Golden Compass Flop At Box Office

[Guest ~Victoria~]

I am so glad to hear that this movie was not a success in the box office. God bless.

[Lounge Daddy]

[quote name='Laudate_Dominum' post='1432490' date='Dec 10 2007, 04:24 PM']Here are some opening stats I just gleaned from a website.

The Golden Compass opened at $26 million.
The Chronicles of Narnia opened at $65.6 million at the same time of year.[/quote]

Wow - what a comparison! i guess they were hoping for a similar reception.
Even the NY Times is reporting the por showing, even if they don't exactly connect the dots.

[quote]LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "The Golden Compass," a $180 million family fantasy starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, failed to direct the masses to movie theaters.

The movie underperformed at the North American box office, opening at No. 1, but with weekend ticket sales of just $26.1 million, distributor New Line Cinema said on Sunday.

The struggling unit of Time Warner Inc had hoped the film would pull in between $30 million and $40 million during its first three days.

"It's a little bit disappointing," said Rolf Mittweg, president and chief operating officer of New Line's worldwide distribution and marketing operations.

"The Golden Compass" is not the only big-budget film to stumble at the box office recently.

...

"Grace is Gone" got off to a poor start with $14,000 from four theaters, the latest Iraq war-themed drama to fail at the box office.[/quote]

Maybe they will figure out that most people are simply sick of the atheistic and liberal agenda that Hollywood is peddling. The more that garbage is pushed, the lower the box office. One would think they would get the hint, but those Hollywood liberals are a bit slow.

[st-annes]

I'm not too sure they won't try to pull off a sequel anyway. A lot of movies make more money on video than they do at the box office. I'm sure it could be tipped that way with the overseas audience.

[jeffpugh]

Well, it seems up in the air now. We just gotta do our part and let people know who seem excited about the media hype that it's a story pushing atheism. Grassroots for the win!

[johnnydigit]

awesome. i actually thought the trailer looked pretty good and would be tempted to see if had i not known it was trash. let's still keep pushing for its demise!

[corban711]

controversy about the movie aside for just a moment....cheap knockoffs are still cheap knockoffs and people can tell. trying to rival Narnia was a really bad move and sadly could possibly end up hurting sales for the next Narnia movie. which is really lame because The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was soooo good and I'm sure they will do an awesome job on the next one. hopefully, it won't have an effect on the next Narnia movie

[De_Profundis]

[quote name='corban711' post='1434940' date='Dec 16 2007, 01:48 PM']controversy about the movie aside for just a moment....cheap knockoffs are still cheap knockoffs and people can tell. trying to rival Narnia was a really bad move and sadly could possibly end up hurting sales for the next Narnia movie. which is really lame because The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was soooo good and I'm sure they will do an awesome job on the next one. hopefully, it won't have an effect on the next Narnia movie[/quote]

Not to hijack the thread, but I wouldn't worry about any ill-effects on the next Narnia movie. The Prince Caspian trailer is already out and I must say, it looks pretty sweet.

[SarahB]

I just read that the Golden Compass only made $9 million this week. Looks like it's bombing.

[Laudate_Dominum]

I Am Legend opened at $76.5 million and they showed the new Narnia trailer at the beginning.

[Seven77]

looks like Alvin and the Chipmunks did better. lol.

[Lil Red]

[quote name='SarahB' post='1434975' date='Dec 16 2007, 01:45 PM']I just read that the Golden Compass only made $9 million this week. Looks like it's bombing.[/quote]


[quote name='Laudate_Dominum' post='1434994' date='Dec 16 2007, 02:44 PM']I Am Legend opened at $76.5 million and they showed the new Narnia trailer at the beginning. [/quote] now i definitely have to see that movie!


[quote name='Seven77' post='1435001' date='Dec 16 2007, 03:12 PM']looks like Alvin and the Chipmunks did better. lol.[/quote]you know, the Alvin and Chipmunks movie - i thought it disappointing that it is rated PG. from the reviews, it looked like they added some sexual innuendo to it - why did they have to do that?

[Lil Red]

from entertainment weekly.com:

[quote]The success of the two new arrivals undermined New Line's The Golden Compass in its second weekend, causing the PG-rated fantasy film to drop a steep 65 percent. The film, which cost more than $200 million to make, has grossed only $41 million in the U.S. since it bowed ten days ago. Enjoy this one, kids, 'cause at this rate there's no way New Line is going to get behind a sequel.[/quote]

[Laudate_Dominum]

[zealousrap]

I'm really sick and tired of people who are fine about this movie....saying that it's just a movie and it doesn't matter that it is politically driven atheistic beliefs directed toward children. Yes, it is our job to show them why it's wrong, and our job to catechize people, but I don't think it's edifying to partake in it unless you are a catechist who watches it to be able to authentically point out what is wrong in the message. I'm not satisfied when someone says "dude, it's a movie with armored polar bears". And the whole thing about it being fiction doesn't do it for me either. Christ spoke in parables, and told fictional stories to reveal a greater truth about God. The trilogy of books does the same to posit exactly the opposite.

