Movie reaches 300 million dollars

Posted by Ian on April 23, 2008 at 7:12 pm

With the DVD and Blu Ray releases of The Golden Compass movie due on April 28th, the theatrical release has finally reached US$ 300 million worldwide (not including the USA which is generally referred to as the domestic market), almost some five months after it was first released. Following a continued strong showing in Japan (where the movie was released in March) the 300 million mark was reached over the weekend. The film has now taken almost $33 million in Japan and the total figure for outside the USA stands at $300,695,060 - making The Golden Compass the first ever movie to make over $300 million outside of the USA while making less than $100 million domestically. The latest figures from boxofficemojo place The Golden Compass as the 109th best grossing film ever - hardly the bombing loss maker which it has been portrayed as by many in the media. The overall movie gross total now stands at $370,802,788 - if New Line Cinema had not presold foreign rights to the movie they would surely have broken even by now. You can examine the full figures here.

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The Golden Compass lies third in China

Posted by Ian on April 2, 2008 at 3:19 pm

The Golden Compass movie, which has been on general release in mainland China for a little over a week, currently lies third nationwide. According to box office figures for last week, the movie took a little under US$ 1.3 million, leaving total takings for the film worldwide in the mid $280 millions thanks to a continued strong showing in Japan where the film has now taken a little over $27 million. As many of you may remember, The Golden Compass is one of only twenty foreign films that are permitted to be shown in China this year; which we reported on last February.

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Film rights split between distributors

Posted by jessia on March 15, 2008 at 9:59 pm

Adam Dawtrey from Variety reports that the fate of The Subtle Knife is more complicated than it seems: many of the foreign distributors have the first rights for foreign distribution for any possibly sequels for The Golden Compass. For very good reason, considering the film’s superb overseas performance, Warner Bros. would much rather distribute via Warner Int’l. However, it may not be so simple when the distributors for The Golden Compass in Europe, Asia, and Africa also have first grab for The Subtle Knife.

With this predicament, The Golden Compass’ successful overseas performance may not necessarily be the selling point to engage the film franchise for sequels as fans have hoped. Without foreign distribution rights, Warner will not be able to take advantage of profits from overseas screenings. “Warner’s lawyers will doubtless be scouring the fine print of those deals. If the studio does decide that it wants to continue with the franchise — and that’s a big if — it faces a tricky calculation and negotiation over how much of the world it is prepared to give up in order to do so.” Read more. Thanks to skylights for the tip.

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Golden Compass a Global Success

Posted by krebbe on March 8, 2008 at 9:28 am

After the success in Japan, the Golden Compass movie is on course to set a record as the first film in history to gross $300 million abroad while failing to reach $100 million in North America.

Why did the film do so poorly in the US compared to the rest of the world? While some would be quick to blame Christian activist groups, Adam Dawtrey reporting on Variety thinks the New Line publicity team should acknowledge some of the blame. While New Line promoted and benefited from the film domestically, the international rights had already been sold to a range of indies (independent companies) to offset production costs. Dawtrey proposes the success discrepancy is a case of poor marketing by New Line compared with that of the international indies. Read his whole article here.

Although it’s too late for New Line, it’s good news for fans hoping to see the rest of the trilogy at the cinema. While the success may not be spectacular, the special effects Oscar and the movie’s international reception make a respectable case to Warner Brothers (who have acquired New Line) that there’s money to be made from the sequels. Such is the view of Golden Compass producer Deborah Forte, who vows “I will make The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. I believe there are enough people who see what a viable and successful franchise we have.”

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10m USD in Japanese opening weekend

Posted by jessia on March 5, 2008 at 8:54 am

Animation Magazine reports that The Golden Compass earned $10m in the Japanese box office in its opening weekend. While its domestic release was disappointing, the film continues to perform strongly in overseas markets. Read more.

