The Monkees

I don't have any other information, but the date. This is the date that the studio sent us.

The Valeyard

Is Warner releasing this or Dreamworks (Paramount)?

TheMovieman

Well, looking on IMDb, under distributors it has Paramount as the US theatrical while WB is the non-USA media so I think it'll be by Paramount... Which also means it'll only be on HD-DVD for the time being.

islandclaws

I'll grab the HD. Didn't see this in theaters, but I heard good enough things that I'm confident in a blind buy.

Drexl

This might be my last HD DVD.

Geofferson

Loved it in theatres....will definitely pick up the DVD.

uncle-frank

its still has 6 showings at my theatre, which kinda suprizes me on this release date info.

ill be buying it tho

SI78

Thanks for the info! One of my favorite movies of the year. Maybe ever.

chris_sc77

Amazing Amazing film. I hope this has great special features. Please let there be a commentary.

RobCA

Ditto.

basaro

This isn't an early joke is it?

Hope the date holds, and we get a nice loaded version.

lancer02

Seems kind of soon but I'll take it.

mikelowry

I may not be able to see Sweeney Todd in theaters so i'll definitely pick this. Is this a 2 disc release?

wlverinefactor

I'll be waiting for a Bluray disc next year.

DeanoBKN

dav725

So, a question to all of you that haven't seen the film yet, but are planning on buying the dvd...

First, I think (and most agree) that this is an amazing film. Yet, audiences have stayed away in droves. The end result is that it will make it harder for Tim Burton to get a film financed (you may think I'm wrong here because, hey, it's Tim Burton...but I'm in the business and I know this is the case). It will also make it harder for anyone to attempt a Stephen Sondheim musical for film (Into The Woods has been long in development, and if ST was a hit, it would have helped to get this on the front burner again).

If you've heard good things about the film....why not support the filmmaker and see it in the theater? Are people forgetting that dvds are not a replacement for the film theater experience? I know that the old excuse of loud patrons, parking, price of ticket, etc, will come up...but really...I think they're just excuses.

Bottom line, we need to see movies in theaters, or the opportunity will just go away.

And I promise you, you will not get the same, magnificent experience of this incredible film...on your tv screen (no matter how nice it is).

If you love movies, you have to support them in theaters, or all you're gonna have are dvds (or ipod downloads).

thursdaynighter

I understand what you are saying but I think the home theater (for me) is a replacement for the traditional theater experience. I still go sometimes (for a large scale movie) but when I saw I Am Legend there were at least five children under three years of age. Inexcusable. There was a guy who, while not talking on it, did constantly check his cell phone (stupid blue light). When I went to see Bourne last August I sat on a freakin' Milky Way bar that someone had smeared all over my seat. I can pick up a new DVD for $15 (or $7 if I wait for awhile and get it used), which is less than the price of two theater tickets. I spent a lot of money on a big tv, sound system, movies, etc...I just don't feel justified spending a lot in the theater. I will buy ST on dvd but just didn't want to see it in the theater. I wish going to the local cinema was a very enjoyable experience but, for the most part, it is not anymore.

chris_sc77

You speak the truth new member and welcome to the forum.
I hate to see something like that cloverfield movie make more in its first four days than Sweeney Todd makes in its first month. But thats just the way things happen. People see movies for inexplicable reasons and I will never understand this.

Sweeney Todd is (so far) my No. 2 film of 2007. I loved it and it has stayed with me prominently since having seen it. A very beautiful powerful film. And I usually hate musicals.
I dont think Tim Burton or other musicals have anything to fear. Sweeney Todd cost a reported $50 million. Even if it went over that budget to say around $70 and add in $30 million in marketing costs that puts this in a total cost of $100. By the end of this weekend it should have made about $48 million in the U.S. alone. Not terrible for a film that was only released on about 1400 screens (although it fucking disgusts me that Paramount opens the previously mentioned Cloverfield on nearly 3 times the amount of screens as they did this one) . If this film gets Oscar Nominations (which I would say it is guaranteed to do so) it should be able to stay in theatrers a bit longer and ride its acclaim to at least $60 to $70 million (depending on the amount of attention/love/awards it gets).
Also keep in mind this is only U.S. In the next few weeks it will open in many foreign territories including the U.K. in which I would think it would do pretty well.
So, I really don't think this great film has anything to worry about in terms of making back its money. Yes it should have done better, especially since it had such a good trailer but it sure as shit wasn't a disaster at all.

kingtopher

Sweeney Todd only opened at a theater within an hour of my city this past Friday, and I was surprised that it even opened then. Apparently there had been a lot of demand for it, because about a week and a half ago the theater near my apartment put up a sign saying that Sweeney Todd would be opening here on the 18th. I just went to see the movie tonight, and the theater was as full as I've seen a theater since I've moved here. But I was very disappointed in the quality of the print they got. It was full of scratches and damage lines throughout the picture and there were noticeable pops and volume level changes during the majority of the film as well. The audience was adult, and one of the more pleasant ones I've seen in a theater in recent years, but the quality of the presentation had me almost wishing I had just waited for DVD.

