Tim Burton’s Golden Globe-winning SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET has been available on Blu-ray overseas since its original release on DVD; now consumers in Region 1 will have the same privilege. SWEENEY TODD will be released on Blu-ray in North America on October 21, 2008, ten days before Halloween, with a list price of $39.99.

If you can recall the days when HD DVD was still a viable format, you may recall that SWEENEY TODD was scheduled to arrive on HD DVD on April 1st in the U.S. and Canada. However, when HD DVDs went the way of the Betamax, Paramount cancelled the HD release and left buyers with only the standard DVD option. That gap will be remedied in October with the Blu-ray release. Online retailer DVDEmpire.com is already taking pre-orders for the SWEENEY TODD Blu-ray, and Amazon.com should do the same soon. Thanks to FANtastic JD for the news; you can read more on the Zone’s News & Views forum. –Part-Time Poet