Other Musicals Being Turned Into Movie
 

Word on the street is that Russell Crowe will become Sweeney Todd. Emma Thompson, Imelda Staunton and Toni Collette are rumored to take on the role of Mrs. Lovett. Sam Mendes is slated to direct the movie.

Another big movie production for a musical is Dreamgirls. Jamie Foxx, Usher, Beyonce Knowles and Eddie Murphy are slated to star in this production. Bill Condon have been confirmed to direct this movie.

I'm be excited for both of those. Ragtime would be interesting to see, too, although I'm not sure how it would translate to a movie-musical format -- although I thought the same about Chicago.

Grease 3 would be screwed up, but they could probably at least make it better than Grease 2.

Anything has to be better than Grease 2.

Didn't they already remake Bye Bye Birdie like 10 years ago with Jason Alexander?

That was a made-for-TV remake; it sounds like this one will probably be theatrical and thus higher budget. The original Bye Bye Birdie was a theater-release movie but they deviated from the original musical quite a bit. The TV remake was technically closer to the original script but kind of dry, so neither the original or the TV remake is all that satisfying. I can see why they'd want to do it again.

My college roommate convinced her Freshman English professor to let her write her compare and contrast essay on Grease vs. Grease 2. She got an A+ and it was really well done actually! :D

What I don't get is all the ones that have already been done - Damn Yankees, Rocky Horror, Hairspray, etc. I'd rather see originals (like Moulin Rouge) or the bringing of original musicals to the screen (Rent).

Well they did have a non-musical movie version of Ragtime that wasn't too bad.

What do you guys think about Sweeney Todd? That musical isn't the easiest to sing. I'm not sure about Russell Crowe. Can he handle the challenging vocals? Then again, he only need to get it right once. So, it might work out. Just don't let Schumacher anywhere near the set.

I wouldn't put it past the industry to be more eager to redo the shows that have already been done (Damn Yankees, Rocky Horror, Hairspray) because there is a guarenteed audience for it. It is a safer bet to produce something that people already know about than something nobody knows anything about.

Fun story.... I was a couple of summers ago, I was interning for the marketing department of a NYC production company famous for their stage performances (theater, concerts, musical reviews, etc. Gold star to the person that can guess the company!) Well, one of assignments was to research three classic broadway musicals and put together a breakdown of the plot, a character analysis, and to come up with suggestions for actors to play the lead roles. It turned out that this company was in talks with the people who made Chicago. The Chicago people were looking to buy the rights to another musical and wanted to pair it with a stage musical review/preview produced by my company to generate buzz (and profits). Damn Yankees was one of the musical considerations, so I guess that is the musical they purchased, but who knows if they will follow through with the stage performance too.

I'd like to see Hairspray come to the big screen. A GOOD version of Mame would be welcome, because the movie with Lucille Ball was the pits. I think re-making Rocky Horror Picture Show is a mistake!! Sometimes you just can't improve on the original.

I think they should start bringing musicals that aren't already movies or made for tv movies onto the bring screen.

I was watching the special features on my Phantom dvd and ALW stated on it that a bunch of teenagers in London were thanking him for making Phantom into a movie because they couldn't afford the theater tickets. These are the type of musicals that they should turn to movie, because not everyone can afford a 75 dollar theater ticket.

I would love to see them make Cats into a movie (I'm not quite sure how that would work but I haven't seen the play so hence why I would want it to be a movie).

I really think Chicago and Moulin Rouge opened the door and paved the way for movie musicals to become popular again.

Anything but Cats.

I personally think that Miss Saigon would be incredible on the big screen.

Ditto :)

ETA: as long as they don't cast a bunch of teenybop idols in it....

Ditto with Miss Siagon, especially since it is no longer on Broadway and no longer touring the United States. (it is in England according to the official website).

Hmm I should email them and say "make it a movie". LOL.

Perhaps they will showing the success (and yes I will call it a success) of Phantom and then before that Chicago.