‘Mamma Mia!’ Sequel Confirmed: Meryl Streep Returns To Sing, Release Date Announced

Mamma Mia! is headed for the big screen once again, 10 years after its Hollywood debut. The Broadway hit, which was adapted into a big screen flick, will have an original sequel titled, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!, Universal Pictures has confirmed.

Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! is slated to release on July 20, 2018, and will be written and directed by Ol Parker (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel). The same producers for the first film, Judy Craymer and Gary Goetzman will be on board for the sequel. As stated in the press release, the new movie will feature more hit songs from the classic Swedish pop group ABBA, which wasn’t done in the first film. Also, the new musical will feature “some reprised favorites,” the announcement stated.

For those who haven’t seen the original film, Mamma Mia! tells the story of a young girl, played by Amanda Seyfried, who’s about to get married. She then planned to invite her father to her wedding, unbeknownst to her mother, Donna, (Meryl Streep), just so she could have a father to walk her down the aisle during the big Greek wedding celebration. The problem is, she doesn’t know who her father is, so she simply invited three men who were part of her mother’s past.

Spoiler alert for those who are planning to watch the movie now, it ended with a twist: Seyfried’s character Sophie and her fiancé, Sky, (Dominic Cooper) decided not to push through with the wedding because both agreed they are too young to get married. They called it off and traveled the world instead. Although there wasn’t any happy wedding for the youngsters in the previous film, it’s nevertheless a happy and fun musical, and Universal announced that Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! will bring more of that enthusiastic feel.

As for the actors who will be on board, Universal said that the original major cast will most likely return along with other new cast members. In that case, Streep, Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, and Colin Firth will most probably be back hitting the notes. Although the original cast has not explicitly confirmed their participation in the movie, Streep previously expressed that she’s totally game for a sequel. In 2008, the veteran actress made it clear to Daily Mail that she’s willing to sign up for a sequel if the male cast will also be part of it.

“I’m up for doing a sequel, as long as you can get those fabulous boys back!”

Talks of a sequel began immediately after Mamma Mia! became one of the highest-grossing films of 2008. The original film garnered $609.5 million at the worldwide box office, but it still took 10 years to have Mamma Mia:Here We Go Again! greenlighted. As compared by Forbes, the musical’s success surpassed that of Iron Man’s, which garnered $585 million.

The studio has, for years, been playing with ideas on how to come up with a follow-up to the box-office hit. Sources reportedly shared that Mamma Mia’s sequel could be more about Streep, Firth and Brosnan’s story years before the events of the first film, Variety reported.

Meanwhile, Screen Rant speculates that the sequel’s plot may see Sophie back on the Greek island of Kalokairi and that she and Sky would finally go through with the wedding. It is also possible that she’ll get married but to a different man. Donna and Sam (Brosnan) could be renewing their vows as well. In the original movie, the ex-lovers confronted each other about their feelings, and they got married toward the end.

Mamma Mia!, however, left the big question about Sophie’s biological father unanswered as Donna told her daughter that any of the three men could be her father. Hopefully, the sequel will get to finally reveal who it is.

Are you excited about Mamma Mia’s sequel? What do you hope to see in the sequel? Sound off in the comments section below.

[Featured Image by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images]