New "Sweeney Todd" Wide Release Date: December 21st!

DreamWorks and Paramount have decided to give Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd a wide release in the United States for Christmas. The original wide release date was January 11th, 2008, assuming that the film didn't have the potential to be a commercial success. But some studio executives saw some clips of the upcoming movie, and realized the film has much broader appeal than they assumed before (despite it being a violent musical). Variety wrote, "The hope is that "Sweeney" will be the sort of signature role for Depp that Captain Jack Sparrow in Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise was." However, the article stated that, "at the same time, DreamWorks and Paramount aren't likely to go out with "Sweeney." The studios aren't planning on releasing the film in more than 1,500 theaters in the United States on opening weekend.

Rumors of "Sweeney Todd" Cuts Dismissed

Much fuss has been appearing online saying that Warner Bros. wanted Tim Burton to cut some of the more gorey and bloody scenes from Sweeney Todd in order for the film to receive a PG-13 rating by the MPAA. But Variety has stated that these claims are false. "DreamWorks has always said it was an R," says Anne Thompson of Variety. "Anyone who knows the show knows that it involves killing and meat pies."

Mark Salisbury, who is writing the companion book to Sweeney Todd, also dismissed the rumors of Todd receiving a post-production slashing. Salisbury wrote on his blog, "all those reports of Burton being asked to cut back on the blood in the movie, don't believe a word of it."

Variety Interviews Tim Burton

Tim Burton was interviewed by Variety on Friday, August 24th, 2007. In the interview, Burton discussed musicals, Sweeney Todd, and Johnny Depp.

Burton said that his favorite musical truly is "Sweeney Todd," because he isn't much of a fan of many musicals. "I do remember liking 'Guys and Dolls,'" the director recalls, "In that one, they don't burst into song. There's a design in the language that fits together with the music and they work together. I don't think that's the case with a lot of musicals."

The filmmaker had seen "Sweeney Todd" performed before, and adored it. "I saw it in London when it first played here. In fact, I saw it several nights in a row." But Burton did not pursue the idea of bringing "Todd" to the big screen at first. "Things happen and you drift into other things. But it is strange; I was looking at some sketches I did many years ago, and the sketches looked like Johnny and Helena in the film. Not that this would have happened several years ago. They weren't old enough."

Burton went on to say that "Sweeney Todd," "doesn't seem like a musical." He continued, saying, "In fact, it's like a silent movie with music. Like an old horror movie. The emotions come through. Johnny enjoyed that silent-actor style of acting. It was liberating."

The director remarked on Depp again. "I told Stephen: 'I know Johnny. I know he wouldn't say yes if he couldn't do it.' "