comment #1

Josh Massey says ...

I've only seen one ad selling the film as a musical, so this doesn't surprise me at all. Horror upon horrors, but not all people scour the Internet before a film's release, and a film's Broadway origins could easily be lost on someone when the source material predates the play.

comment #2

JaySmire says ...

Never underestimate the stupidy of the American movie-going public.

Smart marketing on Warner Brother's part. Typically a musical can be a kiss of death so why not keep that under wraps?

How many teens know Sweeny Todd was a Tony award winning musical? Probaby the hip crowd like the Juno's of the world, but I bet there is a lot that don't.

Seeing it this morning. Hopefully will be avoiding the throngs of the misinformed.

comment #3

JaySmire says ...

Never underestimate the stupidy of the American movie-going public.

Smart marketing on Warner Brother's part. Typically a musical can be a kiss of death so why not keep that under wraps?

How many teens know Sweeny Todd was a Tony award winning musical? Probaby the hip crowd like the Juno's of the world, but I bet there is a lot that don't.

Seeing it this morning. Hopefully will be avoiding the throngs of the misinformed.

comment #4

JaySmire says ...

Damn that sticky post button! I never understood double postings before. Now I do. Sorry!

comment #5

Alex (FirstShowing.net) says ...

I think you really missed the point here. Most Americans are 100% oblivious to ANYTHING they're about to see. When I would run an event for a non-summer movie, we used to ask trivia to the entire theater, like simple, simple questions such as who directed this, who stars in it, etc. Besides the very blaring who stars in it, not a single person in a packed theater knew anything else - including the director. I don't think it's any different with Sweeney Todd.

No one knows it's a musical and the typical ignorant movie-going American has probably seen one trailer, or one advertisement, or one listing somewhere - and all it says is Johnny Depp, Tim Burton, dark movie, that's it. I can bet that probably AT LEAST 75% or more people going to Sweeney Todd this weekend do NOT know it's a musical. But I applaud and praise Paramount for marketing a movie in such a way because they're going to make a LOT of money and bravo to them for figuring out how to get people to come without learning more about what it actually is.

comment #6

DavidF says ...

I remember seeing Trainspotting and this older couple in front of left about 15 minutes in.

Okay, some parts of that movie are tough viewing but to leave so early implies you went into the film having NO CLUE WHATSOEVER that it is about heroin addicts (and not, for example, trains).

I don't understand these people any more than I understand the people who stand in front of the movie times deciding what to see as if they haven't thought about it before, nor the people who show up at a #1 movie on opening night after the trailers have already started bugging you with their "is anybody sitting there?" shit.

The point - as already stated by Alex: Most people (certainly most Americans, no offence) don't have a clue.

comment #7

VictorLazlo says ...

To DavidF:

What the hell is wrong with going to the theater spur of the moment and deciding what to see by perusing the marquee? Don't you flip channels on cable and watch a movie without any previous knowledge?

Here's a clue, people have been doing it since the movie business began.

comment #8

Noel Murray says ...

Sounds like Warner did their job in this case. The audience was shocked to find out it was a musical -- one which they might not have been inclined to see had they known in advance -- yet they stuck it out and enjoyed it.

comment #9

thatmovieguy says ...

When I saw it a couple weeks ago, the theater was jam-packed and I wondered how many people would stick around once they realized it was a musical. Much to my surprise, some people behind me and in front of me were whispering the same sorts of comments, so at least a few audience members were Sondheim-savvy. And, aside from one "are they going to keep singing?" murmur, the music didn't seem to bother anyone. In fact, the jokes in "A Little Priest" got hearty laughs and everybody got really uncomfortable during "Pretty Women." There was even applause at the end -- as well as one woman who loudly grumbled "What kind of a story is that for Christmastime?"

comment #10

corey3rd says ...

the sneak I caught had people gasping at the blood letting. Who expects a musical with more throat slashing than "From Hell?"

comment #11

BurmaShave says ...

I remember having to brave maybe half a dozen old couples gruffly marching out of PAN'S LABYRINTH because of the violence or because they weren't going to stand to be readin' no Spanish. It was a massacre.

comment #12

DavidF says ...

VictorLazlo - that's fine, as long as you figure out BEFORE you get to the cashier. Some annoying people don't.

comment #13

moviemaniac2002 says ...

The first trailer I saw closely followed the
game plan of the first Miramax trailer for
"Chicago"...lots of fast cuts designed to hide the fact that it's a musical. Subsequent trailers
(like the TV spots running now)ration out the singing in quick bursts, as if they're somehow still trying to hide it.

And yes, all of us showbiz/movie/media junkies have to face the fact that throughout the country, there ARE millions upon millions of people who have lived out their lives without knowing anything about Stephen Sondheim.

And that's not neccessarily their fault, if you consider that the last film atttempt at a
Sondheim musical was the botched, abysmal "A Little Night Music" with Elizabeth Taylor desperately croaking her way through 'Send In The Clowns'.

comment #14

AlexStroup says ...

