Mamma Mia! – The Movie proven to be a feel-good film
With the world sinking into recession, Christmas drawing closer and the average family spending less on the festive celebration it seems everyone is feeling the pinch and is generally a bit fed up; that is why perhaps Mamma Mia! has proven to be such a...
With the world sinking into recession, Christmas drawing closer and the average family spending less on the festive celebration it seems everyone is feeling the pinch and is generally a bit fed up; that is why perhaps Mamma Mia! has proven to be such a runaway movie success.
A study commissioned by Universal Pictures (UK) with Professor Geoff Beattie and Manchester University in the UK, revealed that watching feel-good films, in particular Mamma Mia! – The Movie, can make you feel less sad, less tense and calmer.
In the first study of its kind, Prof. Beattie worked with a group of volunteers and studied their reactions to clips of well-known feel-good films. Participants’ reactions were monitored for genuine ‘Duchenne’ smiles, laughter and how they felt after watching each film.
The ultimate feel-good big hitters used included Mamma Mia! – The Movie, Love Actually, Dirty Dancing, Grease and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. The research revealed that Mamma Mia! – The Movie is the ultimate feel-good film. Not only did watching the film achieve the greatest proportion of genuine ‘Duchenne’ smiles (average of 51), but it also made people smile and laugh a total of 104 times during the six-minute viewing of the clip!
Genuine smiles are the best indicator of true happiness. The research indicated that from watching pleasant films, people produced more genuine Duchenne smiles, the signal that a person is experiencing positive emotions such as happiness which is linked to more left-side brain activity.
Compared to the other films, Mamma Mia! – The Movie saw one of the biggest number of sustained genuine smiles while nearly a quarter of all the Duchenne smiles were generated when participants were talking about it.
Professor Geoff Beattie said, “Everyone needs to feel good during these times of financial difficulty and Mamma Mia! – The Movie is a perfect outlet at Christmas to deliver this.”
Mamma Mia! – The Movie is now on sale on DVD and Blu-ray. Two- minute broadcast interview with Prof.Geoff Beattie is available for download. For images of the experiment and interview opportunities with Prof. Geoff Beattie contact Joseph Borg/Visco Enterprises Co. Ltd. on 2137 7458,9942 9494 or e-mail: jborg@musika-films.com.