Mamma Mia!, The Golden Compass and St Trinian’s lead the field for the National Movie Awards, picking up four nominations each. Mamma Mia! cohorts Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth are up for Best Male for their roles in the Abba musical film. Meryl Streep, Angelina Jolie and Sarah Jessica Parker are also in the running for the award. The winners, voted for by the public, will be unveiled in London on September 08 at London’s Royal Festival Hall and in a live ceremony screened on ITV1. You can vote for Meryl by submitting your vote here.

In spite of stiff competition from the newest Batman film, the film version of Mamma Mia! enjoyed a strong opening weekend at the box office, taking in a solid $27.6 million. Although that total didn’t approach The Dark Knight’s record-breaking $155.4 million, it narrowly beat the opening total of last year’s feature film transfer of Hairspray. Universal Studios’ decision to release Mamma Mia! as a counter-programming move to the dark sequel to Batman Begins paid off. Together, the two films created the biggest opening weekend ever in terms of total grosses, according to Variety. Overseas, where Mamma Mia! opened a week ahead of its U.S. premiere, the movie grossed $26.8 million in its second week for an impressive total of $72.6 million.

Article courtesy this source: Abba welcomed a bevy of Hollywood stars to Stockholm on Friday for the première of Mamma Mia! -The movie. Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad Reuss made a rare public appearance together with their former Abba partners, Björn Ulveaus and Benny Andersson, on the night of the première of “Mamma Mia!” – a musical based on the disco sound of the Swedish group, Abba. The film’s star Meryl Streep was the big attraction of the afternoon and she was in a party mood, dancing a jig with Agnetha and Annefrid on the red carpet. She had told the press earlier in the day that singing and dancing in a musical was a childhood dream. “When I was in school I was in several musicals where I sang and danced. It was like coming home to something I love.”

According to this source, Meryl Streep, who stars as Donna in the Abba musical Mamma Mia, will attend the Australian premiere in Melbourne next week. Mamma Mia also features Colin Firth as Harry Bright. Firth will also be at the premiere. The Mamma Mia movie is based on the musical with songs by Abba. On soundtrack, 17 Abba songs have been re-recorded for the movie, with Meryl Streep herself singing ‘Mamma Mia’ and ‘The Winner Takes It All’ as well as ‘S.O.S.’ and ‘When All Is Said And Done’ as a duet with Pierce Brosnan, who stars in the movie as Sam Carmichael.

Universal Pictures said Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth are to appear at the upcoming London premiere of their movie musical “Mamma Mia!”. Based on the hit stage musical and featuring hits from the ABBA song catalog, the film version of “Mamma Mia!” is to open in the United States July 18. The world premiere of the wedding-themed movie is scheduled June 30 at London’s Odeon Leicester Square theater. Also slated to attend the event are supporting players Stellan Skarsgard, Julie Walters, Dominic Cooper, Amanda Seyfried and Christine Baranski, the movie studio said.

Stars from the stage and screen versions of Mamma Mia! are to be featured in an edition of The South Bank Show. Julie Walters, Colin Firth and Meryl Streep – who star in the film version due for release in July – are among some of the names lined up to appear in the programme. It will also contain interviews with Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson from ABBA and behind the scenes footage of a new opening of the production in Europe. There will also be contributions from the creative team behind the show. An exact airdate is not yet given.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, First Independent Pictures will handle North American theatrical distribution for Chen Shi-Zheng’s dramatic thriller “Dark Matter,” starring Liu Ye, Aidan Quinn and Meryl Streep. Based on a true story, the film follows a Chinese science student (Liu Ye) invited by a professor (Quinn) to travel to the U.S. to study for his Ph.D., but the pressures of his new environment cause him to slowly unravel. Streep plays his mentor. The film will be released in April, followed by a DVD release via a home video deal that is now being finalized. “Dark Matter” won the Alfred P. Sloan award when it premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Meryl Streep May be playing Julia Child in a movie version of the famous cook’s life: Meryl Streep will be whipping up some culinary delights as legendary chef Julia Child in Columbia Pictures “Julie & Julia.” The film is an adaptation of the 2005 book by Julie Powell, “Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen.” Columbia is in negotiations with Amy Adams to co-star as Powell. The film follows Powell, a government worker, who decides to cook her way through Child’s classic, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” in one year’s time out of her small Brooklyn kitchen. Powell blogs her daily experiences, gaining a loyal following along the way. Nora Ephron penned the script and is directing. Streep has starred in two films written by Ephron, 1983’s “Silkwood” and 1986’s “Heartburn.”

The American Film Institute announced today that the highly anticipated Tom Cruise drama “Lions for Lambs” will be the opening-night film for AFI Fest 2007. Directed by Robert Redford, “Lambs” is the first release under the Paula Wagner / Tom Cruise regime at United Artists. The picture stars Redford, Cruise and Meryl Streep, and is described as a politically charged drama centered around two American soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and a U.S. senator with presidential ambitions (Cruise) who May have a hand in their fates. Streep plays a TV journalist poised to land a major story with the help of the senator. Redford appears as an idealistic college professor who is torn by the choices of two of his former students. “We think it’s an exciting film and an important film,” Wagner, UA’s chief executive, said in a statement released today by AFI. “And this is the perfect way to introduce it to the public.” So far, it’s the only festival selection for “Lambs.” It’s scheduled to be in theaters Nov. 9.

James Bond star Pierce Brosnan will swap guns for Abba songs this month when he begins filming a Hollywood version of the hit musical “Mamma Mia” on the Greek island of Skiathos, the show said Wednesday. The Irish actor’s co-star Meryl Streep May also make an appearance when filming begins there and on the neighbouring island of Skopelos on August 29, a production official was quoted by AFP as saying on condition of anonymity. The film is hoping to recreate the success of the British musical, created in 1999 using songs by hit Swedish band Abba, for the big screen. Actor Tom Hanks is producing the film, due to be screened next year, and the stage musical’s British creator, Phyllida Lloyd, will direct, according to the Hollywood trade press. In anticipation of the stars’ arrival, residents of Skopelos have created a blog, www.skopelos07.wordpress.com, dedicated to the film and to promoting the two islands as tourist destinations.