"Golden Compass" disappoints at box office (Praise the Lord!)

REuters ^ | Dec. 8 2007 | Dean Goodman

[Caipirabob]

The success of TLOTR was in part due to the support of Tolkien fans. If New Line tried what you suggest the results from the fans will be like the peasants with the torches scenwe in “Frankenstein”.

I'd pay to see that! : )

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Theater owners should have offered to replay the first Narnia movie in conjunction with the Golden Compass (actually was wondering whether or not they'd be able to get Prince Caspian out fast enough--apparently not). Then you could see the 'culture wars' in action. It would have been interesting if a replaying of a movie already on DVD (and VHS) would be able to trounce this new, anti-Christian film in terms of sales.

[gotribe]

I was stunned to find that Scholastic Books, probably the largest publisher of children's’ books here in the U.S., was distributing the Pullman books free of charge to elementary schools.

Thanks for that. One thing to have a non-threatening movie watered down from the atheistic books; another thing to use my tax money for atheistic books touting the death of God. Will be looking into that next week in our district.

[Tax-chick]

But just watch a "blockbuster" movie these days with the incredibly expensive CGI effects

Yes, I looked up from my sewing Friday night, while my teens were watching the latest "Pirates of the Caribbean" DVD, and said, "Dang, that water looks fake!"

I understand ship movies are expensive, but you'd think they could afford real water!

[PeteB570]

Well,

Daughter # 2 went to see it last night with her boyfriend.

She said the anti-religion stuff is buried pretty deep and you would have to have read the books or hung out on the Internet to know about it.

Said it was a little violent for Daughter # 3 and that it’s rating was well deserved.

She said other than that - It was just not that good of a movie. Barely mid-level on the popcorn cruncher scale. Wait until it comes out on video.

[ThreePuttinDude]

The His Dark Materials books have been controversial with some Christian groups. Peter Hitchens has argued that Pullman actively pursues an anti-Christian agenda. In support of this contention, he cites an interview in which Pullman is quoted as saying: "I'm trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief." In the same interview, Pullman also "acknowledge(s) that a controversy would be likely to boost sales. But I'm not in the business of offending people. I find the books upholding certain values that I think are important. Such as that this life is immensely valuable. And that this world is an extraordinarily beautiful place, and we should do what we can to increase the amount of wisdom in the world'."

Religious perspective of Philip Pullman from Wikipedia

[TalBlack]

I don’t think that there are many actual atheists in this country. A REAL atheist is amused by the necessity of religion in peoples lives and wonders how they can be so pathetically dependent upon some fairy tale.

People like the author of these compass stories are another animal entirely.

[ricmc2175]

If entertaining epic fantasies are enjoyable to you, you should see this movie. I did and it is well done. I have seen blatantly “pro-God” movies supported by evangelicals that did far more inadvertent damage to the image of religion. Mitt’s issue ducking speech did far more damage to Christians. The Magisterium is the ultimate bad guy, but it is not obviously the Roman Catholic Church. My PhD is in Religionswissenschaft and I could see how you could defend that conclusion but it is not obvious. You would have a greater argument with regard to the witchcraft themes in “Potter”.

In sum, it is, in my humble opinion, entertaining Epic Fantasy (and better such fare than “Beowulf”).

[proudofthesouth]

Praise God! I haven’t been in a movie theatre in 21 years!

[KC_Conspirator]

Yes, this is great news. Hollywood, the leftist propaganda machine it is, continues to make leftist trash that fails at the box office.

[gridlock]

Saw a advertisement for it last evening. Looked like something I might want to go see. Why do you believe I shouldn't?

Educate yourself about the source material, and about the author. The author has stated, repeatedly, that the purpose of his trilogy is to undermine children's faith in God, and that this first installment is "eye candy" designed to lure unsuspecting children into his trap.

If you are OK with that, by all means go see the movie. You should have plenty of room in the theater...

[gridlock]

I was driving past the big multiplex in my area yesterday, which is playing The Golden Compass on three screens. At about 7:00 at night, the parking lot was 3/4 empty. Normally you have to park across the access way and hoof it on the weekend, but yesterday there was available parking in the spaces right by the door.

This movie was everybody's anchor this weekend. Based on my personal observations, this anchor is dragging them to the bottom, fast.

I would expect theaters to bail on this movie fast. They can't afford to have a stinker taking up their screen space during the critical Christmas holidays.

[ontap]

I am particularly disgusted by the way the makers are hiding the fact that the last episode ends with the death of god. This author is a hate munger when it comes to the Christian faith. People of the Christian faith are the only people who can safely be ridiculed. They would never do such a thing against Islam, cowardice at its worse.

[aberaussie]

There just doesn’t seem to be ANYTHING worth seeing.

The National Treasure sequel looks interesting. We also enjoyed Enchanted when we saw it Thanksgiving weekend.

[singfreedom]

Thank you, thank you. I had totally forgotten about “National Treasure” and I don’t know anything about “Enchanted”. We absolutely LOVED “Treasure”, though, a thoroughly great movie.

[gridlock]

If the Director was smart, he would have shown Nichole Kidman without a shirt. Then he could have pretended that all this controversy was over the nudity, rather than the religious content. Result: Boffo Box Office!

[AD from SpringBay]

Conspiring against the movie, he said, were such factors as a soft marketplace and unrealistic expectations for an epic fantasy filling the holiday void left by the "Narnia" and "Lord of the Rings" smashes.

It's not the film's fault. It's the soft marketplace (whatever that means) and the void left by films who, through no fault of their own, did much better. It wasn't the acting, the underlying premises, the directing, or the underlying premises. It was the soft marketplace and the void - will ruin a film every time.

[singfreedom]

My money is on “Clueless”. I would have thought they would have gotten the message after LAST year’s losses, but, no, they seem hell bent on destruction.

[gridlock]

National Treasure - Book of Shadows should hit it big in two weeks. There is going to absolutely nothing else on the screen, and families are going to be heading into winter vacation time. I loved the first movie, and expect the second one will be great as well.

[CaptainMorgantown]

I loved the first National Treasure movie. It was a good adventure thriller for the whole family, of a kind that Hollywood seldom produces these days. I don't recall a single curse word, which was refreshing and the theme was generally patriotic.

That said, while I'm looking forward to the sequel, I was a little concerned by the preview that the second effort is going to be seen by the writers as an opportunity to teach children about all 'dark secrets' of our nations history (e.g., racism, sexism, capitalism). In other words, now that the franchise is established, will they try to turn it into something that the first one wasn't, a chance to disparage our nation's history in the eyes of moviegoing children?

By the way, I really like Mr. McGorium's Wonder Emporium, and would recommend that one.