ABBA will be screening their 1977 mocumentary ABBA – The Movie at special cinema screenings around the world on 17th and 18th of September, but Australia might be left off the schedule.
The film captured the band on their landmark tour of Australia and includes full-length performances of many of their hits including Name of the Game, Dancing Queen, SOS and Waterloo.
Directed by Lasse Hallström, who was behind many of the band’s videos, it is presented as a mocumentary with a reporter eager to land an interview with the band following them across the continent including stops in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.
The fan focused event will also include recently discovered rare footage, lyric videos to sing along to behind-the-scenes footage of their current hologram-based show, and footage from the ABBA Museum in Stockholm.
Mia Segolsson, General Manager of Polar Music International, said in a press release: “I am thrilled that we are finally able to showcase the iconic ABBA: The Movie again across the globe, almost 50 years since its opening. What better place to experience ABBA in their prime than on the big screen together with both new and old fans. ABBA: The Movie is a testimony of the magic that was and is ABBA.”
One party of the globe where the film is maybe not screening is Australia, the place it was filmed. The official website does not list screenings in any Australian city, and the reason for the omission looks pretty obvious.
The actor who plays the reporter in the mocumentary is Robert Hughes. Hughes went on to star in the long running Australian sitcom Hey Dad!
In 2014 he was sentenced to 10 years and nine months imprisonment over two counts of sexual assault, seven counts of indecent assault and one count of committing an indecent act. Among those he assaulted was actor Sarah Monahan who played his daughter on the television show.
Hughes was paroled from prison in 2022 and immediately deported to the United Kingdom.
While Hughes was not a household name around the world, in Australia he starred in one of the most watched shows of the 1980s. So its understandable that Australian fans might want to give revisiting the ABBA The Movie a miss.
OIP Staff
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