^I would like to see the sequels get made but I think it will be a long shot for that to happen. LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS made over $200 million worldwide and that never got a sequel so I dont see another chapter of this saga hitting theatres. Hope I am wrong though.

When I saw it, I was a bit amazed that the audience was composed mostly of adults, and that through out the movie (at the appropriate times, BTW) there was gruff, male laughter coming from a particular group in the theater.

OK, I read the books quite awhile ago, I saw the movie and didn't much like it. I reread TGC (haven't reread the others yet), and saw the movie again because I had another free ticket I didn't want to go to waste.

I must say, I was very pleasantly surprised to see that I liked the movie a whole lot more the second time around. I found myself smiling and responding emotionally much more than the first time. It didn't seem as rushed as I thought the first time and the changes they made from the book all seemed to make sense or at least didn't really hurt it much, if at all. I could see why they made the changes. Even the cut off ending I didn't think was bad because

I still think the film could have been 20-30 minutes longer and I'm still hoping for a longer cut on the DVD. But I'm upgrading my initial **½/**** to ***¼/****.

Most surprising of all: I went to the 3:00pm show this afternoon and expected to be almost alone. To my surprise there were about 100 people in the theater. Lots of adults with kids but mostly adults without kids. Maybe more people are getting around to seeing it now that the holidays are over and after seeing other movies they wanted to see more. Granted it was on three screens at this theater when it opened and is on only one now but still that seems quite good for a weekday matinee showing of a movie that's been playing almost a month, even if it is the day after New Year's.

I very, very much want Parts 2 and 3 now.

Oh, and Dakota Blue Richards' performance is near perfect. A lot better than the Harry Potter kids were in their first. They must make the sequels before she gets too old!

Wow movielib! I'm glad you gave it another chance.

Didn't New Line sell the foreign rights? I don't think they are benefiting a whole lot from the foreign numbers. I think the DVD sales and any legs it shows now in theaters will be what decides if this gets a sequel. I personally hope so.

So how much would The Golden Compass have made if the boycott hadn't increased it's box office?

I don't know. I've seen contradictory things about the foreign rights - they sold them, they sold part of them. Nowhere have I seen what they supposedly got for them. I'm quite certain they didn't give then away.

But let's assume they sold them for a lot less than they are making. That wouldn't change what they would learn from it: that there's a lot of money in the foreign market for the sequels and that they wouldn't have to sell those rights. It seems to me that whether or not they sold them and for how much shouldn't affect a decision on the sequels (although maybe they're kicking themselves in the butt now if they sold the rights to TGC too cheaply).

Also, it does seem to be showing some surprising, if modest, legs. It is still steadily pulling in over a million a day domestically and that adds up. I think it will end up at $70-$75 million, outside chance for $80 million. And I could be wrong but I think it will do very well on DVD. I think there's enough interest that a lot of people who skipped it in the theaters for whatever reason will want to see it eventually. After they see it on DVD, more will want to see the sequels in the theaters. I'm not comparing it to LOTR (for which each film did progressively better) certainly, but it's a hell of a lot better than Eragon.

I think New Line sold the rights to its own companies. I'm not sure either. Even if they sold the rights, I'm sure they still got a cut of things.

This is from the-numbers.com:

Total US Gross $65,666,000
International Gross $298,500,000
Worldwide Gross $364,166,000

Im pretty sure there were threads already created concerning Golden Compass' award for best Special Effects at the Oscar. I think nothing more better to post it than this thread. Nevertheless, the movie's box office have never hit $70mil yet...


Oh geez... the special effects of this film is not that good.. I wonder what alcohol did the Oscar judges took in viewing this film. If they only read this and the title thread...

given the lacklustre domestic BO returns wouldn't it dawn on New Line to fess up with the studio cutting of the film and let Weis release his cut of the film on DVD as such. New Line seems to be completely aloof about this.

But after the Oscar win and International box office returns.. dont you think that Newline will stop? I highly doubt

that's why I'm not renting or purchasing the upcoming DVD/Bluray - I'm sure New Line has something up it's sleeve.

Please correct me if I'm wrong. My understanding is that Weis never even wrote a script - much less filmed an alternate version - that represents anything close to an adequate adaptation of the themes and critiques of organized religion and religiosity in the novels. Certainly, nothing that would be anywhere near acceptable to fans of the novels. This understanding is derived from the many articles and interviews (most of which have been linked to in this thread) that clearly indicate that this film was intended to be a watered-down, bowdlerized, de-controversified and completely sanitized version from the get-go. And that's essentially what got Weis the job.

Just read the frickin' books and allow this pathetic film the anonymity it deserves.

The anti-christain alcohol that is served in Hollywood and San Fransico.

Weird, now almost a month and a half later, the box office gross is actually lower, at the-numbers and at box office mojo. The numbers reports it as 323 million worldwide, and Box Office Mojo reports 330 million worldwide.


Total US Gross $69,990,336
International Gross $253,600,000
Worldwide Gross $323,590,336

That's from all the refunds issued. I asked for one.

I still can't believe the movie won an oscar for visual effects. Hell, the effects in Stardust were better. And for it to beat Transformers, it's just mind boggling.

While some things were tweaked, I felt like the movie did alright with the adaptation. Unless I'm remembering incorrectly, wasn't most of the commentary on organized religion found in the second two books? I know there were some things in those that I would be shocked to see left in a current kid's movie.

I agree. Transformers should have won.

Oh come on now, let's not get crazy. "Transformers" was a fun movie for sure. But did it deserve to win ANY awards? And you know I loved "Stardust" from other theads, but no way were the special effects better than "Compass". I think the award went to the right film.

Yes, for effects. I didn't like Transformers or even think it was a fun movie, but I do think the effects were great.

The effects in The Golden Compass were absolutely atrocious. As for Transformers, how could you not award those effects? They blended seamlessly with the live action, and the robots felt like they had actual weight and physics to them. From a purely technical level, seeing Transformers for the first time in the theater was like seeing Jurassic Park for the first time in the theater. By contrast, the effects in The Golden Compass looked like something that would have been done in 1995.

Like I said in the Oscars thread, at times the Transformers were way too fast, or too much was going on, and that might've turned off some members. Or the vote was split between Transformers and Pirates.

Either way, I thought TGC's effects looked terrific (they looked seamless to me). Almost anything this past year looked better than Stardust.

I think atrocious is an unfair word. I agree with Brack, the effects in "Transformers" were way too busy at times. They were great, but they hardly knocked my socks off. I thought the effects in "Compass" were beautiful, colorful and magical. Sometimes haunting. Like the witches flying above and during the battle scene. Didn't it also win the best special effects at the British Academy Awards?

I seems to me that POTC and Transformers split the vote, giving TGC a win. I didn't find the effects as bad as people are saying in this movie, maybe I was just caught up in it.

Does anybody else think that the sequal could be made. It may have bombed in america but over seas this film was huge and I have a feeling that the DVD will be big for this in the states and around the world.