'Mamma' gets a box office tune-up

Sing-along screenings bump up musical

By PAMELA MCCLINTOCK

"Mamma Mia!" -- here you go again.

Special Labor Day sing-alongs for Universal's bigscreen musical adaptation "Mamma Mia!" scored bigtime, with the film actually enjoying a 2% bump in ticket sales over the holiday weekend. That's impressive, considering the pic was in its seventh sesh.

U held the sing-alongs in 299 theaters, out of a total theater count of 1,968. Ticket sales for those runs amounted to 20% of the entire Labor Day gross, or roughly $1.2 million.

"That's a pretty good equation," said Nikki Rocco, Universal's prexy of domestic distribution.

For the weekend overall, "Mamma Mia!" grossed an estimated $5.8 million from 1,968 theaters for a hearty cume of $132.9 million. Film came in at No. 8.

Sing-alongs are nothing new. Last summer, New Line held sing-alongs for "Hairspray" (which cumed $118.9 million domestically), but they weren't quite as successful. That could be because "Mamma Mia!'s" Abba tunes are more popular.

When it comes to box office, it seems every note counts.

Read the full article at:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117991412.html

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