"Sweeney Todd" Among Top Five at Weekend Box Office

By Andrew Gans
and Ernio Hernandez
24 Dec 2007

Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in "Sweeney Todd."
Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in "Sweeney Todd."
Photo by Leah Gallo

The Tim Burton-directed movie musical "Sweeney Todd" — starring Johnny Depp as the murderous barber — was the fifth highest-grossing film of the Dec. 21-23 weekend.

"Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" brought in $9,350,000 during its first weekend in release, according to Boxofficemojo.com. The number one grossing film was "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," which took in a whopping $45,500,000. Others in the top five include "I Am Legend" ($34,225,000), "Alvin and the Chipmunks" ($29,000,000) and "Charlie Wilson's War" ($9,618,000).

Filling out the top ten are "P.S. I Love You," "Enchanted," "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story," "The Golden Compass" and "Juno."

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"Sweeney Todd" took in an opening-night tally of $3.8 despite being shown in approximately a third of the movie houses as the top three films. (The movie musical played on 1,249 screens compared to "Treasure" - 3,832; "Legend" - 3,620; and "Alvin" - 3,499.)

Even before the official release, "Sweeney Todd" had garnered much acclaim. The movie based on the Stephen Sondheim musical was among 2007's top ten films for the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, Time Magazine and the Las Vegas Film Critics Society. "Sweeney Todd" was also nominated for Critics' Choice Awards (Best Picture, Acting Ensemble, Actor - Johnny Depp, Director and Young Actor - Edward Sanders) and Golden Globes (Picture, Director, Actor - Depp, Actress - Helena Bonham Carter).

John Logan ("The Aviator," "Gladiator," Never the Sinner) penned the DreamWorks/Warner Bros. film adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler musical.

The film stars Depp as the title barber, Helena Bonham Carter as piemaker Mrs. Lovett as well as Alan Rickman (Private Lives), Timothy Spall and Sacha Baron Cohen. The ensemble also features Laura Michelle Kelly (Fiddler on the Roof), Jamie Campbell Bowen, Jayne Wisener and newcomer Edward Sanders. For more information visit sweeneytoddmovie.com.