Recently, Vogue magazine did a full oral history piece on the two “Mamma Mia!” movies and asked basically everyone involved if they would be up for a potential third installment.
Back in May this year, the stage musical’s creator Judy Craymer said a third film is in very early development, but nothing official was set.
At the time, Craymer told Deadline: “There is a story there, and I do think Meryl should come back – and if the script is right, she would, I think, because she really loved playing Donna… there’s a trilogy there.”
In the new piece, Universal Pictures chairman Donna Langley said the studio is all in: “Universal would love to make a third movie, and I’ll leave it at that.”
Amanda Seyfried says: “I dare you to show me one person who doesn’t want a third Mamma Mia!” but adds that the proposition might be too expensive these days:
“Nobody is saying no, but nobody is saying yes either. The powers that be probably can’t afford us to be honest. I hate to say it, because would I do ‘Mamma Mia 3’ for free – of course I would – but that’s not the business we’re in. What’s fair is fair, and I feel like a third film is gonna come down to something stupid like whether or not Universal wants to pay the money.”
Stellan Skarsgard joked he would “be in an urn” by the time the script is done, but he “will gladly participate as a pile of ashes”. Meryl Streep meanwhile, whose character was killed off in the sequel, expressed interest in returning in some capacity:
“I’m up for anything. I’ll have to schedule a knee scoping before we film, but if there’s an idea that excites me, I’m totally there. I told [producer Judy Craymer] if she could figure out a way to reincarnate Donna, I’m into that. Or it could be like in one of those soap operas where Donna comes back and reveals it was really her twin sister that died. We may have to call it Grand-Mamma Mia! by the time we make it!”
The original stage show premiered in 1999 and followed the story of a mother, a daughter and three possible dads on a Greek island paradise – all unfolding to the music of ABBA.
The jukebox musical films were released in 2008 and 2018 and starred the likes of Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski, Pierce Brosnan, Dominic Cooper, Colin Firth, Amanda Seyfried, Stellan Skarsgard and Julie Walters. The original grossed $611 million worldwide on a $52 million budget, while the sequel made $402 million worldwide on a $75 million budget.
