10 Insanely Hyped Movies That Flopped HARD
4. The Golden Compass
Chris Weitz's anticipated adaptation of Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass may have been somewhat profitable, to the tune of almost $200 million thanks to a decent performance outside of the US market, but it fell way below studio expectations.
New Line Cinema snapped up the rights to Pullman's His Dark Materials books in the wake of its success adapting the Lord of the Rings trilogy for the big screen, and no doubt hoped that it would become its next blockbuster fantasy franchise.
Some felt that The Golden Compass has the potential to kickstart a series with the power to rival the Harry Potter saga, but it ended up being nowhere near that magnitude. Reviews were mixed, fans were disappointed by what they felt was a dilution of the source material, and the film crashed and burned in the US market.
New Line's plan was to develop a movie trilogy based on His Dark Materials, though when Golden Compass failed to hit the heights, those ambitions were put on ice.