UPDATE: Will 'Golden Compass' Controversy Hurt Film?



By Russ Britt

LOS ANGELES (Dow Jones) -- It's often said in the film business that any kind of publicity is good, but that may not be the case with New Line Cinema's new release, "The Golden Compass."

Scheduled to hit theaters Friday, "Golden Compass" has sparked the ire of at least one religious group, the Catholic League, which calls for boycotting it due to the atheist convictions of the author of the book on which the film is based. It's the kind of action not usually taken against a movie, not even last year's controversial "The Da Vinci Code."

While there is some conflict among various groups in the church over whether the film is anti-Christian - the U.S. Conference on Catholic Bishops has issued a generally positive review of "Golden Compass" - the league says it will press on.

League officials say the bishops' group is basing its review totally on the film, which removes some of the more anti-Christian notions found in the books by Philip Pullman, and it ignores the potential problems future films or the books themselves pose. Pullman wrote a trilogy of books in the series entitled " His Dark Materials"; the other two installments are "The Subtle Knife" and "The Amber Spyglass."

"We don't call for boycotts frequently," said Kiera McCaffrey, spokeswoman for the Catholic League. "We think parents should keep their kids from the movie."

Officials of New Line, a unit of Time Warner Inc. (TWX), did not return phone calls to discuss release of "Golden Compass," which stars Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig.

Box-office trackers aren't sure what to make of the controversy surrounding " Golden Compass." Some say the league's protestations should matter little when it comes to attracting large audiences to the fantasy film geared toward children as well as "tweeners," the group generally 10 to 14 years old.

'Narnia' parallels

"Golden Compass" is part of a trilogy of best-selling books, and has a built- in audience, says Gitesh Pandya, editor of BoxOfficeGuru.com. He adds, though, it probably won't have the cachet as other book-to-film series' of the past, such as "Harry Potter," "Lord of the Rings" or even the 2005 release "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe," considered a more pro-Christian film.

"Golden Compass" closely resembles "Narnia" in that it features a fantasy world that includes talking animals that are the invention of computer animation. That's where the similarities end, as "Narnia's" pro-Christian tendencies and "Compass's" apparent bent toward atheism cause them to diverge.

"Narnia" made $65.6 million for Walt Disney Co. (DIS) in its opening weekend on its way to $739 million in worldwide receipts.

"Golden Compass" should end up at the top of the heap for the weekend in domestic receipts, but that's not exactly a big victory, Pandya says. No other major releases are scheduled for this weekend.

"It could do $12 million or $48 million and still be number one" Pandya said. If it makes it into the $30 million range, that might be considered a victory, he added.

Whether the Catholic League's protests will factor in remains unclear. The league raised concerns about "Da Vinci Code" last year, but didn't call for a boycott. The group's McCaffrey said that film was geared toward discriminating adults, but "Golden Compass" is directed at youths.

"Da Vinci Code" ended up taking in $77.1 million in domestic box office its first weekend on its way to $757 million worldwide.

It would seem the league's conflict with the bishops' conference would mitigate any concerns, but the two have diverged on a number of issues.

The two disagreed on the value of "Nothing Sacred," a 1997 television show in which a priest frequently questioned his own faith. The league staged an advertising boycott and the series lasted only a year.

The bishops' group thought that series helped reinforce faith, and finds value in "Golden Compass."

"Whatever author Pullman's putative motives in writing the story, writer- director Chris Weitz's film, taken purely on its own cinematic terms, can be viewed as an exciting adventure story with, at its core, a traditional struggle between good and evil, and a generalized rejection of authoritarianism," a review from the bishops' conference said.

The bishops aren't fully addressing the issue, says McCaffrey. Filmmakers have watered down the anti-Christian messages in the books, but the mostly young audiences may be inspired to ask their parents for the novels. Subsequent installments are more egregious, she says, and grow to a point where protagonists are called upon to "kill God."

"We've been saying the problem really is with the books," McCaffrey said.

Needing a hit

New Line needs the film to become a hit, if only to finance its estimated $150 million production budget. Unlike its "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, the company has yet to start production on the other two installments of the book series.

New Line produced all three "Lord of the Rings" films simultaneously and it paid off handsomely. An initial investment of an estimated $281 million in production costs for that trilogy ended up bringing in $2.9 billion in worldwide receipts and brought 11 Oscars for the last film in the series, "Return of the King," including best picture.

Analysts say it doesn't appear likely history will repeat itself for New Line, since the "Dark Materials" series doesn't have the same built-in audience. The first installment in the "Rings" series was first published in 1937. Similarly, "Narnia's" first installment hit bookstores in 1949.

The "Dark Materials" books first hit in 1995.

"Golden Compass" is getting lukewarm reviews thus far. Todd McCarthy, film critic for the trade publication Variety, called the film an "impressively rendered but oddly uninviting adventure."

Media By Numbers President Paul Dergarabedian said Hollywood could use a certified blockbuster to close out the year.

The industry's dreams of reaching the $10 billion mark for 2007 - a goal considered after a record $4 billion summer - now are clearly dashed, Dergarabedian said. A more realistic goal would be $9.6 billion, he added.

"Basically the last 2 1/2 months have been down," Dergarabedian said. "If ( Compass does) over $50 million, everyone will be pretty happy."

Dergarabedian thinks the film likely will attract the normal crowds that would come out for a fantasy/action adventure release. There's always the possibility that publicity surrounding the league's protests will ignite the curiosity of others.

"You're going to get a lot of people who don't agree with the message of the film who are going to it anyway," he said.

source: marketwatch.com
 



As usual a few fanatics trying to make other peoples choices between right and wrong 

That kind of thing irritates the hell out of me. *sighs*

On another note: I really would love to see this movie. In fact I may want to see it more because of the reaction of those people. I am kind of perverse in that way. lol

It is for reasons like this and groups like these accompanied by the underlying tenants and few personal reasons and experiences that I fell out of the Catholic religion. 

I asked around my family, and a few of my friends about what they thought of this whole controversy. Take in mind my Father is an Atheist, my mother an Agnostic. However all of the friends I asked about it are what you would call "Good" Christians. None of them said they had a problem with the movie.

Personally I think that the Catholic church and other Christian organizations should look at a calender to check the date. They need to realize that they aren't the only ones walking the face of the earth and they can't stop the progression of our society which allows for this type of entertainment.

I am by no means Anti-Christian my best friend is a born again Christian... so I am not trying to flame. It is just in my opinion that other movies that would go against other Religions aren't protested. Why can't we just live and let live. It is a movie after all it is for entertainment purposes only. People can judge for themselves if they want to watch, instead of reading the next memo some Fundamentalist about some unimportant thing being unsafe for the soul.

I agree about the movie industry wanting the extra attention. But another point that is being overlooked, the Catholics are getting lots of attention also. If they wanted church members not to see it, they could have preached it at mass. And never spoken to the media. Denied interviews, not made statements, not did phone interviews, etc. I think the Catholics want the attention as much as the movie studios.