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"The Golden Compass" sounds like a tank movie waiting to happen. It will also be interesting to see the numbers on "Rush Hour 3" this weekend. Will the general public pay $10 to go to a night showing of the movie, or pay $4 to go rent one of the first two movies? They would probably be better off doing the latter, plus buy a six pack of beer, so the jokes are actually funny...(maybe a 12-pack would be better). :)

Really? I think the preview for Golden Compass looks right up the alley of Narnia and Terebithia (though the latter was a completely different movie than it was sold as), and should make plenty of money.

And while I agree about Rush Hour 3 looking like shite, it still looks to make close to $60 million this weekend. Not too bad.

You could be correct. I'm probably underestimating how watered down the studio versions of Pullman's books will be. Although, I wouldn't doubt that we'll see some kind of media coverage on how they might be 'anti-religion' to the point that Christian families will wait for the Narnia sequel next year.

The media will probably run with it, but from what I've been told by my librarian girlfriend, who has read them, the books don't really get all that anti-organized religion until the third book. Also, I think I read something about the director and New Line reaching out to religious leaders by telling them that they've toned down those elements, as well.

yeah the first two books are powerfully written and fun romps with some nice themes and the first one especially has an incredible ending. There's some anti-religion stuff but it seems more oriented towards Spanish Inquisition Catholic Church type of religion rather than Christianity in general. In the third book though, Pullman goes nuts. He is literally screaming at the reader and repeatedly smashing them in the face with a sledgehammer message of 'christianity is the root of all evil in all the world and in all history and god is dead and it's all a giant delusion, everyone who believes otherwise is a hopeless and love and happiness are impossible in the world because christianity makes the world so rotten you can't have it.' He really steps outside the boundaries of allegory to start preaching and prosyltizing; CS Lewis' Last Battle is subtle in comparison, and nothing about the final Narnia book could be called subtle.

I haven't read the Pullman books-just read about how there are anti-Christian themes that might turn off mass audiences. Thanks for the information about the evolution of the series.

So if New Line is toning down the first book, how far do you think they would go with the third book if the series becomes successful? I've read "The Last Battle", so I'm glad I have something to compare "The Amber Spyglass" too. I'll have to get to the library and start reading.

I wonder if the market is going to reach saturation with "Lord of the Rings Lite" fare soon. Narnia was one thing. But I saw trailers for Golden Compass, Spiderwick Chronicles, and The Dark is Rising in front of Harry Potter, and they seriously all looked like the same movie.

I was juuuuust going to post what Eric said. There's so many of these types of movies coming out, they're all kind of blending together. Add ERAGON, TERBITHA and a slew of what appear to be direct to DVD fantasy fares to the list he mentioned and man, I can't keep em straight. Nor do I want to.

I think, to some extent, it's going to have to do with the built-in popularity of the books. None of them are going to be Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, but I have heard a number of people talking up the Golden Compass books, more than any of the others, which will probably draw them to the theater. But I think the difficulty of marketing a fantasy film is showing this weekend with Stardust.

It seems telling that movies like Stardust and The Golden Compass, which are less marketable than HP/LOTR based solely on the popularity of the books, are going with bigger stars to try and help them draw in an audience. The studios must be thinking that the less popular the series, the more you need Michelle Pfeiffer/DeNiro, and Nicole Kidman, respectively, to get peoples attention.

The evolution in this genre will only take place when fantasy movies for adults, like BEOWULF and Chris and Paul Weit'z STORMBRINGER, their Michael Moorcock ELRIC project, start appearing and find their audience. Most of the bestselling adult fare in fantasy is ill-suited to single-movie adaptation. However, as we speak, Showtime is developing Terry Goodkind's WIZARD'S FIRST RULE; HBO George R R Martin's A SING OF ICE AND FIRE for television. Until they get to the screen, we will have to suffer fare from movie producers who are too dim to understand THE LORD OF THE RINGS was such a success because it gave adults as well as children the power to dream.

totally agree, Ian. I have my eyes on the rights to an adult fantasy book as we speak....investors should contact me ;-)

I think Compass has less to worry about than The Dark is Rising and Spiderwick. Compass is more known, it has Kidman and Craig and it looks like it's much more visually impressive. The Dark is Rising sort of looks like Eragon without the silly dragons.

PetalumaFilms,

If you are serious with your last post, give me some contact info, and we can talk. If you have any connections to an agent, please have them contact me through this post, or else we can talk about other options.

JW

I've got to vehemently disagree with the posters above about the His Dark Materials Trilogy. While it is true that the third book is a messier affair than the first two, it is still an enormously powerful conclusion. And I think, despite its problems, it has the potential to be the most cinematic of all the films.

I am really interested in seeing The Golden Compass (anybody know if they are re-titling it Northern Lights for outside the US?). The cast is pretty solid and the trailer was interesting. I feel frustrated in a way that the film feels like it is being sold as a kid's fantasy, when in reality, the material is deep enough and good enough to make a film that, like LotR, could be an awards contender. If they continue with the trilogy, then Kidman's role in particular has the potential to develop into Best Supporting/Best Actress territory.

