"Mamma Mia!" dances to foreign box office success

Abba members Agnetha Faltskog (2nd L) and Anni-Frid Lyngstad (2nd R) pose with cast members Meryl Streep (L) and Christine Baranski during the premiere of the motion picture version of the musical 'Mamma Mia' in Stockholm July 4, 2008.[Agencies]

"As a movie musical, it's a train wreck." That's how one reviewer greeted Universal's stage-to-film adaptation of "Mamma Mia!" And that review was only one of a batch of disastrous notices.

But even the staunchest detractors conceded the Meryl Streep film's feel-good quality -- "a massive mess, but it's fun ..." and many found "a soft spot for the songs of ABBA."

Fortunately for Universal, "Mamma's" stalwart overseas fan base of mostly women apparently never heard of film critics. Foreign ticket sales stand at more than $300 million, making the film the highest-grossing musical of all time overseas.

The loyal British aficionados of the stage musical and of 1970s Swedish pop group ABBA accounted for more than $100 million of that total. It's the top-grossing film of 2008 in Britain and the fifth-highest ever.

The North American total, meanwhile, was about $139 million.

Universal executives are overwhelmed by "Mamma's" takeoff overseas, where movie musicals do not usually catch on easily.

"It did better than we thought only in terms of its amazing legs," said David Kosse, president of London-based Universal Pictures International. "We knew it would open and play in all markets, not just musical markets, but we did not expect it to be the No. 1 film of the year in about 10 markets."

There are many anecdotal stories about people seeing the film more than once, Kosse said, including one about a woman in Germany who claims to have seen it 71 times.