The film features an ensemble cast, including Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, Dominic Cooper, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, and Julie Walters.

One is Sophie's father: Irish-American architect Sam Carmichael, Swedish travel writer Bill Anderson, and British banker Harry Bright.

Sophie finds the men aboard Bill's sailboat, and they sail around Kalokairi, telling stories of Donna's carefree youth.

At Sophie's bachelorette party, Donna is distressed by the three men's presence, but Rosie and Tanya assure her that they will take care of them.

As the bridal party and guests enter the chapel, Sam intercepts Donna, who reveals the pain she felt over losing him.

At the wedding, Sam reveals that he had ended his engagement, but returned to find Donna had gone off with another man (Bill).

Most of the outdoor scenes were filmed on location at the small Greek islands of Skopelos and Skiathos, in Thessaly (between August 29 and September 2007),[4][5] and the seaside hamlet of Damouchari in the Pelion area of Greece.

[6] A complete set for Donna's Greek villa was built at the 007 stage at Pinewood Studios and most of the film was shot there.

He dashes down the escalators and through the porte-cochere, where yellow cabs and actors representing New York mounted police were used for verisimilitude.

[7] The Fernando, Bill Anderson's yacht (actually a ketch) in the film was the Tai-Mo-Shan, built in 1934 by H. S. Rouse at the Hong Kong and Whampoa dockyards.

[8][9] Meryl Streep took opera singing lessons as a child, and as an adult, she had previously sung in several films, including Postcards from the Edge, Silkwood, Death Becomes Her, and A Prairie Home Companion.

[11] Amy Adams, Brittany Murphy, Busy Philipps, Evan Rachel Wood, Jessica Biel, Kirsten Dunst, Leighton Meester, Mandy Moore, and Zooey Deschanel auditioned for the role of Sophie.

[13] Though the world premiere of the film occurred elsewhere, most of the media attention was focused on the Swedish premiere, where Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Fältskog joined Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson with the cast at the Rival Theatre in Mariatorget, Stockholm, owned by Andersson, on July 4, 2008.

[15] The record was previously held by Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl with sales of 4.7 million copies.

[2][18] It became the highest grossing live-action musical of all time until it was surpassed by Bill Condon's Beauty and the Beast in 2017.

[citation needed] When released on July 3, 2009, in Greece, the film grossed $1.6 million in its opening weekend, reaching number one at the Greek box office.

The website's critics consensus reads, "This jukebox musical is full of fluffy fun but rough singing voices and a campy tone might not make you feel like 'You Can Dance' the whole 90 minutes.

[27] Bob Chipman of Escape to the Movies said it was "so base, so shallow and so hinged on meaningless spectacle, it's amazing it wasn't made for men".

[28] The Daily Telegraph stated that it was enjoyable but poorly put together: "Finding the film a total shambles was sort of a shame, but I have a sneaking suspicion I'll go to see it again anyway.

"[29] Angie Errigo of Empire said it was "cute, clean, camp fun, full of sunshine and toe tappers.

Variety stated that "some stars, especially the bouncy and rejuvenated Streep, seem better suited for musical comedy than others, including Brosnan and Skarsgård.

"[31] Brosnan, especially, was savaged by many critics: his singing was compared to "a water buffalo" (New York Magazine),[32] "a donkey braying" (The Philadelphia Inquirer)[33] and "a wounded raccoon" (The Miami Herald),[34] and Matt Brunson of Creative Loafing Charlotte said he "looks physically pained choking out the lyrics, as if he's being subjected to a prostate exam just outside of the camera's eye.