The highly touted, extremely expensive movie “The Golden Compass” has garnered a lot of pre-release hype, lots of press time, captured alot of big names to star in it and gobbled up much of the Hollywood limelight over the last few months but, now that it has premiered, the box office looks more like a brass compass than a gold one.
For a movie of this magnitude to open no better than a generic SF feature or a low budget comedy is a real slap in the face to the makers of the film. Disney’s “Enchanted,” which came in at more than half the budget of “Compass” and with lesser named actors or hype did twice as well as this movie in its first weekend.
It is a shame that the film didn’t have a better opening because, in reality, it is quite good and worthy of a theatrical viewing.
I’m not sure if it was all the anti-religion talk that came out about the movie or that the weather across much of the Northeast and midwest was pretty bad, or that people were just not interested in another big-budget fantasy, but “The Golden Compass” is estimated to make barely $26 million for its debut showing in theaters across America.
“Enchanted,” still going strong after a tremendous two week showing, is holding firmly to second place, while the Top 5 round out to “This Christmas,” “Fred Claus” and that other box office disappointment, “Beowulf.”
We will have the final Top Ten box office figures for you later in the week.
I was one of first to see the movie when it opened in my town. Not a very full crowd. To bad, I thought it was a good movie.
I’m fascinatede by those who oppose it. They must really be scared of people being able to make their own decisions.
another “child with a destiny” witches and magical animals flick and i think i’ll vomit…
Interesting that Sam calls it “quite good”. I know a number of people who have seen the film and all of them have been disappointed by it. That includes people who read the book and enjoyed it and people who were coming to the movie with no prior knowledge of it. Scott Sigler was perhaps the most succinct:
“Golden Compass = Golden Shower”
Personally, I have read the books but have not seen the movie. I enjoyed the first book a great deal, but I was extremely disappointed with books 2 and 3 because Pullman allowed his zeal for his message to damage the quality of his art. It was sadly obvious to me that Pullman had no understanding of what faith is, why people embrace it, or why they lose it, so his characterizations of religious people all ended up being so shallow and one-dimensional as to strain credulity.
I have no problem with having a message in your writing, even if it’s one I personally disagree with, but you need to at least have enough respect for your opposition to make sure that you give them more than a straw man argument to support their side. To do otherwise is to do an injustice to both art AND philosophy.
The book was wonderful, and if the movie had come anywhere near the quality of the book, it would have been a blockbuster. This movie is sterile and dull, with none of the sense of dread and wonder that made the book so delightful.
I guess I can call the movie “quite good” because I haven’t read the books, and looking at it from a purely childlike interest in the fantastical, without all the excess baggage that we adults normally bring to a movie, I found it “quite good.” The CGI effects were worthy of a film costing $180 million to produce.
Now, if I were to look at it as an adult and as the movie critic I am, then it was mediocre at best, and looking at its budget, a very pale imitiation of Lord of the Rings and the Narnia tale, which was itself a pale imitation of Toiken’s work.
I recently finished reading the books (in anticipation of my daughter wanting to, so I could prepare for the questions), and I was disappointed to learn that the film would be glossing over the controversial elements. But…my daughter saw the trailer, and she was riveted. She’s begging me to take her to see the movie every day now.
Pullman is agressive with his atheistic bent. The producer promised to put more anti-Christian messages in the next movies if this one does well and they get people hooked. I am glad it tanked. Would you go see a movie that wanted to teach Christianity to your children? You should, but I would imagine that would be repugnant to some. Well, the same goes for someone who want to kill Christianity in children, which Pullman claimed as the reason for His Dark Materials trilogy.
I saw it over the weekend and thought it was pretty good. The only thing that threw me off was that it was a lot more violent than I figured a movie adapted from a children’s book would be and yeah, I’ll admit. I never read the books
In other news, I’m glad you like the v/fx Sam, I can proudly say my wife handled the Kidman and Dakota scene inside the airship, she composited the in monkey, the view and added in the lighting to give it a bit more realistic look.