Author's disgust as religious right halts new Compass movie

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Author's disgust as religious right halts new Compass movie

Dec 16 2009 by Darren Devine, Western Mail
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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.

He said, despite The Golden Compass’ global success, film industry executives have shown little appetite for follow-ups due to an uncompromising campaign by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

. . .

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2009/12/16/atheist-author-tells-of-disgust-after-america-s-religious-right-halts-compass-movie-follow-ups-91466-25400709/

[Brickbat]

1. Or it could be that the first movie wasn't very good.

Just a thought.

[Oregone]

2. It was great

It underperformed in the idiocracy because of the fundies.

[anigbrowl]

10. Are you kidding? It was awful. And I wanted to like it.

Nothing wrong with the story. But the screen realization of it was just dreadful, and it didn't do that well financially. You can see some numbers here, but although the foreign sales look large bear in mind that more than half of that goes to distribution costs. For a production budget of that size, it should have made more than twice as much.

The fundies didn't kill it; it was still the #1 movie when it came out. Word of mouth killed it, and deservedly so.

[ThomWV]

17. I had never heard of it before I saw the movie and I loved it - and have watched it since

I love the movie. Maybe its because I had no expectations other than I would watch a PG rated movie and see what it was like. I so enjoyed it that I've watched it over again several times and I'm sure I'll enjoy it again sometime.

[anigbrowl]

18. Well, to each his own. I found it almost unwatchable...

didn't care for the acting much, and from a technical standpoint it was truly bad. But I work in film so maybe I'm abnormally sensitive...it was just a really obvious case of 'too many cooks spoil the broth' for me, a disappointing example of creativity by committee.

[HelenWheels]

22. Loved the movie

And I was looking forward to the sequels. Sorry to see the catholics hold so much power.

[Tempest]

12. Your thought is fatally flawed

It grossed $372 million worldwide in the theater. And made another $41 million in the U.S. on DVD sales.

That spells success, regardless of whether it was good or not.

[zonkers]

16. It seems to me that campaigns to stifle films usually backfire. In any case, for this

film to not get sequeled when it has a following and a track record is bad business. Someone will make it.

[Touchdown]

25. With Video, HBO, PPV, and now iTunes, all films eventually make a profit now.

Even the biggest flop of all time, Waterworld finally turned a profit in 1999 (5 Years after theatrical release) when the DVD version flew off the shelves. Of course, in 1999 there were only about 5,000 DVDs available, and the big Sci-Fi movies were hard to come by... so DVD fans had to settle.

[anigbrowl]

30. That's a poor result

First you have to subtract 180 million in production costs, which leaves you with $190 million. Then you have to take out all the international marketing and distribution and theater costs from that gross figure. For a film with this budget it should have done well over $500m in business. At best they barely broke even, at worst there was a loss.

$41m in DVD sales is bad for a tentpole film. That's less than the domestic box office, whereas DVD sales are supposed to be a multiple of the theatrical sales - that's where most films make their real money, not in the theaters. It was supposed to be one of the biggest films of the year, but financially it was a turkey. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe did better than that and that film was widely viewed as a let-down.

[Tempest]

33. It netted over $100 million

That's a huge success by any studio standard.

[anigbrowl]

37. No it isn't. Look at it in comparison to films with similar budgets.

That's about a 55% return on investment. In industry terms, that's only a modest payback. It's questionable whether a sequel would even get that much.

[HopeHoops]

3. It is hard to turn an excellent book into a movie. Take the Lord of the Rings movies for example.

While in some respects I think they did an excellent job, they also spent too much time on imagery and not enough on character development and plot. I say this as someone who has read it far more times than I can remember. Unless you were already familiar with the entire trilogy, the impact and significance of the events would be extremely hard to follow. They also totally overdid the orc armies. Sure, there were supposed to be a shitload of them, but my stepmother accurately described the scenes as "an endless sea of impossibly large numbers".

That said, I liked the movie and I want to see Golden Compass (I've read all three books). We have the DVD somewhere in the house and I haven't been able to find it. Since I know it is here, I won't spend money to rent it or buy another copy. I'm just that way. I'll wait. It will show up somewhere - under a couch or something.

[Touchdown]

11. As someone who's read LOTR numerous times, I disagree with you.

Those books were all about imagery, atmosphere and world creation.

Tolkien was never really a master at character development. I actually prefer Jackson's version of Faramir's conflicted character, as opposed to Tolkien's unshakeable hero, who can resist the ring when no other human can, including his brother and father.

As for plot... let's face it. The story is about a journey. It's an update of The Odyssey. It's not plot driven, it's exploration driven. The films made it more about plot than the books did. The books were about a fully realized fantasy world, where something happens in it.

The films work very well, but they do not distract from the brilliance of the original work. The books are still there on the shelf in the same form they always have been.

I never read GC, but from what I have been told, the religious criticism has been toned down greatly in the film to appease the Catholics, which probably didn't set too well with fans of the books. I still got the circumcision allegory though.

