Mamma Mia 2 hits HUGE milestone as Meryl Streep and co-stars continue to impress

The sequel to the hit 2008 musical has successfully surpassed a $100 million gross at the US box office, Screen Daily reports.

Another $5.8 million was added to its cumulative total this weekend, bringing it to a lively $103.8 million in the US alone. Its global haul is now thought to be north of $280 million.

The first movie made around $144.1 million in the US upon its release in 2008 – and while it seems unlikely now that this follow-up will match it, it’s still done very impressively indeed.

It’s also still doing well in the UK, after reigning at No1 for three consecutive weekends – beating even Mission: Impossible – Fallout and Ant-Man and the Wasp for a hat-trick of Friday-to-Sunday victories.

Whether or not it managed a fourth weekend at the top in this country won’t be announced until tomorrow.

But back to the US, it’s The Meg that has left analysts stunned.

The Jason Statham-starring shark movie was initially forecast to make $20 million in its first frame – but it’s thought to have taken around $44 million instead.

More than doubling initial projections, it now seems as though a sequel is much more likely.

The highest-grossing other new release is Slender Man at No4 ($11.3m), with BlackKklansman at No5 ($10.8m).

Mission: Impossible – Fallout and Disney’s Christopher Robin occupy numbers two and three respectively, with grosses of $20 million and $12.4 million.

And just ahead of Mamma Mia 2 (at No7) is The Spy Who Dumped Me; dropping three places to No6 in its second weekend on release, boasting a gross of $6.6m.

Mamma Mia’s success is continuing on the UK album chart too: on Friday it was confirmed that it is at the top of the charts for a third straight week in the UK.

The album contains the cast recordings of all the tracks heard in the movie, plus Lily James singing I Wonder (Departure) and Meryl Streep’s take on The Day Before You Came.

The soundtrack to the first Mamma Mia movie is also still in the Top 10, as is the country’s second best-selling album of all time: ABBA’s Gold greatest hits collection.

Whether or not the film will be followed by a Mamma Mia 3 remains to be seen, but Amanda Seyfried has said she doubts it could happen without seeming like an obvious money-grab.

Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again is out now.