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His Dark Materials author Philip Pullman has announced he will release the long-awaited follow-up to the popular trilogy - sparking an online frenzy from his delighted fans. The next trilogy of books, which the Cambridge-based writer describes as an 'equel' rather than a prequel or sequel, begins with The Book Of Dust which will be published on October 19 by Penguin Random House Children's and David Fickling Books.

ctor Sam Elliott claims that the Catholic Church prevented Hollywood from proceeding with the next two film’s in the His Dark Materials trilogy based on Philip Pullman’s books. “The Catholic Church ... lambasted them,” said Elliott. “I think it scared New Line off.” The film...angered Catholics who accused it of promoting atheism. In the book trilogy, set in a series of parallel worlds, heroine Lyra fights the Magisterium, an evil organisation some have interpreted as being based on the Catholic Church. Pullman, 63, told the Western Mail: "If Sam is right then I am very disappointed because it obviously would...

London, England, Dec 16, 2009 / 02:18 am (CNA).- Actor Sam Elliot has blamed the Catholic Church for stopping sequels from being made to the Golden Compass movie based on the first book of Philip Pullman’s atheistic trilogy His Dark Materials. The film, starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig and Eva Green, grossed more than $380 million worldwide after its Christmas 2007 release, but took in only $85 million in the U.S. According to the Internet Movie Database, the film had a budget of $180 million.The 65-year-old Elliot, who played a Texan “aeronaut” in the film, charged that a Catholic-led...

ATHEIST author Philip Pullman yesterday spoke of his “disgust” at the triumphalism of America’s religious right following its successful campaign to sideline attempts to dramatise the last two books in the writer’s His Dark Materials trilogy. Actor Sam Elliott, who starred in the film version of the first novel The Golden Compass, that grossed £230m, says a campaign by conservative Catholics has halted plans to complete the trilogy.

Christian protests put Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials film trilogy in doubt By Stephen Adams Last Updated: 1:01pm BST 18/07/2008 The future of the film trilogy based on Phillip Pullman's books His Dark Materials is in doubt after the controversial author said he did not know if the sequel to The Golden Compass would be made. The first in the trilogy, which starred Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, was dogged by accusations from American religious groups that it was anti-Catholic and even sought to "destroy God". British author Pullman admitted such objections may have hit US box office sales.... The...

The writer-director of “The Golden Compass,” Chris Weitz, is peeved. The movie tanked so badly that the second and third installments are not going to be made (it did fairly well overseas, but unfortunately for New Line Cinema, that didn’t help because it pre-sold those rights). In an article in the December Atlantic, Hanna Rosin wrote about Weitz’s evident frustrations in making the film. (After he first agreed to do it, he dropped out, fearing either the Christian Right or the atheist followers of the book, then changed his mind again, then alarmed fanboys by basically telling them that...

It opened three weeks ago at #1. Then it slipped to #3, and then to #9. And now, in its fourth weekend, The Golden Compass has fallen off the weekly top-ten chart altogether, landing at #12 with a "domestic" cume of $58.9 million -- and thus it continues to trail behind last year's considerably cheaper fantasy flick Eragon. And don't even bother trying to compare this film's grosses to those of the recent fantasy blockbusters whose ranks this film so desperately wanted to join. But wait. Variety reports that The Golden Compass is still #2 overseas -- surpassed only by...

1 N National Treasure: Book of Secrets BV $45,500,000 - 3,832 - $11,873 $45,500,000 - 1 2 1 I Am Legend WB $34,225,000 -55.7% 3,620 +14 $9,454 $137,490,000 - 2 3 2 Alvin and the Chipmunks Fox $29,000,000 -34.5% 3,499 +24 $8,288 $84,867,000 $60 2 4 N Charlie Wilson's War Uni. $9,618,000 - 2,575 - $3,735 $9,618,000 $75 1 5 N Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street P/DW $9,350,000 - 1,249 - $7,485 $9,350,000 $50 1 6 N P.S. I Love You WB $6,505,000 - 2,454 - $2,650 $6,505,000 - 1 7 4 Enchanted BV $4,152,000 -25.0% 2,752...

USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting under fire for review of "The Golden Compass"; Director reminds readers, "We have the Church's best interests at heart." By JOSEPH McALEER Fairfield County Catholic, December 22, 2007 "Hollywood history is rife with examples of literary works that, by dint of problematic sexual, violent, or religious content have been softened to varying degrees to mollify public sensibilities." So began a review of The Golden Compass written by Harry Forbes and John Mulderig, director and media reviewer, respectively, of the Office for Film & Broadcasting (OFB) of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The...

Vatican City, Dec 19, 2007 / 02:35 pm (CNA).- The daily edition of the official Vatican newspaper has come out with a harsh criticism of the movie "The Golden Compass", describing it as a hopeless story based on the ideology of the 70's. In a long editorial article, Andrea Monda, a well known literary and movie critic who writes for several Italian newspapers, says "the Golden Compass of Chris Weisz, is as much of an anti-Christmas film as it can be." The news that during its opening weekend, the Golden Compass made far less than what New Line expected, “can...

