Sweeney Todd... The Movie?

Many Broadway fans and critics have commented on the recent trend of using popular feature films such as Legally Blonde, High Fidelity and The Wedding Singer as the source material for new Broadway musicals. But is this trend also going the other way? After recent hits such as Chicago and The Producers, rumors and opinions are flying about the possibility of a new movie version of Stephen Sondheim's Broadway hit, Sweeney Todd. Discussions of a film version of Sweeney were happening as far back as 1997, when Stephen Sondheim himself stated in an interview, "I don’t think it’s going to work for two seconds." This statement was made, however, before recent hits such as Chicago brought musicals back to the big screen.

Media reports in the last several years have named both Sam Mendes and Tim Burton as possible directors. Both Russell Crowe and Johnny Depp have been mentioned as contendors for the lead role of Sweeney himself, and several actresses, including Emma Thompson, Imelda Staunton and Toni Collette, have been mentioned as possible Mrs Lovetts. A glance at IMDB's Sweeney Todd listing confirms Tim Burton as the director and John Logan, screenwriter of "The Aviator" and "Gladiator", as writer of the screenplay, but no casting decisions appear to have been made final at this point.

There are a number of different opinions and arguments circulating about whether this film will be a hit as Chicago was, or a flop like the film version of Phantom of the Opera. Do you think Burton can pull off a Sondheim musical? Can Johnny Depp handle a role like Sweeney?