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Next Big Trilogy movie in the works: "His Dark Materials" : Compass, Knife, Spyglass
I had read awhile back in the New York Times Arts section that the next trilogy to get the film makeover will be Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials Trilogy" books: The Golden Compass / The Subtle Knife / The Amber Spyglass.
Question: since I have long gone threw out the article, and to those who might have read it: what studio owns the rights to this? I would assume it is still to early in the post production phase but has there been any murmurings on who is to direct this? |
Boy, I would love to see Terry Gilliam get a hold of the project.
Those three books, btw, were absolutely wonderful..... |
I just finished the Golden Compass and to be frank I thought it was just alright.
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New Line owns the rights. They've had it in development for a couple of years now, but nary a peep as to a writer, director, or start date.
Given the rather, um, unorthodox conclusion to the trilogy, I'll be surprised if it ever gets made -- and if it does, I doubt it will bear much resemblence to the books. |
Loved the books and just don't see how they could make this into a film...at least not into the film they'd want it to be. Seems like they would probably be looking for a Harry Potter/LOTR style fantasy, but the overarching themes of HDM won't fit neatly into a kiddy fantasy flick.
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One of these 'Big Fantasy Trilogies' is going to kill the studio that releases it. LOTR was special.
Optimism should remain guarded. |
An update on this.
IMDB now has a listing on it: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385752/ Chris Weitz of American Pie and Antz fame is slated to direct (who knows... if the guy who made "Meet the Feebles" can knock LOTR out of the park, maybe we're in good hands.) Tom Stoppard (wrote Brazil, Empire of the Sun,Shakespere in Love and tons of other stuff) is writing the screenplay so we're in good shape there. This is far from a kids' book, I don't really know why it's labeled as such. It's very, very dark and heavily anti-church (not that there's anything neccessarily wrong with that.) I'm definitely looking forward to it, the first book seemed to me like a combination of Harry Potter, the original (and very superior) Neverending Story book and King's "Gunslinger" series. I found it to be excellent and think it will make a great movie. Watch out for this one. |
Director of 'The Golden Compass" resigns...
New Film Setback as Director Resigns By Sherna Noah, PA Showbusiness Correspondent Days after it was disclosed that God had been removed from the script, the movie version of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials has been hit by a setback – the director has resigned. Chris Weitz, who previously directed About A Boy and American Pie, cited the “technical challenges” of making the movie, saying they were “more than I can undertake at this point”. Last week, fans of British author Pullman attacked the director for removing mention of the Church from the film – for fear of upsetting American Christian groups. Weitz’s resignation is the second casualty to be claimed by His Dark Materials, which is being made by the Hollywood studio New Line Cinema. Last month, the Oscar-winning playwright Sir Tom Stoppard found his draft for the project had been shelved. Announcing his resignation, American-born Cambridge graduate Weitz said that His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass would be “an extraordinary film”. But he said: “At this point in my life I am not the right director to bring it to pass”. He added: “The technical challenges of making such an epic are more than I can undertake at this point.” Last week Weitz said that New Line, which made the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, was anxious that the adaptation would fail to make money if it was perceived as anti-religious. But fans of the award-winning books condemned the planned removal of anti-religious sentiment as a “blatant cop-out to the Bible Belt of America”. Pullman’s trilogy examines the corrupting force of religion while relating the adventures of two children on a quest. They end with the death of a geriatric God and the Church itself is described as “wrong and bad”. Weitz, who defended the decision to remove mention of the Church in the movie, will continue in his role as the film’s screenwriter. He said earlier this year: “I regard His Dark Materials as the most important work of my life, in part because it is one of the few books to have changed my life”. |
I just started reading this book and I can't imagine taking religion out of it. I mean, it deals with people's [spoilers]souls[/spoilers].
I'd rather they just not do the movie at all. |
I guess God won't get the Oscar...again
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[QUOTE=Hiro11]
I'm definitely looking forward to it, the first book seemed to me like a combination of Harry Potter, the original (and very superior) Neverending Story book and King's "Gunslinger" series. QUOTE] yeah, I know this is an ooold thread that I am reviving, but it's funny that you mention the similarity to the dark tower series. I'm not quite sure right now, as I just finished his dark materials, but I also keep coming back to a comparison of the two and feel like there are definetly some similarities there. again, a very good series - the last book was great. |
There is NO way a major motion picture studio will do justice to this series, The first two books yes, but to get the third book to film they will have to butcher it or the"Moral Majority' will have a field day. I personally loved the books but they will be hacked to bits to get these films released.