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Compass performs well at Japanese advance screenings

Posted by jessia on February 28, 2008 at 5:22 am

Variety Asia reports that the Golden Compass earned 2.5m USD (Y270m) this past weekend at advanced screenings in Japan this weekend. Audience demographics exceeded expectations drawing in not only families but teens and fans in their fifties and sixties. Although the Japanese distributor Gaga has not released their own box office projections, Variety calculates: “A straight line B.O. projection would be $51 million — not “Harry Potter” territory, but not bad for a pic that finished in the US with $70 million.” This estimate would set worldwide box office gross to 380m USD according to Box Office Mojo’s numbers. Read more.

The Golden Compass opens in Japan to 700 screens this weekend.

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Golden Compass grosses $315 million

Posted by jessia on January 16, 2008 at 6:30 am

ComingSoon.net reports: Despite its lackluster performance in the North American box office, The Golden Compass has been doing quite well in the international market, reaching 315m USD since its premiere. “The fantasy epic has performed strongly in various foreign territories — including the United Kingdom, Spain, South Korea and Australia — where this genre continues to be popular.” The last remaining major box office territory awaiting the film’s release is Japan, where it screens beginning 1st March. Read more.

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Box Office Numbers

Posted by Will on December 10, 2007 at 5:58 am

The Golden Compass’ massive budget of around $250 million means that it needs to succeed, and succeed big, at the box office. Unfortunately for New Line - and for fans hoping for sequels - the movie appears to be floundering somewhat at the American box-office. Whilst it has taken the number one spot, over this weekend, the film took in just $27 million. Last week, New Line said they were hoping for between $30 and $40 million.

For reference, Slashfilm give this comparison with other fantasy films’ opening weekends:

      Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire - $102.6M
      & the Prisoner of Azkaban - $93.6M
      & the Sorcerer’s Stone - $90.2M
      & the Chamber of Secrets - $88.3M
      The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - $72.6M
      The Chronicles of Narnia - $65.5M
      The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - $62M
      The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring - $47.2M
      The Golden Compass - $27M (estimate)
      Eragon - $23.2M
      Bridge to Terabithia - $22.5M
      Stardust - $9.1M opening

Whilst Harry Potter is in a league of its own, that The Golden Compass came in nowhere near even the first Lord of the Rings and made just $4 million more than Eragon is worrying. Indeed, Slashfilm call the numbers a “disaster”. Cinematical say it has “crashed and burned”, writing that “with muted buzz at best, expect Golden’s numbers to plummet next weekend, especially with a new crowd of pre-Christmas contenders packing in, and total domestic box office to top out at around $80 million. Ouch.”

Industry blogger Nikki Finke calls it a “bomb” and a “flop”, citing also low per screen averages. Paul Dergarabedian at Media By Numbers, a tracking firm, says “It’s below expectations, but it’s not an out-and-out debacle.” News agency Reuters’ headline on the matter is “Golden Compass disappoints at Box Office”.

“It’s a little bit disappointing,” said Rolf Mittweg, president and chief operating officer of New Line’s worldwide distribution and marketing operations. The Guardian reports Mittweg as saying exit polls were favourable and that he was hoping word of mouth would help the film in coming weeks, especially with school holidays starting. “It’s all about longevity,” Mittweg said.

The film’s producer, Deborah Forte, was asked the the premiere’s press conference what level of gross The Golden Compass needed to take at the box office in order for the sequels to get the go-ahead. She was not best-pleased at the question and answered that New Line would be taking into consideration worldwide takings. There, the film may be faring better.

Variety say it has “taken Europe by storm”. In the UK, the film took $3.1 million in the first two days, beating Narnia’s record. With little competition, French, Spanish and German takings are also very good. This does not translate into money for New Line however - the studio sold off foreign distribution rights before the film was released. Mittner says proceeds from those sales have covered about 60 percent of the film’s budget. Taking into account outside investors and tax breaks, he said New Line was covered for about 70 to 80 percent of the budget, and the film would be profitable for the studio.

These will be a worrying few days for New Line and Chris Weitz regardless.

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