I don't think it matters whether we see it in the theater or watch it on DVD. If I buy the DVD (which I will) that money is also going towards making a profit for the film. Theater tickets are getting to be way too big of a ripoff for me to go very often, and it takes a special movie that I'm almost sure I'm going to love to get me there anymore.

dav725

First and foremost, you have more control you think over your movie theaters. You can request films, you can complain about their policy of allowing children into theaters and you can complain (and hand them a dry cleaning bill) for candy stuck on seats.

I always hear these excuses from people who don't see movies in theaters...and its kind of odd. I go to about 2 movies a week in a theater. I go to different theaters at different times of day/night. And I haven't had a bad movie going experience in years. If there has been someone who has annoyed me, I move. If there's a problem, I complain (and its taken care of right away). I wonder, in our age of instant convenience, how much of this is really about laziness to make the effort to drive, park and attend. If its a bad print I ask for my money back.

I work in the film industry and yes, it is harder for films to get made due to lack of theater attendance. Trust me, Tim Burton will have a harder time getting a big film made again. And although the numbers of Sweeney Todd are somewhat correct (I saw the contracts and Johnny Depp made 20 million alone, so I suspect the budget was higher than 50), you have to remember that theaters take about 50% of the grosses. So if it makes 60 million in the US (which will be a stretch), it keeps 30 million. Its currently losing theaters and is considered here in LA as a flop.

Yes, I'll slip in a dvd of Casablanca or The Godfather...films that I can't see in a theater anymore....but I won't substitute the film going experience for a dvd, if I can help it. Yes, you should see Sweeny Todd in a theater...and No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood.

A movie going experience is interactive. It involves being in a place other than home...it involves lines for popcorn and candy...the smell of musty raincoats on a winter day....the feel of anticipation in a room full of people who are excited about this still-magical experience...the feel of this movie wrapping around you.

Think of your best movie theater experience ever. That's right..the best one ever. Now think of your best experience watching a movie at home on a DVD.

That's the difference.

And if we wait for great films to come to dvd without seeing them in a theater...they'll stop being made.

Seriously.

dav725

Forgot to post my last thought..

I hear complaints about things that happen at movie theaters.

Here's a list of things that have happened when I've watched a dvd at someone's house.

The phone rings
I can hear traffic from outside
The blinds are shut and light comes in.
There are scratches on the dvd
The person talks in the middle of the movie
The person takes a phone call
The person puts the movie on pause and leaves the room.
The person watches some of it now and some of it over the next few days (can you imagine if seeing Star Wars, or The Godfather for the first time was done over a period of days, in sections?)
I can smell the bathroom or the kitchen from their TV room.
Their children, their wife, their friends come into the room to ask a question or start talking.

How does that compare to he problems you've encountered at movie theaters?

chris_sc77

Theaters don't take that much. They take about 3 to 7% of the first weekends take and each week that the film plays at the theater they get a little more (percentage wise) each week.
So for example a film is opening at a theater and the the theater keeps 5% of the first weeks take. The 2nd week the film plays they would take about 7 or 8% and the 3rd week they would take 10 to 11%.

dav725

The standard industry calculation over the run of a film is 50%...that's the one we all use...although you are correct that it varies week per week.

Simpson Purist

Definitely gonna pick this one up, hopefully it'll have some decent extras.

man*machine

I think you need to find new friends to watch movies at someone's house if all of that baloney is going on when you're watching films at home.

I still see movies at the theater and did see both SWEENEY TODD and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (as well as other recent releases) in cinemas on opening weekend. I don't give a sh*t about enjoying the communal experience of buying popcorn at the concession stand or listening to people play around with their plastic bags or candy wrappers during the film, but I do appreciate a good quality presentation - and I can't say I consistently get that at the theater. In NO COUNTRY FOR OLD ME, at the premiere Arclihgt Cinemas in Los Angeles, I had to endure an idiot next to me checking her blue-light cell-phone during the crucial very last scene because she was restless and obviously wanted the film to end (it was obvious throughout the film that she disagreed with her boyfriend's movie choice that afternoon). Those bright blue cell-phones have come into many theatrical screenings I have paid for - including A SCANNER DARKLY and many more. The Arclight now even asks attendees prior to the film not to open their phones, but people still do so as they have so many important things to do during the course of a movie. These fellow audience members, you see, are so very special and important. I wish I was as popular as them that I would need to text-message a friend during a two-hour movie because it just couldn't wait until later. That's what cinema-going has become.

I still see films in theaters because there are certain films I want to see now and don't want to wait for DVD, but the cinema-going experience is nothing like it used to be and I completely understand the huge amount of audience members nowadays who prefer to wait for DVD because they can control their viewing experience. It's a total crapshoot at the theaters - and it usually ends up as CRAP - even at the high-end Los Angeles cinemas who charge $14+ a ticket.