10 Films That Worked As Prequels And Sequels
5. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
After the overwhelming success of Mamma Mia in 2008, the fifth highest-grossing film of 2008, Universal Pictures quickly went to work on following it up with another jukebox musical with whatever ABBA songs were leftover/weren’t used in the first film.
The first film centred on Donna coming face to face with three ex’s from her past. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is set after the events of the first film but is full of lengthy flashbacks that delve into Donna’s youth in 1979 and those romantic relationships with her former partners, with Lily James playing her in past scenes and Meryl Streep playing her in the present.
Thankfully they did this with other actors too, which meant audiences were subjected to less of Pierce Brosnan crooning his way through ABBA tracks. Some past scenes even replicate the drama and emotions of what’s taking place in the present.
It paid off for Universal Pictures when it grossed $395 million worldwide, with the studio now keen on revisiting ABBA’s greatest hits once more in order to complete the trilogy.