[BoneDaddy]

20. Totally disagree

LOTR fan for 30 years, read it probably a dozen times and I think that Jackson did well. Did he do it just the way I would have liked, no, but given the scope and depth of what he was being asked to deliver, it was wonderful.

Remember it was three movies made at one time and not three seperate movies done over a decade. The sheer immensity of the project and it's ultimate box office success was an incredible accomplishment.

[HopeHoops]

32. Ah, but you missed my point. I loved the movies. That isn't the issue.

The other response so far is also from a long-time multiple-read LOTR fan. Of course we liked it. It was exceptionally well executed for what we were expecting. My point was that it didn't really translate into the realm of non-LOTR fans. Perhaps that isn't a problem, but I was just pointing it out. It is hard to boil something that extensive down to three (granted very long) movies, but they did it well for us fans.

[Warpy]

4. I found it diverting and would have loved it at the age of 8-12,

which was its intended audience, I suspect.

[thereismore]

5. Make the movie elsewhere. South Africa, Australia, or some other enlightened country. nt

[Kerrytravelers]

8. I agree. This isn't the only country that can make films.

[TheMightyFavog]

6. Geolden Comapass was a "meh" in my book.

It cut way too much out of the book, and it royally fucked up the ending.

IMHO, The His Dark Materials trilogy would be better off if it were adapted into a 26-part anime-style animated series.

[Lance_Boyle]

19. What ending?

It was just "story, story, story, story... ok, we're stopping here. Tune in next time to see what happens. Bye!"

[TheMightyFavog]

23. The book ending was exponetaly darker than the movie.

Had one of those endings that was like an emotional kick to the groin when read for the first time.

[Kerrytravelers]

7. I'm not surprised. These people have nothing better to do.

According to the article, the film did fine everywhere but in America.

There is an episode of the Simpsons where Ned Flanders watches all kinds of taped television looking for something to complain about. He sends emails to people who didn't watch the shows in question, asking them to complain, too. Isn't that how it goes? People who don't watch things boycott and complain?

My fundy-fruitcake in-laws were saying that their pastor told them about "Boys Don't Cry." I asked if he'd seen the film. Their response: Why, no, of course not. My response: What insight he must have.

[sinkingfeeling]

9. I absolutely love Pullman's trilogy. I loved the film as well, although the ending wasn't

as neat as that in the book.

[MrCoffee]

13. I thought the film was staggeringly dull

And only grossing $70M in the US (in spite of an international gross over $300M) is not the way to ensure that your sequel is automatically forthcoming.

[regnaD kciN]

14. "Global success"...?

What a joke. The first film was a fiasco that pretty much killed off New Line. If you can't own up to your own failure, whine about censorship, I guess.

[Tempest]

35. New Line was a small fish eaten by a much bigger fish

Just as many small studios have been bought out by the big three studios.

The Golden Compass made money for New Line.

[TheMightyFavog]

15. It is for the best, though.

They'd have to find someone else to play Lyra, as I'm sure Dakota Blue Richards at 15 is a little old for the part of Lyra now.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

21. I enjoyed the book

and thought it was a wonderfully imagined alternative world.

I don't know what the hell the fundies are complaining about, unless it's that a publicly announced atheist has written a children's books.

The movie was only a fair approximation of the book, which is not surprising, given its complexity.

I agree--they should find someone in Europe or Australia or somewhere to make the films of the other two books.

[TheMightyFavog]

24. You'd have to read Subtle Knife and Amber Spyglass to really find out why the fundies are pissed.

The whole trilogy is like the anti-Chronicles of Narnia.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

27. They're in my bedside queue, so I'll get to them in a couple of weeks

:-)

[uppityperson]

26. I understand very well why the fundies are upset. Don't agree but understand

The first book was a fine adventure, thought the movie made me wince in several places (like the non-ending). The second and third books deal with the maker of the universe, god, and all that, in a way that I am SURE the fundies are upset about since it is very anti-Catholicism and Xianism as far as god/God thing.

[cynatnite]

28. I want a second movie!

I loved the first.

[Bluenorthwest]

29. Love the movie, which did very well outside of Vatican USA

[gratuitous]

31. Yeah, right

Hollywood is looking at making a buttload of money by making a movie, and every producer is totally stymied by . . . some religious right nitwits.

In short: Not a fucking chance. There's another reason, and I'll guess it has something to do with someone wanting more money than a producer is willing to give Mr. Pullman and Mr. Elliott him.

[Tempest]

34. Two points

First, this has nothing to do with Hollywood. It's Wales, where the movie was all ready for production.

Secondly, they had the backers to make the movie.

[anigbrowl]

38. Hmm, they have the bqackers but they were scared off by militant catholics? Don't buy it.

[1awake]

36. Whatever the reason,

I am disappointed that it looks like the last two books won't be made into movies. I rather enjoyed the first movie (though the ending almost killed it for me). Granted the book was far better but I think that's normal in most cases.

I also have the series on audio books which I sometimes use while driving.. they are quite wonderful as well.