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The Golden Compass
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I'll ignore the rest of the guy's resume and focus on About a Boy. This looks interesting. We'll see how long fantasy can stick around as a viable genre.
Eragon did poorly and I'd say Bridge to Terabithia probably has a similar $100MM budget which it will eventually recoup and surpass. So far the only "wins" are Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Chronicles of Narnia and all those succeeded on the wild popularity of their source material. |
Originally Posted by The Bus
I'll ignore the rest of the guy's resume and focus on About a Boy. This looks interesting. We'll see how long fantasy can stick around as a viable genre.
Eragon did poorly and I'd say Bridge to Terabithia probably has a similar $100MM budget which it will eventually recoup and surpass. So far the only "wins" are Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Chronicles of Narnia and all those succeeded on the wild popularity of their source material. I seriously doubt Bridge to Terabithia had more than a $40m budget, the visual effects accounted for about 10 minutes of the movie, and weren't exactly cutting edge. The movie has made about $80m so far, so its definitely a win for Walden/Disney (especially once the home video comes out), huge? Naw, but quite good. Eragon was a heaping piece of shit that deserved to bomb. Had it actually been a good movie like the other 3 (well each is good to an extent) I'm sure we'd have a new franchise going. |
I loved the book series but I'd be very surprised if the movie holds true to it. The books are very dark, extremely anti-organized religon and not afraid to describe children being coldly tortured and dying. The producers probably softened it up a little.
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Originally Posted by The Bus
...Eragon did poorly...
http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=eragon.htm Worldwide gross: $243,838,453 Production Budget: $100 million Not counting foreign licensing income, dvd sales, etc, etc. |
Trailer is up:
http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/thegoldencompass.html Looks kind of...bland, with bad CGI to boot. Or maybe I'm just burned out on fantasy movies. |
The beginning of the trailer brought back memories of new Star Wars, ugh. It doesn't really look like anything we haven't seen before.
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Originally Posted by Nuff
Eragon was a flat out bad movie but it hardly did poorly:
http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=eragon.htm Worldwide gross: $243,838,453 Production Budget: $100 million Not counting foreign licensing income, dvd sales, etc, etc. |
Golden Compass: Please increase its box office by boycotting!
Okay, as some of you know, I'm coming from the atheist/agnostic worldview. I'm reading Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy to my daughter, and we're both enjoying it quite a bit. We're looking forward to the movie.
I guess I half-expected something like this, but I just got this message in my Inbox... PLEASE, check this out!!! This movie, The Golden Compass, and starring Nicole Kidman is scheduled to come out December 7th and is being pushed as a Family Friendly film. We must inform everyone we know of the real message behind this movie. It is certainly not a film you want your children to see (the children in the movie kill God in the end) and we must not support it financially! The story behind this atheist created movie is found at Snopes (http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp). Please help spread the word about this "anti-God" film! First of all, I'm a bit disconcerted to find that Snopes is being used in support of this kind of movement. Yes, the Snopes article is accurate in its findings. I enjoy reading Snopes for its typically unfailing research. However, I see nothing at all alarming in those findings. How refreshing that we’re getting a fantasy series aimed at children that doesn’t trot out the old Christian symbols and fantasies. How refreshing to get a different worldview! I also wonder, what's the point of these kinds of boycotting efforts? Look what happened with Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ. Protesters drew attention to the film, yes, but it ended up as a classic movie in his filmography and one of the more powerful, heartfelt films ever about Christ. It was completely misrepresented by those who sought to boycott it, because most had never actually seen or judged the film for themselves. I have always been an advocate of actually seeing a movie (or, for that matter, experiencing any kind of media or art) before passing judgment and urging others to blindly follow secondhand advice. Anyway, as always, the controversy did bring a lot of attention to the film... But what's the motive behind movements like these? Is it insecurity? Is it a feeling of collective shielding against ideas that differ from those of the insular group? It's fascinating in a sociological sense. But also annoying. |
My problem with all of these boycotting efforts is that none of these people have seen the film (and will probably never see it), so their point is utterly moot. If they've seen the film and disagree with its message, then by all means boycott it, but these people look like idiots by not having even seen what they are so furious about.
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I never really understood the big deal, since the children that watch these movies would never pick up any sort of religious meaning from it anyway.
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That link doesn't work.
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Talk like that makes me want to see it that much more!
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