The Vatican on Wednesday condemned the film "The Golden Compass," which some have called anti-Christian, saying it promotes a cold and hopeless world without God. In a long editorial, the Vatican newspaper l'Osservatore Romano, also slammed Philip Pullman, the bestselling author of the book on which the family fantasy movie is based. It was the Vatican's most stinging broadside against an author and a film since it roundly condemned "The Da Vinci Code" in 2005 and 2006. "In Pullman's world, hope simply does not exist, because there is no salvation but only personal, individualistic capacity to control the situation and...

Well before "The Golden Compass" opened last weekend, e-mails were circulating throughout the country warning people that this film could cause children to become fascinated with atheist Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy. "The Golden Compass" is the first book of that series. The e-mails stated that the movie was toned down from the book series, which in the last book ends with the children killing God. The fear was that innocent children would see the film and want to know more about the book series behind it. The movie industry has experienced these kinds of grass-roots attacks on questionable...

“I Am Legend” (distributed by Warner Brothers), starring Will Smith, right, in a postapocalyptic vision of a zombie-infested Manhattan, hauled in an estimated $76.5 million in its debut to capture first place in the weekend box-office rankings compiled by the tracking company Media by Numbers. Second place went to another newcomer, “Alvin and the Chipmunks” (Fox), a resurrection of the musical-cartoon franchise, which took in $45 million. Dropping to third place from second last week, the fantasy “The Golden Compass” (New Line) had $9 million in sales. “Enchanted,” Disney’s revisionist fairy tale, took in $6 million, bringing its total gross...

And in only its second weekend in release, the bottom fell out of costly domestic flop The Golden Compass from New Line, which forked over $200+ million to make it. I know, I know, the pic is doing OK overseas after earning $50.9 mil from 27 territories December 7th-9th. But the fantasy epic is so lost domestically it earned only an anemic $2.6 million Friday and $3.7 million Saturday from 3,528 nearly empty runs for 3rd place and a new cume of just $40.5 mil. I hear studio topper Bob Shaye once again is blaming everyone but himself -- including...

SATURDAY AM: Some amazing numbers were posted Friday for this weekend's movie releases. Warner Bros' I Am Legend opens closer to $80 million than the studio's hoped-for $50 million from Friday through Sunday after making a whopping $29.6 million Friday in 3,606 theaters.... *snip* And the bottom fell out of costly domestic flop The Golden Compass from New Line, which forked out $200+ million to make it, in its second weekend in release. I know, I know, the pic is doing OK overseas. But the fantasy pic is so lost domestically it earned only an anemic $2.6 million Friday from...

The recent movie, The Golden Compass, is little more than a reinterpretation of Sony films’ blasphemous The Da Vinci Code, reengineered for children.  Many writers have rightly criticized the film from its multiple censurable aspects, and who could blame them?  After all, there are myriad angles from which it should be condemned.  It portrays the Catholic Church as an evil institution called the “Magisterium,” led by men who live in buildings resembling cathedrals, dress like bishops and strive to control men’s minds.  Furthermore, author Philip Pullman is an avowed atheist who has affirmed: “I am trying to undermine the...

The Broken Compass Posted by Tom Piatak on December 14, 2007 It seems fitting that Hollywood has chosen to observe Christmas in the year Christopher Hitchens’ atheist manifesto became a best-seller by releasing The Golden Compass, a movie based on the first volume of a fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials by another angry British atheist, Philip Pullman. Lest there be any doubt what Pullman’s objective is, he told the Washington Post in 2001 that “I’m trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief” and the Sydney Morning Herald in 2003 that “My books are about killing God.” Pullman, in fact,...

Like Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, "The Golden Compass" (an atheist's stealth attack on faith) was unleashed on December 7. Unlike Yamamoto's attempt to sink the U.S. Pacific Fleet, there isn't much bang to "The Golden Compass." The $150-million blockbuster is as flat as cola left in a glass overnight. The first in a planned cinematic trilogy intended to rival "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" and "The Lord of The Rings," "Compass" may turn out to be the "Heaven's Gate" of juvenile fantasy films. The movie is based on a series of children's books ("His Dark Materials"),...

Sympathy for the devil: thoughts on 'The Golden Compass' When the first Harry Potter movie arrived in theaters several years ago, many Catholic families had divided views about the film. Some enjoyed it as an innocent and intriguing fantasy. Others avoided it because of its emphasis on magic. But the screen adaptation of Philip Pullman’s book, “The Golden Compass,” which opened in Denver on Dec. 7, will likely produce far more agreement. No matter how one looks at it, “The Golden Compass” is a bad film. There’s just no nicer way to say it. I saw it at an 8:30...

"The Archdiocese of Baltimore is grateful that the Conference withdrew the review because it caused much confusion in the Catholic Community," Baltimore Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien said in an e-mailed statement. "From all reports, the review failed to adequately warn parents about the movie's widely recognized dark themes and anti-Catholic imagery." . . . "We saw this thing exploding over the weekend," Donohue said. "It was just a matter of time before they had to take it down."