Not that it is really relevant to the millions of people who won't realize that Sweeney Todd is a musical but I enjoy going to movies I know nothing about.

In our modern information age it is kind of a treat. And, every once in a while, I'll get to the theater (usually an art house), see some title I've never heard of and just decide to see it. Once I even saw a movie this way without even being sure what the title was because the marquee abbreviated it so weirdly.

Netflix has allowed me to do this to some degree as well. I just add everything on some critics "Top 10 of 1957" to my queue, half of which I've never neard of and just watch them without even reading the sleeve the disc comes in. Absolutely no pre-conceived ideas about the film.

comment #15

Gordie Lachance says ...

I walked out of The Nightmare Before Christmas, because Disney's marketing carefully hid the fact that it was a musical.

It has since become one of my holiday favorites. I just wasn't in the mood for it at the time.

That said, since the advent of the internet, where ads, trailers and reviews are saturated all over, anyone who walks into a movie theater blind deserves any disapointment they get.

comment #16

Undercover Brother says ...

I saw it in a theater with a woman who had brought her 5 year old grandson. She obviously thought it was going to be Captain Jack cuttung hair and singing. Once the throats started to be slashed, she quickly picked up her belongsings and left. Hope the little bugger is warped forever.

comment #17

Redmond says ...

I'm not surprised by the audible gasp at all. I'm surprised it wasn't followed by "Where are the pirate ships?"

The last time I saw anybody walk out of a movie was during "I Heart Huckabees." This middle aged couple got up during the dinner scene when Mark Wahlberg starts yelling at the Christian family about their SUV.

comment #18

p.Vice says ...

I may put off seeing this until next week so I don't have to deal with this type of riot.

comment #19

Jay T. says ...

It's not stupidity whatsoever, they haven't even been hinting it's a musical in the ads for it.

comment #20

Meegosh says ...

All I can say is WOW. I knew you were a douchebag Wells, but this still surprises me. Did you maybe think for a couple minutes that there are many people in this country, smart people even, that do not have the time to research the movies they are going to see any more than by watching the previews. I don't really think your Rangers reference makes much sense either. The Rangers have been around for decades and are the most well known team of the sport. If Sweeney Todd had been a movie for decades that gets watched as much as Hockey does (and thats not that hard to do) then think you would have a point. If someone went to Rocky Horror Picture Show and didn't have any idea of what they were getting into then I think you could insult their inteligence a little bit. There are many people in the contry much smarter than you that know nothing about movies, I don't think many people would agree with you that movie taste and knowlege is a barometer of ones inteligence. Stop being so full of yourself and your profession, douche.

comment #21

Jerry Beck says ...

I attended the Friday 4:35pm screening at The Grove. Full house at the beginning, though numerous walk outs during first two songs. Film was not sold as a musical and I believe these people were Pirates fans who were caught off guard.

comment #22

nemo says ...

Who the hell are the Rangers? Are they a Texas team? Don't they play football in Dallas?

comment #23

Luke Y. Thompson says ...

The only thing wrong with choosing a movie you know nothing about is if you then demand your money back (from people who had nothing to do with making or marketing the movie) because you don't like it.

Incidentally, the local Hot Topic now has a whole end-cap full of "Sweeney Todd" clothing.

comment #24

christian says ...

In this day and age of instant information, it's still astounding how ignorant many folk are. I'm not talking about not knowing Sondheim (who bores me to tears) but youngsters who suck off the web yet go to BLAIR WITCH PROJECT thinking it's fucking real. Or Sony marketing POUGHKEPSIE TAPES as if it's real. It doesn't speak well of the over-rated info power of the internets. I mean, we got Bush twice despite all that brain power online.

comment #25

cacophony says ...

i don't really know if its stupidity or just the sadness of our culture that people in this society don't realize that a film called sweeney todd will A.) be bloody as hell (considering that this tale has been around in one form or another since the 1840's..and yes, that is not a typo...this story is over 100 years old) or B.) most likely be a musical (since the musical has been around since 1979 and sondheim's name appears in the credits, but since when do people ever read). if anything this just shows how people blindly take things at face value without ever looking further.

comment #26

christian says ...

Americans can be incredibly proud of their ignorance.

comment #27

JaySmire says ...

For any posts above who want to side on the smartness of the american movie-going public obviously never worked at a movie theater to see the stupidy first hand. It's been years since my days as an usher, but if they were dumb back then, they are even worse now.

Just saw Sweeney Todd. Thought it was fantastic. Wife and I bet that the super old couple a few rows in front weren't going to make it, but they hung in through the whole film. No one seemed bothered by the music (or the blood) though WB is definitely keeping mum (to those who don't know the play) on the fact that the majority of the film is singing.

comment #28

Josh Massey says ...

Wow, I called Wells out on a mistake, and not only does he change the story, he edits my post. Huh.

comment #29

Wiggumx says ...

