Universal

Like many a big-screen sequel, “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” rewards fans willing to stick through the bitter, bitter end of the credits after the movie ends.

Yes, writer-director Ol Parker’s new movie musical — a sequel to 2008’s hit “Mamma Mia!” — has a post-credits scene.

And while the brief vignette doesn’t tease a third installment in the franchise, a mash-up of classic ABBA songs with a convoluted soap operatic plot, it does provide a fun bonus scene that calls back to one of the new film’s biggest scene-stealers. (Spoiler alert: Stop reading now if you don’t want to know the contents of the bonus scene.)

Also Read: 'Mamma Mia 2' Trailer: Watch Cher as Meryl Streep's Mom (Video)

At several points in the film, both in flashbacks to 1979 and the present day, we meet a quick-witted customs officer (played by Iranian-British standup comic Omid Djalili) who stamps passports on a pier before characters board a ferry to the Greek island where Meryl Streep’s Donna — and later her daughter, Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) — make a home in an old farmhouse.

In the bonus scene, we first see Hugh Skinner’s Harry, an aspiring banker-businessman (later played by Colin Firth) who met new college graduate Donna (Lily James) in Paris and chased after her following a one-night romance.

“If she objects, have her give me a call,” Djalili’s unnamed customs agent tells young Harry before breaking into a few lines of the chorus to ABBA’s “Take a Chance in Me.”

He then quickly breaks character and convulses into laughter, joined by some unseen crew members.

Also Read: ABBA to Reunite, Will Release First New Songs in 35 Years

Harry is of course one of three men Donna (played by Meryl Streep in the original film) encountered that fateful summer in 1979 who could have been Sophie’s father — the others being Pierce Brosnan’s Sam and Stellan Skarsgard’s sailor Bill.

Christine Baranski, Julie Walters and Dominic Cooper also return for the new film, whose predecessor was based on a stage musical that premiered in London’s West End in 1999 and played on Broadway for more than a decade.

Jeremy Irvine plays the younger Sam and Josh Dylan plays the young Bill, joined by fellow newcomers like Andy Garcia and Cher (as Donna’s long-estranged mother).

“Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” opens on Friday.

For the record: A previous version of this story incorrectly listed co-star Julie Walter’s name.

12 Movies and Musicals to Watch After 'La La Land' (Photos)

“How can you be a revolutionary when you’re a traditionalist,” asks John Legend in “La La Land.” Damien Chazelle’s film is enamored with classic movie musicals, mashing up references and wearing its influences on its sleeve. But it’s also about how embracing the past can create innovation. Here are some of the inspirations Chazelle has cited for "La La Land."
Lionsgate
"The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" (1964)

“La La Land” is most closely an homage to this French musical from Jacques Demy. Catherine Deneuve stars as a girl separated from her lover by war. Chazelle has professed his love for it numerous times, and you can see traces of it in his candy- colored set dressing and melancholy dirges.
20th Century Fox
"The Young Girls of Rochefort" (1967)

This Demy film also inspired Chazelle, who screened it for the entire team during production. The outdoor dance sequences and widescreen aspect ratio are modeled closely in “La La Land.”
Warner Brothers/Seven Arts
"Singin' in the Rain' (1952)

This is where it all begins. Just about every musical today owes something to Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen’s masterpiece. “La La Land” emulates its colors, its surreal dream sequence shot on sound stages, in the finale -- and in its cheeky satire. Like “La La Land,” “Singin’ in the Rain” pays respect to a lost era.
MGM
"An American in Paris" (1951)

Gene Kelly plays a dirt-broke artist trying to find work in Paris along with his two friends, a cabaret singer and a would-be concert pianist. Their ambitions and joie de vivre in spite of hardships are similar to those of struggling millennials Mia and Sebastian.
MGM
"The Band Wagon" (1953)

Fred Astaire dances with Cyd Charisse as he poses as a slick, private eye in the “Girl Hunt Ballet” sequence of “The Band Wagon.” The scene inside an-all pink saloon is one Chazelle refers to as a “dream ballet,” one he thought of in trying to achieve “wild, artistic risk-taking combined with real, mass audience” entertainment.
MGM
"Whiplash" (2014)

Chazelle earned praise and Oscar nominations for this jazzy movie about extreme drive. The success of “Whiplash” helped get “La La Land” off the ground. You can see similar visual flair in both films, especially in the aggressive editing in places. And both films end with wordless, musical climaxes.
Sony Pictures Classics
"Top Hat" (1935)

Story-wise, “Top Hat” may be one of the more insipid films on this list. But the famed duo Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are at their best here. Chazelle saw Stone and Gosling as a modern-day answer to the duo. The elegant “Cheek to Cheek” waltz seems a particular inspiration.
RKO Radio Pictures
"8 1/2" (1963)

Roger Ebert once said that Fellini films were so musical in spirit that he could watch them on the radio -- even though they weren't musicals. “8 ½” inspired the opening dance number of "La La Land," set on a congested LA freeway.
Embassy Pictures
"It's Always Fair Weather" (1955)

“La La Land” isn’t all rainbow colors and pure joy. It’s also somber and mournful at times. This Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse production tones down the screwball energy of “Singin’ in the Rain," telling the story of three soldiers who reconnect after 10 years to find they no longer have much in common.
MGM
"Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench" (2009)

Chazelle’s first film, a black-and-white indie steeped in the jazz age, borrows as much from Jean-Luc Godard as it does “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.” It has tap dancing and romance, and "La La Land" composer Justin Hurwitz composed the score and original songs.
Variance Films
"Boogie Nights" (1997)

Paul Thomas Anderson’s pornography opus may be an odd point of reference for Chazelle’s blissful musical romance, but Chazelle admired the film's period- piece nostalgia and used the film, along with noirs like “Sunset Boulevard” and “The Bad and the Beautiful,” as a template for characterizing LA and California.
New Line Cinema
"Rebel Without a Cause" (1955)

At one point, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone’s watch James Dean in “Rebel Without a Cause” and trek up to Griffith Observatory for a lovely, high-flying dance number inside the planetarium. “Rebel Without a Cause” is one of the most famous films shot in CinemaScope, which Chazelle also used.
Warner Bros.

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“The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” and “Singin’ in the Rain” are among Damien Chazelle’s inspirations

“How can you be a revolutionary when you’re a traditionalist,” asks John Legend in “La La Land.” Damien Chazelle’s film is enamored with classic movie musicals, mashing up references and wearing its influences on its sleeve. But it’s also about how embracing the past can create innovation. Here are some of the inspirations Chazelle has cited for "La La Land."

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