'Golden Compass' future tarnished?

Read a couple of interesting pieces of information in the last couple of days that make me wonder if the sequels to "The Golden Compass" may not get made after all.

I originally thought that the overseas box office, which is a bit higher than the U.S. box office, for the film would push New Line Cinema to greenlight the next two films of the His Dark Materials trilogy. In an Entertainment Weekly article (Dec. 21 issue), however, it says that New Line sold the rights to the international distribution, so NL is essentially stuck with whatever the film makes in the U.S. (plus DVD sales). Now I'm not sure how much those distributions rights brought in to New Line and they may still recoup their $180 million production fee, but it looks like that will be cutting it close. It may prove to be too much of a risk to greenlight the second and third films. So there is hope after all.

This brings back to the trilogy that set a new standard for fantasy filmmaking and was "inspired" folks to try to bring "The Golden Compass" to the screen -- The Lord of the Rings. The billions of dollars that LotR brought in paid for the mistake of "Golden Compass," and realizing that they may take a bath in this endeavor, New Line has made nice with LotR trilogy director Peter Jackson and announced that he will be in charge of a production of The Hobbit. This seemed highly unlikely for some time, as Jackson and New Line bickered over the massive royalties for LotR. But things seem to be patched enough that this is going to be greeenlit.

Archbishop Chaput's review of "Golden Compass"

We posted this on our Web site yesterday, but in case you missed it... here's an excellent review of the film from Archbishop Chaput in Denver. He went to see it opening night. Here's one point I found particularly interesting:

Strangest of all — and in striking contrast to the Harry Potter and Narnia stories — is the absence of joy or any real laughter in the movie. The talented child actress who plays the film’s leading role is hobbled by a character that is uniformly unpleasant, rebellious, belligerent and humorless; the kind of young person described by one of my parent friends as needing a “long time-out.”

U.S. bishops pull "Golden Compass" review

Some "Golden Compass" news updates:

* Yesterday, the USCCB yanked Catholic News Service's controversial "Golden Compass" review from the CNS public Web site and from the USCCB Web site. No reason was given for the review withdrawal, although if you scroll down on this blog or click on this link you can get some insight into the ruckus that the review caused.

* The film undersold big box office projections by doing $25.8 million on its opening weekend. While that's a very respectable number, films with a $180 million budget like this one usually need an opening weekend of twice that to build enough momentum to eventually recoup production costs. A weekend of $50 million or more would have caused New Line to proclaim the film a hit. But for those who don't want to see the second and third films get made, don't celebrate just yet. There is still the likelihood that any U.S. box office shortcomings will be made up overseas, which means the second film may still be made. Don't forget that "The Da Vinci Code" did more than $540 million overseas, ensuring that more Dan Brown novels will be turned into films. If "Golden Compass" doesn't do $180 million worldwide, then maybe the second film won't get made.

[12-12 UPDATE: As expected, the early reports from overseas show the film to be a bigger hit than in the U.S., taking in $51 million outside America. So the film has grossed $80 million worldwide in its first weekend. That will perk up studio ears. Don't be surprised to read in the next month or so that the second film will be greenlit.]