Just as Star Wars spawned a rash of rip-offs and Four Weddings and a Funeral paved the way for a glut of rom-coms, so the success of Mamma Mia! already seems to have sired an unlikely offspring. Today comes news that Ted Danson, Tom Selleck and Steve Guttenberg are poised to belatedly embark on a second sequel to the 1980s comedy Three Men and a Baby - entitled Three Men and a Bride. The plot bears some eerie similarities to a certain summer blockbuster.
Three Men and a Bride will feature the team as a trio of middle-aged men brought together at the wedding of an American girl who regards each of them as a surrogate dad. “Tom Selleck, Ted Danson and I are looking to make another Three Men and a Baby film,” admitted Guttenberg. “It’s called Three Men and Bride. The script is pretty much written and we are really keen to get that made. We’re very hopeful.”

Based on a French comedy, the original Three Men and a Baby went on to become the biggest Hollywood blockbuster of 1987. It gave rise to a 1990 sequel, Three Men and a Little Lady, by which time the infant had bloomed into a wisecracking infant (catchphrase: “What a crock!”).

The decision to resuscitate the franchise after 18-years appears at least partly inspired by the success of Mamma Mia!. That film focused on a girl’s attempts to learn the identity of her father by inviting the three prime contenders to her wedding. Phyllida Lloyd’s adaptation of the Abba musical has now earned over $500,000,000 at the worldwide box office and was this week confirmed as Britain’s fastest-selling DVD ever.

Three Men and a Bride is set in the run-up to the heroine’s wedding, as her three father figures jostle for the chance to escort her up the aisle. It remains to be seen whether any Abba songs will feature.