Broadway at the Box Office: Mamma Mia!

Mamma Mia, the new movie version of the smash hit West End and Broadway musical, picked a tough weekend to open, going head-to-head with the record-breaking Batman sequel The Dark Knight. However, although Mamma Mia only pulled in $27,751,240 versus Batman's $158,411,483, the ABBA musical still did better than last summer's big Broadway-to-Hollywood transfer, Hairspray, which debuted at a few hundred thousand less. Hairspray was considered a box office hit, so hopefully this bodes well for Mamma Mia. Mamma Mia, which stars Meryl Streep, also has the advantage of appealing to that often-ignored segment of the population known as women - especially middle-aged women. As a result, Mamma Mia could continue doing steady business throughout the rest of the summer, providing a nice alternative for people who don't care for the special effects-laden blockbusters.

Oh, and did we mention that the figure above is only U.S. sales? Mamma Mia's total opening weekend worldwide was over 100 million, proving that Mamma Mia is not just a London and Broadway musical, but an international sensation.