"Sweeney Todd" Region 2 DVD and Blu-Ray

Play.com has released information and cover art for the Region 2 Two-Disc DVD and the Blu-Ray DVD version of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

While the two-disc DVD version doesn't have as many bonus features and its U.S. counterpart, it does appear to have a commentary track by Tim Burton, as well as a Sketchbook (both special features were not on the Region 1 DVD version in North America).


Region 2 Two-Disc Edition Special Features:

• Play.com Exclusive Cover (This exclusive cover can be found beneath the cardboard slipcase)
• Commentary By Tim Burton
• Musical Mayhem: Sondheim's Sweeney Todd
• Sweeney Todd Is Alive: The Real History Of The Demon Barber
• Sweeney's London
• Recreating Fleet Street
• Grand Guinol: A Theatrical Tradition
• Sketchbook

The Two-Disc Region 2 DVD



The Play.com exclusive cover for the two-disc DVD case.

The DVD website also provided the special feature information and cover art for the Blu-Ray version of the film. Play.com is also offering an exclusive 16-page booklet offering "A Look Behind the Scenes":

Blu-Ray Special Features

• Play.com Exclusive Behind The Scenes 16 Page Booklet
• Commentary By Tim Burton
• Musical Mayhem: Sondheim's Sweeney Todd
• Sweeney Todd Is Alive: The Real History Of The Demon Barber
• Sweeney's London
• Recreating Fleet Street
• Grand Guinol: A Theatrical Tradition
• Sketchbook

The Play.com exclusive booklet:

The Blu-Ray DVD works in any Blu-Ray DVD player, without the restraints of region specification. Both versions will be available to purchase in the UK on May 19th, 2008. You can also pre-order them now on the links at the beginning of this article.

Special "Sweeney Todd" DVD Packages and Bonuses

IGN.com has provided some information and pictures regarding some special DVD releases of Sweeney Todd:


Best Buy: Viewers get a free movie ticket to The Ruins with the purchase of Sweeney Todd.

Suncoast & FYE: Shoppers can purchase Sweeney's limited-edition steel book packaging. (It's pretty metal, both figuratively and literally.)

Costco: Exclusively at Costco, the Sweeney Todd Fleet Street Giftset includes the 2-Disc Special Edition DVD and the lavish, hardcover official companion book, written by Mark Salisbury. With a forward by Tim Burton, the book includes over 200 photos, concept drawings and production designs, extracts from the screenplay and interviews with the cast including Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.

Borders: Packed with every DVD is the abridged version of the official Sweeney Todd Companion book featuring behind the scenes shots from the film and more.


The DVD of Burton's latest film and its various promotional offerings and packages are now available in North America.

"Sweeney Todd" DVD Preview!

To keep you Burtonites even more hungry for the North American release on Tuesday, April 1st, Shocktillyoudrop.com has a video preview of the upcoming DVD of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Featured in the video interview are producers Laurie MacDonald and Richard D. Zanuck, Tim Burton, Helena Bonham Carter, and Johnny Depp. This video snippet is just one of many bonus features to be included on the special 2-disc DVD.

"Sweeney Todd" HD DVD Cancelled

Paramount has announced that it will cancel the release of its upcoming HD DVD releases, including Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. This resulted from Blu-Ray DVDs eventually becoming the victor in the Blu-Ray vs. HD showdown, when Toshiba declared that it would cancel the production of HD DVDs in favor of Blu-Ray. Paramount has yet to announce when it will begin making Blu-Ray DVDs, so it's unlikely that Sweeney Todd will be released on Blu-Ray, at this point.

The HD DVD of Todd was supposed to be released in North America on April 1st, 2008. Luckily, the HD version was not supposed to have any more extra features than the 2-Disc DVD version. Both the region 1 standard single-disc and 2-Disc editions of the horror-musical will still be available to purchase on April 1st.

You can find out more information about the DVDs of Sweeney Todd on this news blog, or by checking out these two links on Amazon.com:

Single-Disc Edition

Two-Disc Edition



P.S. On a bit of unrelated news, this news blog is now officially and exactly three years old!

"Sweeney Todd" DVD Information and Pictures!

