'Mamma Mia' Has Box Office Rebound with Sing-Along Screenings

Variety reports today that recent sing-along screenings of Mamma Mia have proven to be a huge hit for one of the quietest $150 million movies in recent memory. Across the country, Universal had 299 theaters in full throat, which I suspect means some of the other 1,000-plus houses will get a similar musical makeover in the coming weeks, as the studio tries to maximize its already healthy profit on the film. This is, incidentally, an absolutely brilliant twist for Mamma Mia, a movie I was not at all fond of. But Universal knows that a big percentage of the movie's audience saw the musical and obviously knows many of the songs just through cultural osmosis. This past weekend, the musical hung around the top ten for another week, easily outgrossing the newer, hipper Pineapple Express. The sing-along screenings accounted for 20% of the film's total ticket sales this weekend.