Sweeney "Bait & Switch" May Hurt Film In The Long Run

[tazber]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 12:24pm

Bait-and-Switch Ad Campaign for 'Sweeney'?


Chicago Sun-Times advertising/marketing columnist Lewis Lazare has accused Paramount/DreamWorks of launching a "bait and switch" ad campaign for its forthcoming (Dec. 21) release of Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Lazare observes that although the movie employs the entire Stephen Sondheim score from the stage production and that 90 percent of the movie is sung, the official trailer "makes the movie seem like a fast-paced bloody period thriller/horror flick." Lazare suggests that the ads should "lure in enough unsuspecting moviegoers in the opening weekend" but that sales may fall off following "negative word-of-mouth from slasher movie fans who feel they've been badly tricked."


http://imdb.com/news/sb/2007-12-10/

Updated On: 12/11/07 at 12:24 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 12:33pm

"They all deserve to die."

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 12:34pm

I read this article yesterday. On one hand, I guess the writer has a point, but he says that "this "Sweeney Todd" also might be remembered for being the subject of one of the biggest bait-and-switch marketing schemes in movie history," which is just silly hyperbole. The article completley ignores the fact that 90% of the musicals released this millennium downplay the fact that they are musicals.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 12:41pm

Here's the complete article, if you're interested.

[RetroBoy]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 12:50pm

That article is utter b.s. I've seen the official trailer over a dozen times. That *is* Johnny Depp singing with a razor blade in his hand as unsuspecting victims are walking by, isn't it? I mean c'mon what did Lewis Lazare want a complete montage of musical numbers?

I hate this attitude that musicals are some sort of movie industry "pariah". It's already been proven with CHICAGO, DREAMGIRLS and HAIRSPRAY that when a musical is done right they can succeed.

HAIRSPRAY alone became a summer blockbuster a time usually reserved for action flicks.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 12:56pm

Well, I can understand the trailer not clueing people in who don't already know it's a musical. The one I saw just shows Depp singing for a second in what looks like a dreamy sequence. I'll allow that people may not get it's a musical from the trailer, but calling it the biggest bait and switch in movie history is ridiculous.

[jam_man]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 1:02pm

There are TV ads with almost nothing but singing! And even if you could call it a "bait-and-switch," it's not as if it'll be a musical INSTEAD of a bloody slasher flick. It's a bloody slasher musical!

[tazber]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 1:05pm

Of course that's an absurd thing to say (the biggest bait and switch in history was the 10 commandments) but I think it's a bigger deal here b/c of the fan base that Depp/Burton court.

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 1:08pm

Why would either of their fan bases associate them with "slasher" movies?

[tazber]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 1:10pm

Sleepy Hollow for one.

This film has a very similar color pallette and tone.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 1:11pm

I would think if someone was that big of a fan of Depp or Burton they'd already know this was a musical.

And as Sondheim cultists already know, this composer does not write simple scores full of easy-to-digest lyrics or hummable melodies.

So, wouldn't that mean that it would be difficult to try and chop those up into something that would make sense in a trailer, short of showing a whole musical sequence?

The guy goes on about how the ads "in no way scream Stephen Sondheim musical." I think if you screamed Stephen "Sondheim Musical!" to the general public you'd get met with a "huh?"

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 1:12pm

Dark, yes. Slasher, a stretch when you look at the body of work.

[nitsua]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 1:13pm

Who's Stephen Sondheim?

[tazber]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 1:15pm

He wrote Legally Blonde

[nitsua]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 1:17pm

I love him!

I was a little depressed when the first trailers came out, because they didn't have any music, but there are enough TV spots and trailers to make it clear this is a musical.

Whoever the hell Lazare is needs to watch more TV.

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 1:18pm

those who want to see gore will be fine with the film. as long as they see lots of blood, they're happy campers. they don't care if there's bad singing, too.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 2:59pm

I would think if someone was that big of a fan of Depp or Burton they'd already know this was a musical.

Exactly. Not to mention the fact that Tim Burton has done musicals before. The article makes it seem as if it's being marketed towards the Saw fanbase.

I guess it must be a slow news week if an article like this gets published.

[nitsua]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 3:34pm

What was Burtons first musical?

If you're counting CHARLIE..., that was a movie with songs. Not exactly a musical, in my opinion.

[jam_man]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 3:38pm

Nightmare Before Christmas, anyone?

Granted, an animated musical is much different from a live-action one, but it still counts, IMO.

[nitsua]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 3:42pm

Yeah, 'cause he directed it and all.. NOT! Henry Selick directed NBC.

CORPSE BRIDE wasn't much of a musical, but I guess he did direct it, along with Mike Johnson.

[madbrian]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 3:47pm

Any reference to a bait & switch with respect to Sweeney Todd lacks any credibility. By now, and certainly by 12/21, anyone who goes to the theater and doesn't know it's a musical is either an idiot or a hermit (or both).

[nitsua]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 3:47pm

Probably both.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 3:58pm

Yeah, 'cause he directed it and all.. NOT! Henry Selick directed NBC.

Did I say that Tim Burton had DIRECTED musicals before and those were the only ones that counted? No, I said he had DONE musicals before. He produced and wrote Nightmare Before Christmas. It's applicable based on what I said, and Tim Burton fans count it in his body of work.

I'm surprised anyone still uses "NOT!" I think people were using that back when Nightmare Before Christmas was first released.

[roquat]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 6:27pm

SWEENEY is doing that same platform-release thing that made hits of CHICAGO and DREAMGIRLS (and backfired with RENT). Lazare's contention might make sense if SWEENEY was opening wide its first weekend--in that case, it very well might lure in the SAW crowd and send them away grumbling. It's obvious the executives hope it will build up word-of-mouth and gradually overcome the perceived audience resistance to musicals.

The film's publicity is already on this track, slowly introducing more and more music into the trailers and releasing clips on the Net. It's a stealth campaign, but hardly an invisible one.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/11/07 at 6:36pm

I heard the Hostel 2 guy who gets his wang chopped off is in musicals. Whatta fag.

Signed,
A Disgruntled Slasher Movie Fan Who Spreads Bad Word of Mouth Like It's Goin' Outta Style