There's a real interesting article at Variety I wanted to mention as my last post this morning (more coming later). As you are probably aware, New Line's massive fantasy gamble THE GOLDEN COMPASS opens next week and at a $180 million, it's their costliest film since THE LORD OF THE RINGS franchise ended four years ago. And with the motion captured fantasy movie BEOWULF now beginning to stutter with audiences, you have to wonder if people give a damn about this genre anymore if it ain't based on something written by the big three of Rowling, Tolkien and Carrol.
There's a big backlash beginning to form around this movie. Religious groups are getting angry (60 theatres in the U.S. aren't showing the film because of protests) and some fans of the book have outed their disappointment from things ranging from the film's title (which differs from the first novel), the casting choices, the hammy CGI and the overall approach from a director who has in the past only given us 'light' comedies like ABOUT A BOY and AMERICAN PIE. We know that New Line want this to be a new LOTR like trilogy, but first THE GOLDEN COMPASS has to cross the $300 million worldwide mark, before that could even be considered. ERAGON made $249 million domestic last year, NARNIA made $744 million the year before that, THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING made $771 million back in 2001. Today's question is simply this. Will THE GOLDEN COMPASS cross the $300 million worldwide mark?