The Mamma Mia! Phenomenon

The critics hate it, the music is 30 years old, it's full of embarrassing middle-aged people cavorting about, it's painfully uncool. And it's the highest grossing British film of all time at the UK box office. What the Benny and Bjorn is going on?

Over the summer, and continuing into the chilly, credit crunched autumn, thousands and thousands of us have willingly entered cinemas to watch the likes of Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Julie Walters sing old songs (badly) and leap around (creakily). Basically like watching your mum, dad and auntie dirty-dancing at a wedding for two hours.

Mamma Mia! the film has made 66,995,224 pounds in the UK so far, topping Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, according to the Telegraph. Around the world it has made over 500 million dollars, making it one of the most profitable movies ever.

Cinema experts generally agree that a fatal combination of external factors has caused this phenomenon. Dire summer weather is guaranteed to send families scurrying into the film theatre, and they'll pretty much watch anything.

This summer was another wash-out, with 53,642,237 cinema admissions recorded between June and August 2008. Discussing these figures, the Cinema Exhibitor's Association (CEA) Chief Executive Phil Clapp said:

"I think even cinema industry veterans have been taken by surprise by the popularity of cinema this summer. We knew that admissions generally hold up well when the economy falters, but the range of high quality movies on offer over the last few months has produced a truly exceptional period for UK cinema..."

Mr Clapp doesn't mention the weather but highlights another vital cog in the Mamma Mia! machine: the doom and gloom surrounding the economy. Want to listen to another report about house repossessions and the cost of gas? No, let's look at some pretty young things gadding about on a sun-soaked Greek island and listen to Pierce Brosnan murdering When All is Said and Done instead.

And herein lies the final piece of the Mamma Mia! musical movie jigsaw: the chance to see really quite A-list celebrities having a go at some Abba karoake like the rest of us, and looking like they're having a great time.

You will need help when you hear Brosnan's SOS and you'll cringe at Dancing Queen tackled by Streep, Walters and Christine Baranski. But we love pain and embarrassment. It's why we love the X Factor audition shows.

Mamma Mia! the film has followed in the footsteps of the stage show, produced, like the film, by Judy Craymer. It's been running in London since 1999 and shows no signs of stopping.

Playing in 160 cities worldwide, thirty million people across the globe are thought to have followed the story of a mother, daughter and her quest to find her real father, whilst singing along to Abba's greatest hits.

This musical must be the best thing to happen to Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus - the beardie Swedes behind Abba - since they scored two glossy haired foxes at the end of the 1960s. I wonder what Agnetha and Frida think of it all?

Max Clarke is a copywriter for holiday services company, Holiday Extras, currently writing about Gatwick airport parking for the South Terminal, Gatwick airport parking for both terminals and Stansted airport parking.

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