Posted on 12/11/2007 3:23:15 PM PST by I still care
Not the oasis it was intended to be, The Golden Compass failed to guide the box office out of the desert. A dispirited response to the fantasy adaptation combined with a largely pathetic group of holdovers led to the least attended early December frame in 13 years.
The Golden Compass pointed to $25.8 million on approximately 5,600 screens at 3,528 theaters, which was about average for a live action fantasy. The turnout was well below half that of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe or The Lord of the Rings movies, and the picture was clearly gunning for that league with its reportedly $180 million plus production budget, high screen count and December release date. It was more on par with the less hyped Eragon and Bridge to Terabithia, albeit those pictures had much lower screen counts and more crowded release dates.
Since the phenomenal success of the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings movies, fantasy has been one of the genre fads in Hollywood and Golden Compass suffered from the resulting glut. In its marketing, the picture looked indistinguishable from all the other fantasy movies and its story wasn't clear and hence was not relatable. Throwing a bunch of computer-generated antics and talking animals on the screen is not enough to garner a sizable audience. What's more, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Narnia are the exceptions in the fantasy genre, which was known for its disappointments prior to their release. Those movies had high interest from the popularity of the books on which they were based, whereas the foundations of Golden Compass and other recent fantasies were not nearly as culturally substantial.
(Excerpt) Read more at boxofficemojo.com ...
Movies like “Rendition” “Redacted” and “sicko” come to mind as ones that I don’t believe were made for profit. Break-even propaganda, maybe.
Redacted and Sicko weren’t made by ‘these people’ (whoever that is).
Hollyweird leftists.
Both of those films were made outside of Hollywood. And Pullman certainly isn’t a Hollywood figure. Moore is a Hollywood figure? He’s a radical gadfly who functions independently. Unless you think all films made anywhere by anyone are Hollywood films.
I admit I lump ‘em all together.
At least you admit it.
That wasn’t too clear. I lump leftist film makers inside or outside of hollyweird together
Looks pretty good... ;-)
Fabulous! Thanks for the link, BTD. Gives me goosebumps!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.