mamma mia Archives - The Playlist

Fox 2000 Picks Up Beach Boys-Based Musical Film… By Producer John Stamos

Edward Davis — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 21:58:00 +0000

Fox 2000 (a 2oth Century Fox subsidiary) has nabbed the rights to a new film — not a biopic — about the seminal Californian pop outfit, The Beach Boys.

The projects is coming under the aegis of actor John Stamos who is one of the co-producers on the film (along with Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the duo responsible for “Hairspray” and attempting the new “Footloose”)

And you’re probably thinking, wtf Stamos?

Continue reading Fox 2000 Picks Up Beach Boys-Based Musical Film… By Producer John Stamos at The Playlist.

Amanda Seyfried To Lead Catherine Hardwicke’s ‘Girl With The Red Riding Hood’?

Simon Dang — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:45:00 +0000

Catherine Hardwicke has been confirmed to helm the gothic modern retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood tale with It Girl Amanda Seyfried reportedly a front-runner to join her, according to 24 Frames.

Titled “Girl With The Red Riding Hood,” the project has been developed by Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way shingle who hired “Orphan” scribe David Johnson to on work the script last August.

Word around Hollywood now is that Johnson’s script, which reportedly focuses on the dark, dangerous and romantic elements of the story, is “elevated genre material,” has the potential to be the next ‘Twilight,” and is of course therefore subsequently moving full steam ahead.

Continue reading Amanda Seyfried To Lead Catherine Hardwicke’s ‘Girl With The Red Riding Hood’? at The Playlist.

Amanda Seyfried Says She Won’t Do ‘Mamma Mia 2’ Without ABBA Music (Who Already Said They Won’t Do It)

Rodrigo Perez — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:45:00 +0000

Previously on “Mamma Mia 2” Watch (you know you check in all the time as we do), members of Swedish pop group ABBA, said they would not be involved with a sequel because they do not intend to license ABBA’s catalog for any further films.

Obviously, worried beyond belief to the point that we could no longer sleep at night, we suggested some musical alternates so the picture could move forward (Neil Diamond, Madonna, Elton John).

Continue reading Amanda Seyfried Says She Won’t Do ‘Mamma Mia 2’ Without ABBA Music (Who Already Said They Won’t Do It) at The Playlist.

How Can There Be ‘Mamma Mia! 2’ With No ABBA?

astrudsands — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:00:00 +0000

We are all for more female friendly fare at the box office. We understand the necessity in Hollywood to try and turn a successful film into a franchise. And boy do we like music. When you put all those things in a blender well…let’s just say you don’t get a smoothie (you get a shit smoothie).

Benny Andersson of ABBA has made it perfectly clear in interviews that he does not intend to license ABBA’s catalog for any further “Mamma Mia”-ing.

Continue reading How Can There Be ‘Mamma Mia! 2’ With No ABBA? at The Playlist.

The Songs Of Barry Manilow Inspire Michael Stipe/Tom Hanks-Produced Rom-Com

Rodrigo Perez — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:46:00 +0000

The unusual producer pairing of Tom Hanks and Michael Stipe are teaming up with Barry Manilow’s manager Garry Kief to develop a romantic comedy based on the ’70s crooner’s Velveeta-like soft-pop back catalogue.

Despite coming from Hank’s company Playtone, which produced the music-movie megahit “Mamma Mia!” the film will not be a full-on musical, once again denying us the Chewbacca-like musical stylings of Pierce Brosnan.

Instead, the picture will feature “Love Actually”-style interlinking plotlines, involving Manilow fans traveling to Las Vegas, and the singer is expected to make a cameo.

Continue reading The Songs Of Barry Manilow Inspire Michael Stipe/Tom Hanks-Produced Rom-Com at The Playlist.

Xmas DVD Sales Showdown: ‘Mamma Mia’ Dethrones ‘The Dark Knight’

Rodrigo Perez — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 05:50:00 +0000

“The Dark Knight” might be near invincible, but at Christmas time when the sales battles go head to head on DVD, the shadowy Gotham figure has been toppled by a bunch of middle aged women under the aegis of Swedish pop stars.

Yup, “Mamma Mia” has dethroned the ‘Knight’ on the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart landing at number 1 for the week ending Dec. 21, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Christopher Nolan’s Batman sequel will remain the top-selling DVD of the year, but for this week, ‘Mia’ outsold the comic book noir, though TDK’ did as much business in its second week as the musical comedy did.

Continue reading Xmas DVD Sales Showdown: ‘Mamma Mia’ Dethrones ‘The Dark Knight’ at The Playlist.

