Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 2007 musical slasher film directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay by John Logan, based on the stage musical of the same name by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler, which in turn is based on the 1970 play Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond. The film retells the melodramatic Victorian tale of Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp), an English barber and serial killer who, while seeking revenge on Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) who wrongfully convicted and exiled him to steal his wife, murders his customers and, with the help of his accomplice, Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), processes their corpses into meat pies.
Having been struck by the cinematic qualities of the stage musical while young, Burton had entertained the notion of a film version since the early 1980s. However, it was not until 2006 that he had the opportunity to realize this ambition, when DreamWorks Pictures announced his appointment as replacement for director Sam Mendes. Sondheim, although not directly involved, was extensively consulted during production. Depp, not known for his singing, took lessons in preparation for his role, which producer Richard D. Zanuck acknowledged was something of a gamble.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street had its premiere at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City on 3 December 2007, and was released in the United States on 21 December 2007 and in the United Kingdom on 25 January 2008. The film received critical acclaim, and was praised for the performances of the cast, musical numbers, costume and set design, and faithfulness to the musical. It grossed over $153 million against a production budget of $50 million. Since its release, the film has been widely assessed as one of the greatest musical films of the 21st century.
Plot
In 1846, Benjamin Barker, a barber, arrives in London, accompanied by the young sailor Anthony Hope. Fifteen years earlier, he was falsely convicted and exiled to Australia by the corrupt Judge Turpin, who lusted after Barker's wife Lucy ("No Place Like London"). Barker adopts the alias "Sweeney Todd" and returns to his old Fleet Street shop, situated above Nellie Lovett's meat pie shop ("The Worst Pies in London"). Recognizing Barker, Lovett tells him that once he was exiled, Turpin raped Lucy and drove her to suicide ("Poor Thing") before adopting the couple's daughter, Johanna, as his ward. Todd vows revenge and re-opens his barbershop after Mrs. Lovett, who loves him unrequitedly, presents him with his old straight razors ("My Friends"). Wandering the streets where he encounters a beggar woman, Anthony becomes enamored with Johanna after seeing her sing by a window above the street ("Green Finch and Linnet Bird"/"Alms! Alms!"), but is caught by Turpin and driven away by his henchman, Beadle Bamford ("Johanna").
Rival barber and snake oil salesman Adolfo Pirelli is publicly humiliated by Todd ("Pirelli's Miracle Elixir"/"The Contest") in front of Bamford, but recognizes Todd by his razors and reveals himself as his former apprentice. He attempts to blackmail Todd, who suddenly flies into a rage and kills him. Lovett is shocked but accepts Todd's justifications, having grown emotionally attached to Pirelli's downtrodden assistant Toby Ragg, whom she adopts as a son ("Wait").
Intent on marrying Johanna, Turpin is recommended Todd's services by Bamford but they are interrupted by Anthony before Todd can kill him ("Ladies in Their Sensitivities"/"Pretty Women"), revealing Anthony's plans with Johanna and causing Turpin to storm out and throw Johanna into a madhouse. Believing Johanna to be lost to him forever, Todd vows to kill as many people as he can out of revenge and seduces Mrs. Lovett into being his partner in crime ("Epiphany"). She gets the idea to bake Todd's victims into pies ("A Little Priest"), and Todd rigs a trapdoor to drop his victims' bodies into her bakehouse, while Anthony continues to search for Johanna ("Johanna" (Reprise)).