Seantn

That's not great for Compass. It has a $180 million budget, and after marketing and everything it's more like $250 million.

1. GOLDEN COMPASS, THE NEW LINE 3,528 8,620,000 2,443 n/a 8,620,000
2. ENCHANTED BVI 3,520 2,900,000 824 -41% 76,058,906
3. THIS CHRISTMAS SONY 1,879 1,460,000 777 -40% 39,220,181
4. FRED CLAUS WARNER BROS. 3,185 1,260,000 396 -21% 62,188,608
5. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN MIRAMAX 1,324 1,255,000 948 -11% 25,882,704
6. BEOWULF PARAMOUNT 2,976 1,240,000 417 -50% 72,823,155
7. AUGUST RUSH WARNER BROS. 2,310 1,135,000 491 -36% 22,758,126
8. AWAKE MGM 2,023 1,130,000 559 -49% 8,545,838
9. HITMAN 20TH CENTURY FOX 2,418 1,065,000 440 -45% 33,399,586
10. THE MIST MGM 2,336 785,000 336 -43% 21,632,885
11. AMERICAN GANGSTER UNIVERSAL 2,133 750,000 352 -45% 123,765,185
12. BEE MOVIE PARAMOUNT 2,707 615,000 227 -45% 119,030,393

DRG

Not that suprising, considering all the layers of bad press its getting. You have the religious groups complaining about the atheistic elements of the book. On the other side you have the fans of the book complaining they they took those elements out and watered it down.

chris_sc77

I hope to see the Golden Compass soon but I can almost see someone shitting their pants over at New Line. This was going to be the film to save the studio and it looks like it came in at the very low end of expectations. After the horrendous year New Line has had (with Hairspray being pretty much the only hit release) they were obviously banking on this to become the nest Lord of the Rings.

Even though The Golden Compass will likely have a $30-33 million weekend take those numbers are a lot less then I thought it would make. Maybe it'll have good legs during the holidays but with I am Legend coming out next weekend it could end up only doing about as well as Lemony Snickets 'A series of Unfortunate Events.'
So, for a film that cost almost $300 million (with advertising, production costs, film costs, etc.) this needs to do really well overseas or something to get us a sequel.

Seantn

Everyone keeps pushing the numbers higher. First it was $150 million, then I read a report saying "Well, it's $180 million budget, but with advertising and prints, it's $250 million". Now you say $300 million. What's next, $400 million? This film doesn't appear to stand a chance no matter how much money it makes. There will always be someone stating that it lost money.

Mr. Cinema

It looks like Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman are a dynamite duo. I wonder if any producers are looking to pair them up and go for a third consecutive box office bomb?

Brack

Not that I really care, but it's way too early to tell if this movie is going to bomb. Sure, it probably won't make its money back domestically, but we all know that's only part of the game.

Seantn

I haven't even seen the film, but I thought this was a funny quote on Rotten Tomatoes:
"The best you can say about The Golden Compass is that it's merely the second-dullest Nicole Kidman/Daniel Craig film this year."

Mr. Cinema

It's going to have to have some amazing legs. After ads, the budget is $200+ million. If you've spent that much money on a film, you better be expecting a $50 million or more opening. This won't even come close to that.

Brack

^^^ I wasn't disputing that, but whatever.

Everyone seems to forget that it's December, and movies tend to hold up better in this month than any other.

Daytripper

The box-office in general has mostly been in the shitter these past 2 months. But, like "Stardust", "Compass" will do extremely well overseas. And both will do even better DVD.

islandclaws

I'll admit I'm a little curious to see Golden Compass, but the trailers really didn't do much for me. After the foul taste Narnia left in my mouth I didn't want to get into another film of the same style. Weak acting and bad cg animals don't make a good film, at least in Narnia's case. I expect this will do well overseas where people don't seemt o know any better. Seriously, has anyone checked the overseas grosses for Spidey 3, Narnia and PotC 3? Foreigners seem to thrive on our crap.

Seantn

Right, because Spidey 3, Narnia, and POTC 3 bombed in the US. Us Americans knew better.

maingon

I think Golden Compass will have legs, suprised it didnt do better though, but I dont think the book is as popular as Narnia. I never heard of the golden compass till I heard of this movie, then I read the first book.

Daytripper

Yeah, us Yanks certainly dole out the mulah as well for crap. Just look at some of the titles in the Top 25 grossing movies of all-time I thought "Narnia" was just o.k. The kids were terrible actors and the special effects mediocre at best. The last two "Pirates" films just plain sucked on every level. But the effects in "Compass" are great. And "Stardust" is hands down the best fantasy film I've seen in years. Which was completely ignored by America.

islandclaws

A film's gross is in no way related to the intelligence of the people seeing it nor the quality of the film itself. Narnia aside (since *most* people seemed to like it) almost all word on Spidey and Pirates was that they sucked, yet people still kept going to see them. I can't explain it.

Edited to add: I saw them both and thought the same. Weak stories for two films that took themselves way too seriously.

Drop

Word from critics and internet boards, but that obviously doesn't translate to the average American. If they thought those films were bad they wouldn't see them, and see them again. I for one really like the Pirates sequels, still haven't seen Spidey 3 though.

I liked the Golden Compass too.

Brack

It wasn't nearly as clever or fun as it thought it was. And there was zero chemistry between the leads.

Daytripper

Didn't realize it thought it was clever or fun. I found it to be extremely entertaining.

Brack

And you're not either

maingon

what? Stardust was one of the best fantasy movies I ever seen, I think its better then The Princess Bride.

Daytripper

Um, wasn't trying to be.

Brack

stop, you're killing me!

dlinke01

Stardust was way better than any of these other movies.

Brack

Sorry, I like my fantasy films to be a bit less pedestrian.

Daytripper

Well lah-dee-dah!