The failure of The Golden Compass to make money in the United States will always be associated with the demise of New Line; it’s quite probable that had the film been a major moneymaker Warner Bros wouldn’t have folded the company into its giant studio bosom. But it may turn out that New Line going under will actually make it possible for the next two films in the trilogy, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass, to be made.
New Line’s failure with the film domestically has become a big embarrassment after the movie has gone on to be a major success overseas. Some people were pointing to this success – The Golden Compass may make 300 million dollars in foreign markets – as a sign that the franchise could continue back when New Line lived, but the truth was that New Line had sold off all the international rights. They only kept domestic money, where the film earned a wildly disappointing 70 million dollars.
But a terrific analysis piece in last Friday’s Variety (via The Frodo Franchise blog – a blog for a book that I thought cited CHUD, but I do a Google Book Search I get nothing. Turns out I’m cited in a Harry Potter book, though. Cool. Maybe CHUD is just cited in From Hobbits to Hollywood?) ponders the idea that new Big Daddy Warner Bros, who has an international marketing division, could very well look at the overseas success of the movie and decide damn the US, we’ll make this anyway. Hell, there’s already a script that’s in place. All of a sudden the unthinkable becomes kinda plausible.
I imagine this is one of the hot button issues in the halls of Warner Bros right now, especially with The Golden Compass DVD hitting next month. If numbers are high enough on that – and it’s being sold in less of a Lord of the Rings manner, apparently, which should help – expect rumblings that His Dark Materials is not quite over.
10 comments
Was it just me or did Transformers get totally ripped off for the Visual Effects Award? Take a look at the hi-def version and you can tell the difference.
As for New Line, don't know what made them think the Golden Compass would save their studio. The book really isn't suited for a Lotr style film adaptation. They should have done a conan film or pulled a Blade (the birth of Marvel as a film player) (not another blade, just something like it) rather than go for the batman/robin crowd.
As an audience we're all tired of saving the world stories. Its high time to ditch john wayne and pick up Blondie's poncho which is why Watchmen will rock the fucking world next year.
The sequels need a different director. If Weitz is out, they could work.
I agree with Danny, get rid of Weitz. Not everyone is good at making these kinds of movies. What was NL thinking when they entrusted the future of the studio to the American Pie guy? Anyway, lopping off the ending was another terrible mistake. By the time they were finished with the movie they compromised so many film elements in the name of (perceived) quick recoupment that it wasn't even a movie anymore, it was more like a powerpoint presentation on how a studio should start a successful fantasy franchise (the irony of course is that GC is not successful.) Who knows what they could have done with this thing if they had a confident group of people working on this thing.
I place more blame on the screenwriter than Weitz. The movie was relatively short, and i'm sure they could have done more simple, dialogue based scenes that could have fleshed out more story and character without an emphasis on animal/environment sfx. I think that, at least, would have made it a lot better.
New Line tried to avoid the Christian boycotts by removing all the religious elements that might be potentially offensive. Of course, the boycotts came anyway, and since they took out all the good stuff the movie was unenjoyable for the secular crowd too.
I love the books; I could barely sit through the movie. Replacing the amazing ending with a bland summation of events ("gosh we've got a lot of work ahead of us but this sure is a happy ending") was the last straw.
It's kind of nice to think of The Golden Compass as "The Movie That Killed New Line." Hopefully it will serve as a warning to other studios who acquire terrific properties and want to de-fang and focus-group them into mediocrity.
Warn major studios away from mediocrity? No amount of crappy adaptations and box office failures will do that. Try sitting down with that smirky, ass-kisser that you know and get him to straighten himself out–see how far you get.
"Hot button." Heh.
my girlfriend tried to get us to go see this. We went to AVPR instead. Needless to say, we got a better movie.
Thanks for the link to my blog! CHUD is not cited in The Frodo Franchise, but it is mentioned on p. 154.
To be fair to Weitz, he *did* resign as director, clearly stating that he had serious doubts about being the man for the job. Pullman himself asked him to reconsider directing it once Anand Tucker resigned.
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