in earnings (!) accoring to Wikipedia. Glad to see that some musicians have found ways to make a decent living off their catalog, even in a digital age.

Joakim Baage