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.”
“Indeed, Warner, the studio behind ‘Harry Potter,’ may turn out to be a better home for the Pullman franchise than New Line ever was.”
Not a bad sentence to wake up to.
Still crossing my fingers.
I suspect there were multiple causes for the movies failure in the U.S. I also think the religious boycotting the movie had something to do with it. In my part of the world it is more conservative Protestant Christians who refused to see the movie “because they killed God”.
I do agree New Line handled the controversy badly. They should have had Ms. Richards talking about Lyra’s heart and heroism. The stars should have been all over the news discussing the main themes of loyalty and friendship. Heck, just having Sam Elliott discuss his role and his views on the story would have won a ton of hearts here in Texas.
There was nothing to be ashamed of and New Line half acted like there was. I, at least, would have fought the Catholic Church and conservative Christians with wit, kindness, firmnes and pride in my product.
“Indeed, Warner, the studio behind ‘Harry Potter,’ may turn out to be a better home for the Pullman franchise than New Line ever was.â€Â
I disagree! I think The Golden Compass movie was far better than any Harry Potter movie… expecially the philosopher’s stone… so bad I can´t describe…
Between the studio behin The Lord of the Rings and the studio behind Harry Potter, I choose the first…
Finally some good news! I absolutely HATED the fifth Harry Potter movie, but I think that the WB does better marketing than New Line ever did, which might lead them to make sequels. I’m dreaming of the possibility of CGI mulefa tonight…
I fully agree with Spider-Pig, and partially with Greg. NL handled TGC much better than what we’ve seen of Harry Potter in the last two movies. The difference is that HP has a huge fan base who are a “captive audience” which will go and watch any HP movie regardless of its quality. Order of the Phoenix, for instance, didn’t even get a single Oscar nomination.
It would be silly to say that NL didn’t make any marketing mistake, but as far as I can say, the TGC publicity was pretty visible in bill-boards and Scholastic books on the film. As Nadeen says, it was mostly a lack of nerve and guts in “defending the cause.”
It will be interesting to see what WB executives decide on the sequels. I’m keen abot it.
Yeah, I’ve always laid hope on Deborah Forte.
Go Deborah go!
Let’s hope so! Fingers crossed!
As much as I wish this whole series was a low-budget indie deal, I wasn’t too disappointed with the Golden Compass. My expectations weren’t high. I think they did an alright job(though it’s a travesty compared to the book, of course). I think that now that The Golden Compass was such a close call, they may change their strategy a little bit and go for more content than special effects.
I’m really excited to see who they cast for Will. I hope he’s an unknown.
I’m am hoping to play Will in the movie! Oh, by the way anyone know where and when the auditions are?
The major problem with Harry Potter movies is that these (except for Order of the Phoenix) have an awful screenwriter, and the first two movies, on top of that, had a flat director.
But Prisoner of Azkaban improved greatly (in spite of having one of the worst adapted screenplays I’ve ever seen) because it had a bold and original director, and most important, Cuarón had plenty of freedom to do what he pleased in the film, even take the series to a different way and style, apparently the studio didn’t pester him all the time with it.
Chris Weitz didn’t have this luck with New Line. In fact, he hadn’t the very freedom to edit the movie as he wanted. Let’s expect he may have it with Warner Bros.
(And expect a director’s cut for Compass still…)
I think that, on the whole, the Potter books more or less got the movies they deserved. The latest movie wasn’t too good, for instance, but the book was terrible. Weitz is a better director than Columbus, but Columbus was able to give his two movies 2 1/2 hour treatments that kept the books’ plots. Let’s hope that WB, less desperate for a mega-hit than NL was, lets Weitz do his thing. What with the Tolkien movies mired in lawsuits, and the end of the Potters in sight, he might just get his window…
This is absolutely fantastic news. Hopefully the box office results from the international market are enough to persuade Warner Brothers that the company ought to pursue producing the two sequels as well.
The Golden Compass will apparently end up being the 9th biggest grossing movie of the year 2007 and the biggest grossing movie for New Line in its 40 year history, with the exception of “the Rings” trilogy.
New Line apparently sold off the foreign territorial rights, which turned out to be a big mistake, but that has nothing to do with the picture. Warner Brothers will certainly not make that mistake.
Unfortunately the boycott by religious organizations was effective in the United States. I heard a number of parents saying that they would never let their children see that kind of film. They had specifically been told by their ministers/priests not the see the film.
It was a terrific movie and certainly deserves sequels.
If the movie had pleased great audiences, I don’t think that any boycott could have damaged the american box office.
What I think is that the audiences went expecting another mega-epic such as LOTR, and left the theaters shouting “is that aaaaaaall?”
As a reviewer once said, the movie lacks “genuine drama”, because it’s too rushed, there isn’t space for character development. And it’s not Chris Weitz’s fault, he almost hadn’t any freedom in the edition. His original version was far better than after New Line put the hands on it, and ordered several cuts, including the ending. How did they expect the movie to work without the human stuff, and the climax itself?
