Mamma Mia!" the film doesn't open for a week, but try telling that to the significant portion of ABBA-philes out there.

These are the people who have hopped countries to see various stagings of the admittedly giddy musical, and they're probably the only ones interested in the goofiest movie tie-in in recent memory: Hostess 100-calorie packs of cupcakes and cookies with a chance to win a trip to Las Vegas to see the show!

What that has to do with either synthesized Swedish pop or a story about a young woman trying to determine the identity of her father amid the stunning scenery of the Greek Isles is beyond me.

But I actually really like ABBA, so what do I know?

Yep. I said it. I do not think ABBA created the most embarrassing music of the'70s this side of Leo Sayer.

I do, in fact, think that Benny Andersson and Bj?rn Ulvaeus molded some mighty terrific melodies -- and I'm not even talking about the requirement at every bachelorette party known as "Dancing Queen," although that opening slide down the keyboard remains an irresistible call to the dance floor.

Between Sirius Satellite Radio's two-week ABBA blitz that began Monday (channel 3 for those with the service) and my procurement of the movie soundtrack that bowed this week, I feel like the Stepford Wife of ABBA-ville, completely surrendering to the sugary appeal of "Super Trouper" and "Lay All Your Love on Me."

The special Sirius channel is riveting because between songs (some even played in ABBA's native language), there are interviews with Andersson, Ulvaeus and "Mamma Mia!" stage and screen producer Judy Craymer, among others, who give their insight about the creation of the songs and show.

A handful of guest DJs also are joining the ABBA blast, and how funny was it to hear New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, a Swede, chatting about his favorite ABBA songs before playing them? About as amusing as hearing Marshall Crenshaw doing the same thing.

Even if you fail to see the merit in that ching-chang guitar riff in "Waterloo" or the tawdry silliness of "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)," you've got to concede that Craymer's vision to use ABBA's songs to tell a complete story was genius.

Not to mention the inarguable fact that the show's morphing into a pop-culture phenomenon has turned at least a couple of people into gazillionaires more than $2 billion in tickets has been sold since the first stage show opened in London in 1999 -- and spawned the jukebox-musical craze that stretched from Broadway to Las Vegas.

But aside from the Billy Joel-themed "Movin' Out" and the current "Jersey Boys," which tells the story of the Four Seasons through their songs, most copycat musicals couldn't muster a whiff of the success of "Mamma Mia!" Just ask the producers of "Lennon," "All Shook Up" and "Good Vibrations."

Even with the built-in pedigree of international triumph in a live setting, there is plenty riding on this screen version.

The Broadway staging still runs at about 95 percent capacity, and "Mamma Mia!" is now the 17th-longest-running production in Broadway history. Surely those producers are hoping to capitalize on the film's publicity to stuff even more tourists into seats.

Likewise the Las Vegas version, which, after an impressive five-year run at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, was slated to close next month but has been extended until Jan. 4. Similarly, the thinking is that the hype from the movie will drive people to the show.

But with so many people already having seen the stage show, will the curiosity factor of Meryl Streep in the film's lead role be enough to coax them to the multiplex?

We know she can sing from "A Prairie Home Companion" and "Postcards From the Edge" (that raw performance of "I'm Checking Out" at the movie's close is still revelatory -- especially the Cajun-flavored reprise), so that's a given. And if you need further proof of her ability to interpret a song, listen to her take on "The Winner Takes It All" from the "Mamma Mia!" soundtrack; her crushed, wounded voice is so gripping, you can momentarily forget the inanity of the lyric, "The gods may throw the dice/Their minds as cold as ice."

That takes Streep-level talent.

And while Pierce Brosnan will likely be box-office catnip for a certain contingent of movie-goer, he skates by on charm more than vocal ability and turns "When All Is Said and Done," a duet with Streep, into a snooze-fest.

But I'm thinking that with a cast that includes the always sturdy Colin Firth and Christine Baranski, the formidable theater veteran best known as Cybill Shepherd's best bud in the mid-'90s sitcom "Cybill," it will take a lot of ineptitude to muddle this one.

And even if the movie winds up being a hot mess, those gloriously layered harmonies of "Take a Chance on Me" will still be there.