AceShowbiz -

Johnny Depp and Tim Burton are back together for their new movie project, "Sweeney Todd". Sitting as the director, Tim Burton is ready to direct Johnny Depp who plays the main character, the legendary barber and serial-killer, who cuts his victim's throats with a straight razor.

The new movie, which will be co-produced by DreamWorks and Warner Bros., will be adapted from the modern musical thriller "Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," with songs originally composed by Tony-winning Stephen Sondheim.

As DreamWorks said on Wednesday, production of this flick is scheduled to begin early next year and released in late 2007.

Set in Victorian London, the story rolled on the title character's determination to exact revenge against the judge and constable who wrongfully imprisoned him. After victim's throat cuts, Todd's landlady, Margery Lovett, bakes the carcasses into meat pies.

The legend of serial-killer Sweeney Todd is rooted in British lore, and has given rise to numerous earlier plays and films, including a 1936 film called "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," and a 1998 TV movie, "The Tale of Sweeney Todd," starring Sir Ben Kingsley. The Broadway version hit in 1979 and won 8 Tony Awards.

"Sweeney Todd" is the sixth time collaboration for Depp and Burton. Five other previous movies including 1990's "Edward Scissorhands," 1994's "Ed Wood," 1999's "Sleepy Hollow," 2005's "Tim Burton's Corpse Bride" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".