Sweeney Box Office

The thing about Sweeney Todd I'm most interested in is how it does at the box office. There's a lot of praise for this effort, but the release of such a hybrid (and by all accounts, gory) movie over the traditional family get-together season of Christmas and New Year's seems a dubious strategy. Are families going to want to take the kids to see a razor-wielding barber kill people -- and sing?

Well, who knows. What better time to release this picture? -- I don't know, that isn't clear. What's much more clear is X-mas doesn't seem like the right time.

People love Depp, though. And, they like Burton. Most people don't know who Sondheim is and get squeamish when someone starts to sing (especially at the movies). So, this is one of the most interesting openings this year. Hope it does well.

Horror Musical?

That's Tim Burton, Stephen Sondheim, and Helena Bonham Carter during rehersal of 'Sweeney Todd'. Producer Richard Zanuck calls it a 'horror musical'. NPR has a write up of this difficult-to-peg movie.

Coming This Christmas?

Yes, that's Johnny Depp holding a straight razor. And yes, that's Helena Bonham Carter looking her frampled witchy best in this still from 'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'. According to the trailer, exclusively presented here, this musical -- a sort of mix of Dr. Phibes and Saw -- is due for release this Christmas. Not exactly family fare and it doesn't strike me as good counter-programming, either.

This could be another poor choice for a release date. Recently, we saw 'Grindhouse' limp out in its debut Easter weekend. And, one of the most perplexing Christmas releases: the super-serious 'Munich', which came out X-mas of 2005 and promptly proceeded to fall flat. As dumb as it sounds, I think Sweeney should open over the Thanksgiving holiday. I'm not sure why I think that would be better -- maybe it's the association between carving up a turkey for dinner and slicing innocent victims up with a razor. I'm writing a letter to Santa to ask his opinion. Dear Santa...