Official information for the three Region 1 DVD (including HD DVD) versions of Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street has been released! It will be available on April 1st, 2008, states Paramount Home Entertainment. The following information about DVD details and special features is categorized by the three DVD versions:


Single-Disc:

• Featurette: Burton + Depp + Carter = Todd

Two-Disc Special Edition:

• Featurettes:
  • Burton + Depp + Carter = Todd
  • Sweeney Todd is Alive: The Real History of the Demon Barber
  • Musical Mayhem: Sondheim's Sweeney Todd
  • Sweeney's London
  • The Making of Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
  • Grand Guignol: A Theatrical Tradition
  • Designs for a Demon Barber
  • A Bloody Business
  • The Razor's Refrain
• Sweeney Todd Press Conference, November 2007
• Moviefone Unscripted with Tim Burton and Johnny Depp
• Theatrical Trailer
• Photo Gallery

HD DVD 2-Disc Special Edition:

• 1080P Widescreen
• English Dolby True HD 5.1 Surround
• English, French and Spanish Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 Surround
• English, French and Spanish subtitles
• Featurettes:
  • Burton + Depp + Carter = Todd
  • Sweeney Todd is Alive: The Real History of the Demon Barber
  • Musical Mayhem: Sondheim's Sweeney Todd
  • Sweeney's London
  • The Making of Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
  • Grand Guignol: A Theatrical Tradition
  • Designs for a Demon Barber
  • A Bloody Business
  • The Razor's Refrain
• Sweeney Todd Press Conference, November 2007
• Moviefone Unscripted with Tim Burton and Johnny Depp
• Theatrical Trailer
• Photo Gallery

The following images have been provided by IGN.com. Click on the pictures for larger versions. As of yet, there are no images of the HD DVD version's box. This edition will likely be one of the last HD DVD movies released, as the format recently lost the war against Blu-ray:


The Single-Disc Version:

Two-Disc Special Edition:

"Sweeney Todd" DVD Release Date(?)

As of now, Paramount has said that it will release Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street on DVD and HD DVD on April 1st, 2008.

A simple, one-disc version of the film will be released that day, as well as a two-disc collector's edition packed with bonus materials, both on DVD and HD DVD. No box artwork or special features information has been released yet.



However, Paramount has not responded to Toshiba's decision to discontinue the production of HD DVDs, in favor of its rival technology, Blu-ray. Whether this will affect the release date of the Todd DVD has yet to be known.

Possible "Sweeney Todd" DVD Featurette Revealed

The makers of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street have asked two Welsh professors, Professors Richard Hand and Mike Wilson, from the University of Glamorgan, to give their thoughts on the role and significance of horror. They were interviewed for a documentary on horror theater, which is said to be one of the many extras on the Sweeney Todd DVD, which will be released later this year. The two academics discussed horror and why we are so compelled to watch it.

The two professors were offered the job after publishing their new book, London’s Grand Guignol and the Theatre of Horror.

“Horror is escapism, as shocking as it can be. The horror industry has never gone away,” he said. “People want the adrenaline rush of the roller coaster ride. People do know it’s not real.

“Horror movies are adult fairy tales and they have very close links to comedy. I’ve been half-way through a film like Evil Dead 2 and suddenly realised it isn’t horror at all, it’s comedy.’’

Prof. Wilson said, “It is fantastic to be involved with such a high-profile film and to be included on a DVD which will be viewed by people around the world.

“We have been researching horror theatre for about 10 years now and this is an exciting opportunity for our research to reach a wider public audience.”

On which regions and versions of the upcoming DVD of the horror-musical this featurette is supposed to appear is yet to be known.

Burton: "Studios Feared 'Sweeney Todd'"

Tim Burton recalls that studio bosses were fearful of investing in his film, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, an ultraviolent, hyper-stylized movie-musical with no "pop songs," fearing that it would be a disaster. Even with Johnny Depp set to play the lead role, studio executives in Hollywood were cautious, since they felt Depp did not have enough experience, especially to tackle such difficult music as featured in Stephen Sondheim's opera-like musical. But in the end, Burton praised Hollywood for eventually allowing him to make such an ambitious motion picture.

The director tells British film magazine Empire, "What's weird is that they (the studios) are afraid of musicals anyway, but an R-rated musical with blood that's not based on pop songs, it's like, 'F**k!'

"Then it was like, 'Um, can he (Depp) sing?' Nobody knew. I didn't know. So that's the joke of the whole thing. In a way, that's the surreal nature of Hollywood, so you have to love it for that because on paper, it's like the worst idea of all time!"

Sweeney Todd did not dominate the box-office on its opening weekend in the United States. It's opening weekend box office, starting on Friday, December 21st, 2007, was only $9,300,805 (opening in 1,249 theaters, $7,446 average per theater), less than one-fifth of the film's cost of $50 million. But since then, the film has grossed an estimated $38,472,000 (as of January 6th, 2008) in the United States alone, and global box office results and DVD sales should more than make up for the underwhelming opening weekend.

You can read more on the box office results of Sweeney Todd and many more films at BoxOfficeMojo.com.

(world entertainment news)