On a practical level, I will say that there is little chance of convincing the average person not to see the movie or read the books. It's not ideal but it's true. Thus, it's more important to debunk the message and spread it to as many people as we can (ex: many books were written to systematically refute the controversies of The Da Vinci Code).

I will follow this post with an article from Zenit

[zealousrap]

What Every Parent Should Know About "The Golden Compass"

Interview With Pete Vere and Sandra Miesel

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, NOV. 14, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The film "The Golden
Compass" isn't simply about using fairy-tale magic to tell a good
story,
it corrupts the imagery of Lewis and Tolkien to undermine children's
faith in God and the Church, says Catholic author Pete Vere.

In this interview with ZENIT, Vere and Sandra Miesel discuss the movie
adaptation of the fantasy novels written by Philip Pullman. The film,
staring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, will be released in the United
States in early December.
Vere and Miesel are co-authors of the booklet "Pied Piper of Atheism:
Philip Pullman and Children's Fantasy," to be published by Ignatius
Press next month on the topic of "The Golden Compass."

Q: The first movie of "The Golden Compass" trilogy is being released at
Christmas. For those unfamiliar with the series, what kind of books are
these and to whom do they appeal?

Vere: To begin, the books are marketed for 9-12 year olds as children's
fantasy literature in the tradition of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and
J.K. Rowling. "If you're a fan of 'Lord of the Rings,' 'Narnia ' or
'Harry Potter,'" the critics tell us, "you'll love Pullman."

Personally, I just can't see a child picking up these books and reading
them. I see them more as books that adults give kids to read.

Having said that, "The Golden Compass" (1995) is the first book in
Pullman's trilogy. The second book is titled "The Subtle Knife" (1997)
and it is followed by "The Amber Spyglass" (2000).

Collectively, the trilogy is known as "His Dark Materials," a phrase
taken from John Milton's "Paradise Lost." This is appropriately titled
in my opinion, since each book gets progressively darker -- both in the
intensity with which Pullman attacks the Catholic Church and the
Judeo-Christian concept of God, as well as the stridency with which he
promotes atheism.

For example, one of the main supporting characters, Dr. Mary Malone, is
a former Catholic nun who abandoned her vocation to pursue sex and
science. The reader does not meet her until the second book, by which
time the young reader is already engrossed in the story. By the third
book, Dr. Malone is engaging in occult practices to lead the two main
characters, a 12-year-old boy and girl, to sleep in the same bed and
engage in -- at the very least -- heavy kissing. This is the act
through
which they renew the multiple universes created by Pullman.

Another example is Pullman's portrayal of the Judeo-Christian God.
Pullman refers to him as "The Authority," although a number of passages
make clear that this is the God of the Bible. The Authority is a liar
and a mere angel, and as we discover in the third book, senile as well.
He was locked in some sort of jewel and held prisoner by the patriarch
Enoch, who is now called Metatron and who rules in the Authority's
name.
When the children find the jewel and accidentally release the
Authority,
he falls apart and dies.

Additionally, Pullman uses the imagery of C.S. Lewis' "Narnia"
chronicles. "His Dark Materials" opens with the young heroine stuck in
a
wardrobe belonging to an old academic, conversing with a talking
animal,
when she discovers multiple worlds. So the young reader is lulled early
on with the familiar feel of Lewis.

Nevertheless, Pullman's work isn't simply about using fairy-tale magic
to tell a good story. He openly proselytizes for atheism, corrupting
the
imagery of Lewis and Tolkien to undermine children's faith in God and
the Church.

Q: Many Catholics, including William Donohue of the Catholic League,
are speaking out against the movie. What should parents know before
they
let their children watch this film?

Vere: I don't recommend any parent allow their children to view the
film. While the movie has reportedly been sanitized of its more
anti-Christian and anti-religious elements, it will do nothing but
pique
children's curiosity about the books. I'm a parent myself. My children
would think it hypocritical if I told them it was OK to see the movie,
but not to read the books. And they would be right.

It's not OK for children -- impressionable as they are -- to read
stories in which the plot revolves around the supreme blasphemy,
namely,
that God is a liar and a mortal. It is not appropriate for children to
read books in which the heroine is the product of adultery and murder;
priests act as professional hit men, torturers and authorize occult
experimentation on young children; an ex-nun engages in occult
practices
and promiscuous behavior, and speaks of it openly with a 12-year-old
couple; and the angels who rebel against God are good, while those who
fight on God's side are evil. This is wrong. And while it's been
softened in the movie -- or at least that's what Hollywood is telling
us
-- it's still there in the books.

