9 Times You Had To Be Tricked Into Seeing Great Movies

4. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street

Sweeney Todd
Warner Bros.

On the surface, Sweeney Todd looks just like any other Tim Burton film from the 2000s. It's got Johnny Depp in the lead role, Helena Bonham Carter to support him and an aesthetic that made every edgy 16 year old at the time including myself weep goth tears.

The trailer itself reflected these selling points: the plot in all its pie-baking glory was done justice and looked as interesting and twisted as it ended up being and the characters were all there, it's just the little fact that the movie was actually a musical that wasn't exactly splashed front and centre. No big deal though. Nobody needs to know a movie's genre do they?

So yeah, if you weren't aware of the movie's development history and just popped in after spotting a trailer you'll have been a bit surprised, to say the least. The movie was a musical, but hey, at least it was a bloody good one, and one you might not have given a chance otherwise.

Though it seems faintly ridiculous to hide the fact that a musical is in fact a musical, the genre admittedly wasn't exactly breaking the box office back in the 2000s. This didn't stop it from doing pretty well though, as it earned just over 150 million dollars worldwide. Even better, fans seemed to love it, and it no doubt got them interested in the stage version that had such a legacy before this flick came out.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.