Despite my interest in the film, I am not sure that New Line were wise to spend upwards of $150 - 200 million on this book. The storyline is far more complex and demanding than the relatively simplistic Lion, Witch and Wardrobe - the theological elements of the trilogy are a major plot point and really can't be toned down that much or you lose the whole point of the books.

totally agree, Ian. I have my eyes on the rights to an adult fantasy book as we speak....investors should contact me ;-)

Anyone read the Dragonriders of Pern series? Not all of them are as good as the first, Dragonflight (it's not the first in the timeline, but the first that was written). The world of Pern is really, really complex. I know that there's a huge fanbase out there and I truly wish to see this series on the big screen. (on a side note, Eragon is heavily influenced (more like copy to me) by these books. Pern, however, is believable (despite having flaming dragons) and has a really good storyline.)

I can hear the studio executives' notes on Pern right now.

"love the concept, dragons, but can't we get rid of this Thread stuff? I didn't understand it's connection to the plot at all"

"Does the heroine have to be Lessa, can't we make her a teenage boy instead?"

"Can we change all the names? I don't understand why all the riders have an apostrophe in their names."

"Let's add more firelizards, they're cute, kids would love them!"

"Can't we set it on Earth a few hundred years in the future?"

"Why is there so much sex? dragon's shouldn't mate, let's get rid of the queens and the eggs business."

"I don't understand why there are different breeds and colors of dragons, I think they should all be green and black And lots, lots bigger!"

"I don't like the telepathic connection, dragons aren't smart, they are scary, let's make them meaner, it'll be better."

"I think the dragons should look like raptors. With wings."

Yeah I also wonder why Pern has never been made...

Movielock:

the connection between Thread and the story? Thread is the story. Without Thread, there would be no dragons.

What's wrong with a strong female lead? And if it's a boy the studio wants, then go for The White Dragon with the teenage Jaxom as the lead.

I don't recall people having a hard time with Middle Earth's names. And it's a different world, so a different naming system is to be expected.

Surely you haven't read the other books. Fire-lizards play a very prominent role in all but a couple of books.

Again, movielocke, you haven't read the whole series, the events on Pern happen thousands of years in the future after Earth became too small for the population.

I thought we were talking about fantasy stories for adults.

There is only one breed of dragon and there are just 5 colors (gold, bronze, brown, blue, and green) (Ruth is the exception as he is the only white dragon in the history of Pern) And Lessa's Ramoth is huge. At birth, she is taller than the average human. F'lar's bronze, the second largest dragon on Pern, has talons big enough to encage the 21-year-old Lessa.

The dragons on Pern are not that smart. They were engineered to be dependant on human. And about dragons being mean, that is precisely the stereotype Anne McCaffrey was trying to change when she wrote Dragonflight.

As for the look of the dragons, I've seen the illustrations and I have no problem with them. (for your information, Pernese animals have 6 limbs)

sarcasm, polyp. It was sarcastic speculation towards the types of notes Pern would recieve from 'helpful' studio execs. Apparently they did the same thing for Dark is Rising, which has even been retitled now, and has been so radically changed as to no longer even be remotely related to the book it was adapted from.

And yeah. I've read the first fifteen Pern books, about 10 of them at least twice, most of the short stories, and the Menolly books about three or four times, depending. My favorite is probably All the Weyrs of Pern_ Dragonsdawn, and Dragonsong, and my least favorite is Dragonseye.

And Ruth is a terribly smart dragon, but s/he is a sport, and an important exception, but even Ramoth and Mnemoth are exceptionally clever.

I recall, back in the fall of 1998, I saw a film that contained back to back trailers for The King And I and Prince Of Egypt. Comparing the two, one looking as low-tech, boring, and just plain shockingly poor, one seemingly representing the future of animation; high quality, seemingly powerful, and high-class all the way... I started laughing out loud.

After scanning this site, I watched the trailers for The Dark Is Rising and The Golden Compass. Again, I laughed, for the same reasons as nine years ago. The difference in seeming quality, in pedigree, in confidence in the product they are selling, is stunning. The 'Seeker' trailer made me actively not want to see the film. I even read The Dark Is Rising series in elementary school, and I still have no desire to see this stunningly apparent misfire (it's one of several fantasy series that I read back then, along with the MYTH series and the Wrinkle In Time series, then I now remember almost nothing about).

Scott Mendelson

I have pretty vivid memories of reading the Dark is Rising as a kid, it was my Harry Potter, back in the day.

I can't even really muster furyor outrage or really describe the feeling the trailer gives me, a sort of resignation I suppose, it just looks despicable, and everything I've read about the project and direction of the adaptation is nothing short of horrendous. They aren't making the book, only superficially, some names remain the same. Walden Media has done a terrific job with Holes, Narnia and Terabithia, that they got the magnificent Dark is Rising so fucking wrong isn't so much mind boggling as it is completely consistent with just how inconsistent a company they all. Please dear God, let them never actually get The Giver off the ground, I can't imagine that movie in color or with a happy ending--gag.

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