Mamma Mia! Heads to the Big Screen for Expected 2007 Premiere

After playing in 130 cities around the world, and with continuing productions on Broadway, in London's West End and in Las Vegas, Mamma Mia! is ready to make the leap to the silver screen.

Playtone, the production company run by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, has inked a deal with Mamma Mia! producer Judy Craymer and ABBA songwriters Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaus to produce a movie version of the international hit musical, with hopes to have it in theaters by late 2007. According to Variety, Playtone is in talks with Universal Pictures to finance and distribute the film.

Mamma Mia! librettist Catherine Johnson will write the screenplay, which is expected to closely follow the stage plot. The musical, set on a Greek island, uses 22 pop songs of ABBA to tell the story of a mother, her soon-to-be-wed daughter and the daughter's three possible fathers.

Credited with launching the current trend of so-called "jukebox musicals," Mamma Mia! premiered at London's Prince Edward Theatre in 1999 and opened on Broadway on October 18, 2001, at the Winter Garden Theatre, where it is still playing. Variety reports that the musical has grossed $1.6 billion since its London premiere.

No casting has been announced for the film.