Miesel: Furthermore, there's a great deal of cruelty and gore in the
books, not just battles but deliberate murder, sadism, mutilation,
suicide, euthanasia and even cannibalism. There are also passages of
disturbing sensuality and homosexual angels who are "platonic lovers."

I agree with Pete. Avoid both the movie and the books. It would be best
if people didn't picket or make a public fuss because that's just free
publicity. If the movie fails at the box office, the second and third
books won't be filmed.

Q: The author, Philip Pullman, is an outspoken atheist. Does this come
across in the books and the movie as a secularist position or more in
the form of anti-Catholicism?

Vere: It's not an "either/or" situation. What begins as a rebellion
against the Church turns into a rebellion against God. This then leads
to the discovery that God -- and Christianity -- are a fraud.

The 12-year-old protagonists -- Lyra and Bill -- discover there is no
immortal soul, no heaven or hell. All that awaits us in the afterlife
is
some gloomy Hades-type afterlife where the soul goes to wait until it
completely dissolves. Thus Pullman uses anti-Catholicism as the gateway
to promoting atheism.

Q: The trilogy is being compared to "Harry Potter" and "The Lord of the
Rings." Is there a comparison to be made with either?

Vere: On the surface, yes. You've got wizards, heroines, strange
creatures, alternate worlds, etc. Although for reasons already stated,
the real comparison -- by way of inverted imagery -- is to C.S. Lewis'
"Narnia" chronicles. Pullman, who has called "The Lord of the Rings"
"infantile," has a particular dislike for Lewis and "Narnia." This is
reflected in Pullman taking Lewis' literary devices and inverting them
to attack Christianity and promote atheism.

As Pullman said in a 1998 article in The Guardian: "[Lewis] didn't like
women in general, or sexuality at all, at least at the stage in his
life
when he wrote the 'Narnia' books. He was frightened and appalled at the
notion of wanting to grow up. Susan, who did want to grow up, and who
might have been the most interesting character in the whole cycle if
she'd been allowed to, is a Cinderella in a story where the ugly
sisters
win."

Miesel: That nasty quote is factually wrong on both points. Lewis began
corresponding with his future wife in 1950, the year the first "Narnia"
book came out, and married her in 1956, the year the last one was
published. Susan's problem isn't "growing up," but turning silly and
conceited. She doesn't even appear -- much less get sent to hell -- in
"The Last Battle."

Vere: Thus what we see here is more contrast and corruption than
comparison. Also, the work of Tolkien, Lewis and Rowling is primarily
driven by the audience. It is the average reader who purchases these
works, reads them, and makes them popular.

Pullman's work, on the other hand, appears to be driven by the critics.
The only people I know recommending Pullman's work are English majors
and university professors. I don't know a single electrician,
hairdresser or accountant who recommends Pullman's work by word of
mouth. Thus the books haven't resonated with the average person to the
same degree as "Lord of the Rings," "Narnia" and "Harry Potter."

Q: Nicole Kidman, a Catholic who stars in the film, has said she
wouldn't have taken the role if she thought the movie was
anti-Catholic.
What do you make of this response?

Vere: The film has not yet been released, so I cannot comment on it.
However, Christ asks very pointedly in the Gospels: Can a good tree
bear
rotten fruit? The movie is the fruit of the books and Pullman's
imagination. These are anti-Christian and atheistic at their core. How
does one sanitize this from the movie without completely gutting
Pullman
from his story?

During an interview with Hollywood screenwriter Barbara Nicolosi a
couple of months ago, I asked her whether it was possible to tone down
the anti-Christian elements for the movie. Nicolosi is the chair of Act
One, a training and mentoring organization for Christians starting out
in Hollywood.

She had given the question thought. A few years ago one of her friends
-- an evangelical Christian -- had been asked by her agent to pitch on
the project, that is, propose to write the screenplay adapting "The
Golden Compass" to film.

"We read [the book] and there was just no way we could come in on
this," Nicolosi told me. "Pullman's fantasy universe is nihilistic and
rooted in chaos. You cannot fix that in a rewrite without changing the
story Pullman is trying to tell -- which is atheistic, angry and at
times polemical."

But let's suppose it is possible. Let's suppose Kidman is right and
that the movie has been sanitized of its anti-Catholicism. The books
remain saturated with bitter anti-Christian polemic. So why promote a
movie that will only generate interest in the books among
impressionable
young children?

For the Christian parent, the movie cannot be anything but spiritual
poison to their children -- for the movie is the fruit of the book.