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Nov. 27th, 2007 12:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
talktoolooseA bit more on the upcoming Sweeney Todd movie. Something's fishy with the marketing. I'm going on the assumption that the PR mavens at the studios are freaking out.
Point: This is a musical which means you should be making the money on the families, pushed to the theatre by the soccer moms who just LOVED Chicago.
Point: This musical is rated R for "graphic violence". No families, no squeamish soccer moms.
Point: Tim Burton's core constituency is boys in their 20s (am I wrong?).
Point: Boys in their 20s don't want to go see a Broadway musical.
Evidence of all this? The trailer barely makes it look like a musical. Johnny is singing the Epiphany which is not a "jazz hands" kind of number. We see no chorus numbers, we see none of Mrs. Lovett's funny numbers. We see no faux-Italian comic singing by Sacha Barron Cohen as Pirelli. These would seem naturals in the trailer, n'est-ce pas?
Instead it looks like a brooding Burton baroque tragedy thing with one poetic sung bit which is clearly taking place in his Sweeney's head.
The music that opens the trailer is NOT from Sweeney Todd but is, instead, generic creepy horror stuff. WTF? You couldn't have found a bit of the score that worked? I'm amazed they didn't resort to Karmina Burana.
Conclusion: They're trying to hide the true nature of the film.
This points to panicked marketing mavens. I wish the film luck. I hope it hasn't been neutered in an effort to "save" it.
Point: This is a musical which means you should be making the money on the families, pushed to the theatre by the soccer moms who just LOVED Chicago.
Point: This musical is rated R for "graphic violence". No families, no squeamish soccer moms.
Point: Tim Burton's core constituency is boys in their 20s (am I wrong?).
Point: Boys in their 20s don't want to go see a Broadway musical.
Evidence of all this? The trailer barely makes it look like a musical. Johnny is singing the Epiphany which is not a "jazz hands" kind of number. We see no chorus numbers, we see none of Mrs. Lovett's funny numbers. We see no faux-Italian comic singing by Sacha Barron Cohen as Pirelli. These would seem naturals in the trailer, n'est-ce pas?
Instead it looks like a brooding Burton baroque tragedy thing with one poetic sung bit which is clearly taking place in his Sweeney's head.
The music that opens the trailer is NOT from Sweeney Todd but is, instead, generic creepy horror stuff. WTF? You couldn't have found a bit of the score that worked? I'm amazed they didn't resort to Karmina Burana.
Conclusion: They're trying to hide the true nature of the film.
This points to panicked marketing mavens. I wish the film luck. I hope it hasn't been neutered in an effort to "save" it.