And I truly believe: Golden Compass could have been a better film than LOTR, more dark, and deep, and emotional. Unfortunately it was just the material they cut off.
Look, how could they possibly cut off the death of the gyptian spy, and this?
http://movies.ign.com/dor/the-golden-compass/686290/images/the-golden-compass-20071108021907910.html?page=mediaFull
http://movies.ign.com/dor/the-golden-compass/686290/images/the-golden-compass-20071108021922192.html?page=mediaFull
http://movies.ign.com/dor/the-golden-compass/686290/images/the-golden-compass-20071108021919051.html?page=mediaFull
http://movies.ign.com/dor/the-golden-compass/686290/images/the-golden-compass-20071108021910879.html?page=mediaFull
http://movies.ign.com/dor/the-golden-compass/686290/images/the-golden-compass-20071108021917145.html?page=mediaFull
http://movies.ign.com/dor/the-golden-compass/686290/images/the-golden-compass-20071108021916051.html?page=mediaFull
Subtle inclusions, that would have boosted the suspense and emotion, and the film wouldn’t have “lacked genuine drama”.
I’m most desperate for an extended/director’s cut, as much as for the sequels.
The Golden Compass movie could have been a lot better
Yet it could have been a lot worse
Either way, I am hoping for a sequel. Mostly because I’d like to start my acting career as Will Parry
But I would also like to see one of my favorite books on the big screen…
So let’s just hope this “Deborah” woman stays true to her word, or I’ll have some harsh words for her if I happen to bump into her at Blockbuster
I don’t blame the boycotters for the poor performance in the USA. The fault lies with the people who fed them propaganda about the book, and told them not to read it. On youtube there was a video clip that cracked me up, this religious guy telling everybody that it teaches necromancing to children … ‘flying disc symbolism’ ‘would you take your kids to see the exorcist? No….take them to see the exorcists so they understand what will happen to them if they see TGC’
and my favourite ‘daemons are the evil spirits of dead giants’
Well, that and the fact that it starred a little girl whose only male friend was a “devoted slave”.
They’re really just as bad as the magisterium in the books for banning people from seeing the movie – they are basically banning free speech and using propaganda to enforce their point. It’s a work of fiction. Since when do we see children worshipping flying discs lol
YEESSS!!! I was really disheartened to hear about both the take over and the failure in North America, but I’m so pleased to see that there will be more. It would have been tragic to have only made the first one (Which I thought was a really good representation of the story and world) and leave the others to be unmade.
Anita – could you send a link to that youtube video?
Boycott be damned, the people I know didn’t watch it because a) they’d never heard of the books and b) Based on the trailers, they thought it was a stupid children’s fantasy about little girls and talking animals.
I know plenty of adults who would have watched if they had marketed it (at least in some venues) as “The alternative universe steampunk version of Paradise Lost” and gotten a reputation as a brainy movie, rather than a dumb one. I’m surprised that with all their marketing brains they didn’t mention Milton in their advertising materials once.
Da Vinci Code got boycotted like crazy, but it still did really well.
Yea, if it was in fact a brainy movie, but I think adults would be disappointed if they had expected such, since the movie ended up being… well, a fantasy about little girls and talking animals. Not quite a stupid one, but very basic, because New Line cut off a lot of the intelligent stuff after all.
Actually, they refused Tom Stoppard’s script because they found “too intellectual”, hehe. But I don’t complain about it because I believe that Chris Weitz’s full piece was better than Stoppard’s, and FAR FAR AWAY better than the dull and superficial final cut, as I said earlier.
So it would be great if it was a really brainy movie, and marketed as one. Now, expecting a wonderful director’s cut :]
the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UdBj_eYn04
and I agree, it could have been more intellectual and marketed at adults. Some parts of the movie I found cheesy. But my five year old brother liked it!
Interestingly enough, it was a MUST SEE for Canadian families over the holidays. All of my daughter’s friends saw it. The whole attitude was ‘ looks good, we’re taking the kids after Christmas.’ Followed by – ” liked it a lot more than Narnia.”
Definite cultural differences…
I’m Canadian woohoo! But I live in Ireland.
oh canada!! i love that country!! i agree with angela
That’s awesome Blaze Guard. But I didn’t feel that Canadians had any clue about this movie. Except for anyone who personally knew ME. They sure knew.
I don’t personally know you and I had more than a clue about the movie! I’ve read the three books and I saw the movie, it was great but could have been better. I also noticed they left out scenes from the film which I’ve seen on trailers and the game!
Im happy because if the studio behind Harry Potter make the movie, then…the subtle knife will be great!!
But you live in Ireland David!
Obviously, American audiences are much too sophisticated to be taken in by a fraud. We have enough frauds and phonies already. If another film of this work should be produced, we will surely do better at educating the world prior to its release.