Bye-bye Skopelos. The sequel to the box office smash hit film Mamma Mia! is set to be filmed on the Croatian island of Vis this autumn.
The Mamma Mia! sequel, which will be titled ‘Mamma Mia, Here We Go Again’ and is expected again to feature its all-star cast including Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth, It will be written and directed by The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel writer OI Parker, while ABBA band members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus are serving as executive producers.
Mamma Mia! sequel set to be filmed on Vis
According to daily Jutarnji List, the film’s production crew have been on the island of Vis and the southern Dalmatian island will ‘play’ the Greek island Kalokairi in the sequel. Filming is set to start later this year.
Vis, which has a population of over 3,600, is one of the farthest inhabited islands in Croatia. The island’s two largest settlements are the town of Vis on the eastern side of the island (the settlement after which the island was originally named), and Komiža, on its western coast.
Croatia has recently become popular with international film production crews, after Game of Thrones, Star Wars, and Robin Hood all recently chose the Dalmatian coast as a filming location.
Why not in Greece?
When the news made the round, Greek media claimed that it was the delays of Greek decision makers that pushed the Mamma Mia! sequel producers to Croatia and avoided Greece as they get no tax returns.
“For two year, several state bodies and organizations have been considering legislative changes that will attract international film productions to Greece essential for the country’s revenues and the touristic promotion,” media wrote. But nothing has happened so far.
While big Greek film productions get a 20% tax return, foreign productions are excluded form the measure based on a legislation of 2011.
The Greek Tourism Ministry issued a statement on Friday saying it was not in charge of film productions. The Greek Film Center and the Hellenic Film Commission have never been approached by the producers with relative requests, the statement said.
Apparently some Greek websites had blamed the Ministyr of Tourism for the loss of Mamma Mia! the sequel.
In April, 26 SYRIZA lawmakers urged for legislation changes saying that absence of incentives and bureaucratic hurdles send big international productions to other countries, when Greece could profit of them in many ways.
According to a study, the release of Mamma Mia! in 2008 increased tourist arrivals on Skopelos by 12.5 percent.
Most of the outdoor scenes of Mamma Mia! were filmed on location at the small Greek island of Skopelos (during August/September 2007), and the seaside hamlet of Damouchari in the Pelion area of Greece. On Skopelos, Kastani beach on the south west coast was the film’s main location site. Total film Budget $52 million.
The sheer incompetence of the Greek state is a given thing and surely played its part in chasing the production away. But there is another factor to be considered. The authorities in charge are not Greek any more. For example, to offer a favourable tax regime for film production, the ones to decide are the Germans via the so called “Independent Authority for Public Proceeds”, which they established and control via the 3rd memorandum. And, of course, the answer would be no, because the mandate of this new body is to fast-loot the country, not to encourage new business.
PS. Greek bureaucrats are very happy with this new body, because for once there is somebody who is even worse than they are!