…in today’s UK “Daily Telegraph” I notice that the movie “Mama Mia!” has just become the biggest grossing movie at the UK box office of all time (passing “Titanic” and “Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone”.
So how does this fit in to our ongoing discussion about movies and what they say about the social mood?
“Mama Mia! is pure escapism, proving a fun and inexpensive way to forget about the state of the economy for a couple of hours” says David Kosse of Universal Pictures.
In tough times, the predominant mood is gloomy but people still want some light relief. Looking back at, say the 1930s, sure there were the classic horror movies but it was also the heyday of the escapist musical.
Closer to today, if you look back at the 1970s, the last real recessionary time, the biggest selling rock acts were “dark” heavy rock bands like Led Zeppelin.
But it was also the time of Abba and Disco!
In other words, things aren’t completely black or white. The key is to look at what’s generally most popualr and what people are drawn to.
And , as I’ve suggested before, the 1970s are likely to be a good general guide as to what lies ahead.
Worldwide, “The Dark Knight” is still the overall biggest movie of the year reflecting the fact that Abba were never as popular in the USA as in the rest of the world.