Brits Love Them Some Abba, ‘Mamma Mia’ Breaks ‘Titantic’ Box-Office Record In U.K.

Spencer Martin — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:44:00 +0000

Who would have guessed that England held such an unconditional love for the 1970’s Swedish pop band Abba, strong enough in fact to drag them to theaters in droves to witness this years “Mamma Mia.” It was enough to catapult to film ahead of “Titanic” in the box-office records, pulling in $105.8 million so far (“Titanic” pulled in a measly $105 million).

Holy shit, right? Is there some sort of underground support for Abba and/or poorly staged musicals that we are just not aware of?

Continue reading Brits Love Them Some Abba, ‘Mamma Mia’ Breaks ‘Titantic’ Box-Office Record In U.K. at The Playlist.

‘Dark Knight’ Music, Jonny Greenwood’s ‘There Will Be Blood’ Score Nominated For 2008 Grammy Awards; ‘Wall-E,’ ‘Juno’ & ‘Walk Hard’ Also Grab Nods

Rodrigo Perez — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 13:49:00 +0000

Nobody gives a flying fuck about the Grammys, right? The antiquated music awards have been out of touch for some time now, but we guess they’re trying to slowly become more of the zeitgeist and may have made some steps forward by nominating Lil Wayne eight times this year for The Carter III (homeboy, we dig you, but drop the autotune already).

But we digress, we don’t really care about the Grammys anyhow, but there are a few categories that we do keep tabs on.

Continue reading ‘Dark Knight’ Music, Jonny Greenwood’s ‘There Will Be Blood’ Score Nominated For 2008 Grammy Awards; ‘Wall-E,’ ‘Juno’ & ‘Walk Hard’ Also Grab Nods at The Playlist.

Fangirls Flex Box Office Muscle with ‘Twilight’s’ $70.55M Opening Weekend

astrudsands — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 20:00:00 +0000

Anyone who predicted “Twilight” and “Bolt” would be having a showdown this weekend (erm, like The Playlist) sure do have egg on their face right now. Teen girl phenomenon “Twilight” created a huge box office story, raking in $35M on it’s first day and garnering a weekend total of $70.55M which lead it to be one of the biggest opening weekend stories of 2008 and the biggest opening for a female director (Catherine Hardwicke) ever.

Continue reading Fangirls Flex Box Office Muscle with ‘Twilight’s’ $70.55M Opening Weekend at The Playlist.

‘Twilight’ Soundtrack Launches To #1 Spot On Billboard Charts

Rodrigo Perez — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:45:00 +0000

What does this teach us? Make fun of it all you want, but don’t underestimate “Twilight.” The vampire-tween cultural phenomenon just exhibited its zeitgeist power and influence once again by capturing the No. 1 spot on the Billboard charts today, debuting on the top (and knocking off AC/DC) with 164,700 copies sold in its first week on store shelves.

Those numbers help it become the the year’s third soundtrack to top the chart, following “Mama Mia” and the uber-successful, “Juno” soundtrack.

Continue reading ‘Twilight’ Soundtrack Launches To #1 Spot On Billboard Charts at The Playlist.

“Mamma Mia!” Do Europeans, Women Love Crappy Music?

astrudsands — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 19:00:00 +0000

We at The Playlist noticed a news item in the Hollywood Reporter about ABBA- centric “Mamma Mia!” being one of the top grossing movies worldwide for 2008. The earnings so far have been largely in overseas markets but the film also had the largest opening weekend of any musical in U.S. history (well, just barely beating out “Hairspray”). The movie has even garnered it’s own sing-a-long version, for that extra special ABBA experience. This thing started as a West End play in 1999 and since then has grossed over $2 billion worldwide.

Continue reading “Mamma Mia!” Do Europeans, Women Love Crappy Music? at The Playlist.

‘Mama Mia!’ This Soundtrack Is Full Of ABBA Songs

Rodrigo Perez — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 05:44:00 +0000

The four members of ABBA made a rare appearance in Sweden this weekend at the premiere of “Mama Mia!,” the feature-length adaptation of the musical based on their songs.

It’s the first time the whole band has shown their faces in public in years and they were once rumored to have been offered a billion dollars to reunite for a world tour a few years ago.

Due in theaters July 18, the film includes 22 classic ABBA songs including “Dancing Queen,” “Take a Chance on Me” and “The Winner Takes It All.

Continue reading ‘Mama Mia!’ This Soundtrack Is Full Of ABBA Songs at The Playlist.