Walk-outs during movies can be interesting and surprising. When I saw "Kinsey" at the theater, two or three couples walked out, one grumbling about the "smut talk." How anyone could see a film based on Kinsey's life and not think it would have sexual content is beyond me. Also, a lot of people walked out of "Punch-Drunk Love" when I saw it, but I anticipated that. The Adam Sandler-set certainly expected something much different.

comment #30

George Prager says ...

Watching THE ARISTOCRATS, I remember watching an old couple shooting out of their seats a few minutes in, right after George Carlin's mild rendition of the joke. They looked like they were dressed for a Guiliani fundraiser in Palm Beach. What did they think they were going to see? And then there was the old couple running out of BAD LIEUTENANT right when Harvey told the girl in the car to "show me your ass." I think these old farts go to these movies because they want to be titillated but then realize that they don't have the heart for it. Then they can go home and talk about how filthy movies are these days, etc...no one make movies like HELLO DOLLY anymore.

The best anecdote I have ever heard about this phenomenon was from a friend whose old Long Island Jewish parents went to see STARGATE with another old Long Island Jewish couple and the other couple walked out five minutes in because they remembered that they had seen the movie the week before.

comment #31

corey3rd says ...

Sweeney Todd does open with Johnny Depp on a ship.

comment #32

K. Bowen says ...

As people said, you wouldn't watch the trailer and automatically think "musical."

comment #33

Spicer says ...

If I hadn't known ahead of time that Sweeney Todd was a musical, I think the part of the trailer where Depp bursts into song would have clued me into it. The stage musical has only been around for 28 years.......

Along the same lines, I am continually baffled/amazed that people will buy a ticket to see a movie and have absolutely no idea what the content of the film is going to be and then be angry or upset when the content surprises them in some way.

I think with older people it is due to them hearing a movie getting good reviews and then blindly wandering in. I was living in South Florida a few years ago and saw Adaptation in Boca Raton. I was likely the youngest person in the theater by about 35 years. Afterwards they were just completely speechless.

comment #34

D.Z. says ...

"When the movie finally started and the first song began there was an audible gasp -- almost no one realized that the film is a musical."

That is kind of weird. I'd figure they'd have seen The Nightmare Before Christmas by now. I got bored with the brief cable tv viewing of it, but it's supposed to have done decently in 3-d; so you'd assume a musical from Burton wouldn't be a big thing by now.

David: "I remember seeing Trainspotting and this older couple in front of left about 15 minutes in.

Okay, some parts of that movie are tough viewing but to leave so early implies you went into the film having NO CLUE WHATSOEVER that it is about heroin addicts (and not, for example, trains)."

But it was advertised as a teen rebellion comedy, not as a dope movie, though...And I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought it sucked.

corey: "the sneak I caught had people gasping at the blood letting. Who expects a musical with more throat slashing than "From Hell?"'

I guess they've never seen Meet the Feebles...

Burma: "I remember having to brave maybe half a dozen old couples gruffly marching out of PAN'S LABYRINTH because of the violence or because they weren't going to stand to be readin' no Spanish."

Were they expecting a cash-in on Narnia or something?

Gordie: "I walked out of The Nightmare Before Christmas, because Disney's marketing carefully hid the fact that it was a musical. It has since become one of my holiday favorites. I just wasn't in the mood for it at the time."

I tuned it out, because it seemed like every other Disney film, but in claymation.

cacophony: "i don't really know if its stupidity or just the sadness of our culture that people in this society don't realize that a film called sweeney todd will A.) be bloody as hell (considering that this tale has been around in one form or another since the 1840's..and yes, that is not a typo...this story is over 100 years old)"

Um, he's a Brit serial killer. Why the fuck should they know him?

"B.) most likely be a musical (since the musical has been around since 1979 and sondheim's name appears in the credits, but since when do people ever read)."

Yes, and Little Shop of Horrors was around since the early 60s. That doesn't require you to know who Roger Corman is, though.

Jay: "For any posts above who want to side on the smartness of the american movie-going public obviously never worked at a movie theater to see the stupidy first hand."

You misspelled stupidity. And if the public's so stupid, why are the theater chains the ones losing money from declining attendance?

George: "Watching THE ARISTOCRATS, I remember watching an old couple shooting out of their seats a few minutes in, right after George Carlin's mild rendition of the joke."

A take on a classic joke told by Carlin which didn't suck? I know that's what I wanted to see.

"The best anecdote I have ever heard about this phenomenon was from a friend whose old Long Island Jewish parents went to see STARGATE with another old Long Island Jewish couple and the other couple walked out five minutes in because they remembered that they had seen the movie the week before."

Well, to be fair to them, Roland Emmerich's movies aren't that memorable.

comment #35

Jamie says ...

Rosengard to Wells: Jamie is a girls' name too, I swear. And I am writing from Long Island. Not exactly a hotbed of cultural enlightenment but not the dirty south either.