Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! (2018) (1 Viewer)

[PMF]

Deleted by PMF

 

[Elizabeth S]

Diane Lane didn't do her vocals for "Streets of Fire", but the musical sequences in that film were so well done. Fantastic songs and I still listen to the soundtrack today. Adore that film.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Best Buy is currently listing an October 23 release date for the Blu-ray.

They're also carrying an exclusive steelbook version which will feature Donna's overalls on the cover.

 

[Mike Frezon]

They're also carrying an exclusive steelbook version which will feature Donna's overalls on the cover.

That'll sure move a lot of extra copies...

 

[SamT]

Just saw this. It's an OK movie. It would have been a lot better if they made a straight up prequel movie, no current time stuff. Meryl Streep was not needed. All the actors of the first movie were not needed. It's like they are saying look, look this is the same successful movie that we made 10 years ago.

All the good stuff was the past scenes. The present time scenes were all unnecessary. They show a happy nice back story and they cut to say, don't forget, this is her funeral, SHE IS DEAD. What's the point? Is Mamma Mia the place to say your main character is dead? Don't chicken out. Make a straight fun prequel movie, show young Donna and her adventures.

 

[Jake Lipson]

They show a happy nice back story and they cut to say, don't forget, this is her funeral, SHE IS DEAD. What's the point? Is Mamma Mia the place to say your main character is dead? Don't chicken out. Make a straight fun prequel movie, show young Donna and her adventures.

The point of Donna's death was that Meryl Streep did not want to return as the lead. Therefore, there was no way to make a sequel without killing her, since otherwise Donna's non-presence in the present day narrative wouldn't make sense. Donna wouldn't abandon her family unless she died.

Your idea to make only a prequel is an interesting one, but I'm sure Universal wanted to do it as a sequel because they wanted to retain the connectivity with the original cast.

 

[SamT]

The young Donna stuff was the best part of the movie. Anytime they jumped to the present time, it dragged and it was jarring.

Now I understand the people who liked the first movie and not this one. Again, this is Mamma Mia, which you expect to get a sunny bright happy movie. Then you design the whole movie around death, and not anyone, your main character?

 

[Jake Lipson]

Then you design the whole movie around death, and not anyone, your main character?

Again -- they had no choice. Since Streep decided she didn't want to be the lead again and only wanted to cameo, there was no other way to make her absence work in a sequel other than to kill her. I think they did the best they could under the circumstances.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Producer Judy Kramer says Universal wants a third Mamma Mia! film.

During lockdown, Craymer said she had planned to give some thought to Mamma Mia! The Movie 3. And although she has managed to avoid the virus, she has found it hard to focus.

‘I was meant to have been getting on with that, in my head, during these months. But then I got hit with Covid fog,’ she told me, from her country home in Warwickshire.

‘I think one day there will be another film, because there’s meant to be a trilogy, you see.

‘I know Universal would like me to do it,’ she added, saying she wanted to use the four new Abba numbers Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus have written for the virtual concert they’ve planned with Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad.

More at the link: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowb...s-making-Mamma-Mia-3-four-new-songs-Abba.html

I would certainly see another one if it happens, but I think they're facing a unique problem. Although the original cast is great too, the young cast in the flashback portions of Here We Go Again were central to its appeal. But Donna isn't supposed to see any of the guys again until Sophie invites them to her wedding in the first film. Here We Go Again told the flashback story completely. So If they did a third film, it would seem to be next to impossible to use the younger generation cast again unless they wanted to throw out the established chronology. They would probably have to make a third film exclusively in the present day, which means only using the original cast, minus Streep, whose character is dead. I'm not saying it would be impossible, but it would be kind of hard to remove the young cast that worked so well in Here We Go Again.

That being said, I didn't think Here We Go Again was going to work either when it was announced, and I ended up enjoying it very much. It is one of those rare films that is much better than its predecessor. So if they can come up with something for a third, I would certainly see it.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I'm surprised they'd want a 3rd movie because the 2nd one showed a big decline in ticket sales.

If the reported $75 million budget is correct, it still turned a nice profit, but it lost about 1/3rd of the first movie's take.

The sequel was a much better movie than the 1st. It's not good, but compared to the trainwreck that was the 2008 flick, it's genius!

 

[Johnny Angell]

That's a pretty low bar. I've had colonoscopies that were better than the original "Mamma Mia"!

Well, that was a probing analysis of the movie.

 

[Jake Lipson]

If the reported $75 million budget is correct, it still turned a nice profit, but it lost about 1/3rd of the first movie's take.

Still, profit is profit. I suspect it also did well after leaving theaters. If the budget on the next one is equally reasonable, there's no reason it shouldn't be able to make money.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Still, profit is profit. I suspect it also did well after leaving theaters. If the budget on the next one is equally reasonable, there's no reason it shouldn't be able to make money.

I guess the concern would be that Chapter 3 would drop substantially again. Though if they kept the budget at $75m, a $270m or so WW gross would still mean a little profit!

The question becomes how popular the franchise really is. Did fans really like Part 2 or did it sell tickets just based on love for the first?

As I mentioned, I thought the sequel was a big improvement over the original, but I have no idea how fans of the first reacted to it...

 

[Jake Lipson]

Did fans really like Part 2

I did.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I did.

I was wondering on a broader scale than you, dude!

"MM2" got better reviews than the original. Both have identical 66% audience scores on RT, while they're almost the same (6.4 original, 6.7 sequel) on IMDB.

Leaves the impression fans liked 'em about the same I guess! "MM" has almost 3 times as many votes on IMDB as the sequel, though - and on RT, the original has 438,274 vs, 5190 for the sequel!

I'm guessing a lot of the RT votes for the original were trolls. Makes no sense the original would have almost 85 times as many votes as the sequel!

 

[EricSchulz]

Also, remember ABBA are (and always have been) HUGE overseas. The first movie did $671M worldwide and MM2 did $475M. Yes, a substantial drop, but not bad on a $75M investment.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Also, remember ABBA are (and always have been) HUGE overseas. The first movie did $671M worldwide and MM2 did $475M. Yes, a substantial drop, but not bad on a $75M investment.

Oh, I agree. I said "MM2" turned a good profit.

And I think a 3rd would make some money, but not much if the grosses continue to slide.

That's why I wondered how well fans received "MM2". Did it make money because of lingering love for the original or did it make money because fans liked it on its own - or both?

Anyway, as long as the 3rd remains relatively cheap, it'll probably earn a profit.

Though it remains to be seen what story there is to tell!

 

[TravisR]

Haven't they run out of popular Abba songs to do a third movie? Do they reuse the same songs in both movies?

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Haven't they run out of popular Abba songs to do a third movie? Do they reuse the same songs in both movies?

They can use the UNpopular ABBA songs!

 

[Jake Lipson]

Do they reuse the same songs in both movies?

Yes, but only a handful, and the ones they do reuse are in different contexts each time.

Mamma Mia!, Dancing Queen, I Have A Dream and Super Trouper appear in both films. Also, The Name of the Game appears on both soundtracks, because it was filmed for the original film but got cut out. They used it again for the sequel, but that only sort of counts as a duplication because it doesn't actually appear in the first one.