"Compass" will pass 70K sometime this week in America. At this point, I'd say that's an under achiever. Not a bomb. Just in terms of box-office. Not cost. New Line are waiting to see how it does in Japan when it opens on March 1st before anything is announced. That's the last territory left for it to play. And from what I read, they are advertising the hell out of it there. Nicole (at the very least) flew there for the premiere. So there is hope. Fingers crossed.

The only reason I can think that Compass won is because there were just a huge number of effects, they had a smaller budget than Transformers, or it was done in a quicker period of time or something. I don't regularly get Cinefex anymore, so maybe an article there could shed some light into what made TGC effects so good, because it wasn't the end result. (They were just OK)

Personally, I can't see at all how Compass should have won the award over Transformers. While I thought the effects in Compass were well done, I really don't see how it's in the same league as what was done with Transformers. Compass didn't really seem to do anything new or special, and the animal effects were hit and miss to me (polar bears great, monkey looked terrible) but the actual robots in Transformers were amazing.

I didn't care for either movie a whole lot, but it seems pretty ridiculous to me.

If you haven't made a mistake about the money made, 70K??? Then the rest is the understatement of the century.

Well of course that was a mistake. More like a typo. It's 70M, obviously.

They had talking animals. Animals don't talk in real life. It's quite an amazing achievement. It's also the same reason Babe won the vfx Oscar over Apollo 13.

damn them animals...

Ah, it all makes sense now! Excuse me, while I hope into my transforming Peterbilt truck. I need to help fight some Decepticons.

Well, "Compass" had a huge opening in Japan. From Variety:

The weekend also marked another success story for "The Golden Compass," thanks to a socko $10 million Japanese launch -- including $2.5 million in sneak screenings Feb. 23 and 24. That brought the foreign cume to $272 million, or nearly four times the domestic take in a performance that underlines the international appeal of fantasy pics.

I don't think the numbers posted that you responded to were ever correct. I've been keeping an eye on it at Mojo the whole time and I never saw the numbers go down.

Japan should put it over 350 million worldwide. I see that it opens in China March 28 which should add a little more.

This film may not have done what was hoped for it but it's hardly a disaster.

It's not a disaster. Just a huge U.S. marketing failure. I watch the box-office numbers daily. Not only Boxofficemojo, but Variety and Hollywood Reporter, and the numbers never went down. As of today the U.S. domestic gross $70,083,519. And the foreign gross is $275,498,269. Total, $345,581,788. It could still earn anywhere from 5-15 million more in Japan. Then, as you said, you have China.

Very little about actual opinions of the MOVIE in this thread... finally saw it last night, and, eh. It was entertaining enough, but much like the first Narnia film, passed right through with really little impact on me. Something cold about it generally that failed to get me interested in anything that happened. Did like the way the daemons were visualized on film though, probably my favorite part of it.

And why cast Christopher Lee in your movie if you're only going to have him speak ONE LINE?? Too much of the "part 1" syndrome in this movie rather than trying to make it a little more self-contained ala Star Wars: A New Hope (obviously you'd have to deviate pretty heavily from the source material to pull that off though).

I never read the books so I never knew what was left out. As is, I liked the finish product a great deal. But I found the following interesting. Good for you Weitz for speaking out!!

From Variety

Weitz digs 'Gardener'
‘New Moon’ director plants next pic at Summit
By MICHAEL FLEMING

As "New Moon" soared toward a $258 million opening weekend worldwide, director Chris Weitz was in discussions with Summit Entertainment for his follow-up.
Weitz said he plans to go to work for Summit right away on "The Gardener," with deals in the works for Weitz and Eric Eason ("Manito"), who wrote the screenplay. The picture is about a hard-working immigrant who lives in Los Angeles and his efforts to protect his son.

Weitz said he will begin production in March or April.

"There are no werewolves or vampires, just a Mexican gardener in Los Angeles," Weitz said.

Weitz also dispelled reports that he would stop directing movies after "The Gardener," an assertion that came from an interview he gave to Moviemaker magazine. The retirement angle got picked up by the New York Post's Page Six late last week.

The report inferred that Weitz's exit was based on the rough treatment he got from New Line on "The Golden Compass."

Weitz did not deny that he had a terrible time on that movie, but said he was reinvigorated by "New Moon." He met his goal to broaden the visual scope of the film from the original while keeping it on budget and not overwhelming the appeal of the core love triangle.

Weitz said Summit and author Stephenie Meyer trusted him to honor the books while adding his own stylistic imprint, something that didn't happen on "The Golden Compass." He added that "Golden Compass" was taken away from him and that heavy-handed editing by New Line eliminated 30 minutes of footage and neutered any of the edge evident in the Philip Pullman books.

"It was an utter violation of my status as a director and the worst thing that has happened to me professionally," Weitz said. While he "bit through my tongue" when that film was released out of loyalty to cast and crew, he was very happy to see "New Moon" surpass grosses of "The Golden Compass."

"I was treated badly, it was almost like they never read the books. They seemed frightened of offending the right. This was a wonderful experience by comparison. I got to work with terrific young actors at the top of their game, and see Taylor Lautner perform so well."

His mind seemed squarely on his directing future and on Depth of Field, the company he runs with brother Paul, who's off directing "Little Fockers." Depth of Field's Tom Ford-directed "A Single Man" has Oscar hopes.

Weitz said he's learning to be careful about swearing off movies in interviews when he's drained from finishing one.

I thought Golden Compass was terrible, so at least this gives me some reason to think that there was a decent movie under there that was cut.

I didn't think it was "terrible", but I agree.

I really liked "The Golden Compass" so I'd be interested in seeing what they cut.

I'm wondering if anyone at New Line read the last book in the trilogy? I'm guessing they didn't since there would have been a shit storm of controversy from religious groups if they had made the third movie.

And Summit continues its rise to becoming a major player in the movie industry.

One series does not make a major player... It just skus their reality. (DOH! It just skews their reality! - To many years in retail and the home entertainment industry.)

Check the number on any Summit film that is not attached to the Twilight Saga.

fitprod

The best part of that article is that he feels like he was a crucial part to New Moon's success. It's like the Harry Potter films: 99% of the audience doesn't know and doesn't care who's in the director's seat--they're going regardless.

more ...

I fell asleep for awhile watching Golden Compass.... hard to believe those magical 30 minutes would've made the difference on that one.

Exactly.

I could have directed New Moon and it would have done as well.