Posted on 12/17/2007 5:56:14 PM PST by rhema
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 films in the past and they have had little effect. The Da Vinci Code, a film that did not fare well with critics or fans in terms of reviews, still made a boatload of money. So the producers of "The Golden Compass likely went into last weekend's opening feeling fairly optimistic.
Today, they are no doubt disappointed.
"The Golden Compass" didn't bomb at the box office, but it was not a blockbuster either. It netted a modest $26.1 million in its opening weekend, but the studio that produced the movie was hoping for at least $30 to $40 million. That's because it was not cheap to make; estimates are in the $180 million to $200 million range.
What happened? A New Line Cinema spokesperson conceded to USA Today in an article on the paper's website that the religious controversy might have had an effect. But it was a reluctant concession. Likewise was the word from a film editor with "The Hollywood Reporter," who said though church opposition can't be discounted, "to claim it's a victim of religious controversy, there's no real evidence of that, at least not at this point." He went on to say people might be getting tired of fantasy films in general and that caused the poor showing.
I have a different theory. First, "The Golden Compass" is being portrayed as a family film, yet it carries a PG-13 rating which is not family friendly. Second, the studio had the audacity to schedule its opening for the same weekend as "The Chronicles of Narnia" opened two years ago. "Narnia" was an appropriate holiday film, being based on the popular children's book series by C.S. Lewis and having a Christian theme and message. "Compass" is seen as the antithesis of "Narnia" and no doubt was a turn off for many Christian families.
"Narnia" opened with a $65.6 million weekend, nearly $40 million more than "Compass." That should speak volumes to those at New LIne Cinema. So should the current performance of the family-friendly "Enchanted," which is turning into box office gold for Disney. The PG-rated film earned $83.9 million in its first two weeks. That's right, $83.9 million.
I think there is plenty of evidence that "Compass" is being hurt by the fact that many families don't want to see it for religious reasons. If a sequel of "Narnia" had opened last weekend, I bet it would have netted at least $30-$40 million, probably more. The genre of the fantasy film is not the problem; people are upset with the basis for "Compass" and its rating. That's something film studios can go to the bank on.
People not interested in fantasy?
How the Will Smith sci-fi film doing?
It made $77,211,321.
I work at toyrus part time (seasonal) and the Golden Compas toys (thank God) because I wouldn’t touch one if they asked me, aren’t flying off the shelves (most..nearly all) are just sitting there since a week before the movie hit theatres~!
My kids love the fantasy film genre. They would have been begging to go see a sequel to Narnia or a LOTR type movie, if one was being released. They heard about ‘Golden Compass’ and said, “No thanks”.
1) Transformers:
A very unappealing FBI agent is shown wearing a cross around his neck. Was this necessary.
2) Happy Feet
Many very unappealing characters are portrayed as if they were preachers. Also, the characters find an ugly abandoned work station that is littered with trash in Antarctica. Of course the very first image is of a church.
3) The new Adam Sandler film portrays Christians in a very negative manner.
“Narnia” “Lord of the Rings” and “Harry Potter” are all wildly successful because the books were well written,appealed to adults and children, and have a succinct moral - namely that good ultimately always triumphs over evil.
I’ve not read any of Philip Pullman’s works.Is he a new author?
Is he darker than Tanith Lee, Anne Rice, Piers Anthony, and/or Stephen King’s Gunslinger series?
(none of the above works would lucratively survive adaptation to the big screen)
Just asking, because I read the phone book if no other new printed matter is available to me, and as I regularly make use of public libraries, bookstores, and garage sales, it is rare for me not to at least recognize an important authors name, whose works I have not yet read...
Spot on! Fantasy is still strong in demand, but I think your average fantasy reader is looking for strong moral values and happy endings.
Any religious boycott probably had less of an effect than a misleading ad campaign (Kidman and James Bond just aren’t on the screen that much and no real clue about the storyline is given), a weak adaptation (fanboys weren’t happy with it — LOTR, Narnia and HP left most of their fanboys very satisfied), and a wimpy ending (skipping the final chapter). But most of all, it’s a relatively new book series that had good sales, but not the massive sales of HP. There just hasn’t been generations of kids reading it like Narnia or LOTR at their local library. A few million readers is just not enough of a base for a movie. Witness Eragon a year or two ago.
In terms of atheism, the first book isn’t that overt (and the film even less). It’s the third book where that becomes an overpowering theme.
Religious Christians just don’t go to that many films. Hollywood lost that audience a long time ago. So I doubt that the studio was counting on them.
I enjoyed the books. But not enough to reread them. And I definitely wouldn’t recommend them for any kids of faith. When they were grown, maybe, since it couldn’t hurt to read a different train of thought.
Passion of the Christ, Narnia, etc? Religious overtones and were HUGE hits.
Many people were turned off by the anti-religous message for Golden Compass. Even my daughter, 13, told me her and her friends had no interest in seeing it becuase it had a "bad message" in it.
I understand that non-Christians have to spin this movie's failure on everything but the truth ... Religous people in this country have a LOT of power when they want to flex their muscle.
bump
Not to mention, they released it during Christmas, when even seasonal Christians are more cognizant of their faith. Maybe they can improve sales by getting the DVD into stores in time for Easter.
Da Vinci was for adults. They don’t want folks telling them what they can and cannot watch.
Compass was for kids. Parents don’t want adults messing with their kids.
Total cost including advertising for this film are in the 300-320m range. With a 50% split, this needs to make 600m to break even. It MAY come up with half that. When you add in DVD/TV rights, this film with lose 100 million or more. This is a HUGE flop.
People are tired of Christian bashing.
Pray for W and Our Troops
I desperately want the Chronicles of Prydain to be made into movies.
The Disney “Black Cauldron” just didn’t cut it. :)
I don't know. Somehow with all of these "flops", Hollywood seems to be staying in business.
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