{"id":991,"date":"2008-03-08T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2008-03-08T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2008\/03\/his-dark-materials-not-quite-dead-yet\/"},"modified":"2008-03-08T14:30:00","modified_gmt":"2008-03-08T14:30:00","slug":"his-dark-materials-not-quite-dead-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2008\/03\/his-dark-materials-not-quite-dead-yet.html","title":{"rendered":"His Dark Materials — not quite dead yet?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
Last week<\/a>, I speculated that New Line\u2019s absorption by Warner Brothers might not<\/i> mean the end of the His Dark Materials<\/a><\/i> trilogy, even though The Golden Compass<\/i>\u2018s underwhelming box-office performance in North America has been widely cited as one of the reasons for New Line\u2019s demise. Yesterday, Variety<\/a><\/i> published a long-ish column by Adam Dawtrey on this subject, and his speculations dovetail with my own \u2014 while adding a few new wrinkles:<\/span><\/p>\n

After its strong start in Japan<\/a> last week, \u201cThe Golden Compass\u201d is on course to make box office history as the first film to gross $300 million in foreign while failing to reach $100 million in North America.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s an appropriately ambiguous record to mark the end of New Line as we know it. Some might argue it sums up the dysfunctionality that led Time Warner topper Jeff Bewkes to decide enough was enough.<\/p>\n

As producer Deborah Forte points out, with a global gross heading for $375 million-$400 million and an Oscar to its name, \u201cGolden Compass\u201d counts as a success by most yardsticks \u2014 just not necessarily for New Line.<\/p>\n

As with all its films, New Line sold off the international rights to \u201cGolden Compass\u201d to a patchwork of foreign indies plus a couple of local Warner arms, in order to pay for the $180 million official budget. So it will reap little reward from the international success, while retaining maximum downside from the pic\u2019s paltry $70 million domestic gross.<\/p>\n

With a downsized New Line set to become Warner label, the intriguing question is now whether Warner toppers will see past the domestic flop and greenlight the second and third installments<\/a> of Philip Pullman\u2019s \u201cHis Dark Materials\u201d trilogy \u2014 \u201cThe Subtle Knife<\/a>\u201d and \u201cThe Amber Spyglass<\/a>\u201d \u2014 based on those boffo foreign grosses.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Warner, the studio behind \u201cHarry Potter<\/a>,\u201d may turn out to be a better home for the Pullman franchise than New Line ever was. . . .<\/p>\n

Bewkes has cited the foreign upside of \u201cGolden Compass\u201d as one justification for channelling New Line\u2019s pics through Warner\u2019s global distribution in future. But a less ambitious, less independent New Line might not have embarked upon a project as bold and risky as \u201cGolden Compass\u201d in the first place. New Line turned to Pullman\u2019s trilogy of British bestsellers to feed the demand of its foreign partners for something spectacular to follow \u201cLord of the Rings<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, the foreign-friendly nature of \u201cGolden Compass\u201d makes it a glaring exception on New Line\u2019s recent slate. Since the \u201cRings\u201d trilogy, its overseas distribs have had to suffer three years of very American comedies, horror and urban pics, with little value in the overseas market.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to imagine the folks at Warner Intl. rubbing their hands at the prospect of more of the same from a downsized New Line. But they might welcome \u201cThe Subtle Knife,\u201d the second book in Pullman\u2019s trilogy, for which Hossein Amini has already written a script, and the final installment \u201cThe Amber Spyglass.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Line\u2019s foreign distribs would certainly snap up the sequels, if offered. If Warner gives the greenlight, the overseas indies won\u2019t get a look-in, but should Warner put the rest of the trilogy into turnaround, there\u2019s a ready-made independent market for the pics.<\/p>\n

One way or another, Forte won\u2019t give up the fight. \u201cI will make \u2018The Subtle Knife\u2019 and \u2018The Amber Spyglass,'\u201d she vows. \u201cI believe there are enough people who see what a viable and successful franchise we have.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I wonder\u2026 if the sequels were<\/i> produced by some company other<\/i> than New Line or Warner Brothers, would the actors who signed on to do the entire trilogy still be obliged to take part in those movies? Or were their contracts specific to the New Line productions, only?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot more in Dawtrey\u2019s column about the differences between the North American and foreign marketing schemes for this film, and how those differences might have affected the box-office performances in those respective territories. For example:<\/p>\n

Take Italy, a heavily Catholic country where the pope himself blasted \u201cGolden Compass\u201d as \u201cthe most anti-Christmas film possible.\u201d The movie nonetheless overcame a weak opening to gross a perfectly decent $15 million.<\/p>\n

Italian distrib 01\u2019s marketing topper Gaelle Armentano says, \u201cBy having a dialogue with the Catholic press we were able to limit the controversy and all that anti-clericalism that was so devastating in the U.S.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think there may be something to this, though how much, I don\u2019t know. What I do know is that it always struck me as kind of odd<\/a> that New Line didn\u2019t even seem to be trying<\/i> to reach out to the religious market the way that Sony did \u2014 with some success \u2014 for the similarly controversial The Da Vinci Code<\/a><\/i> (2006).<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, on a related note, Variety<\/i> also posted a story<\/a> yesterday on the fact that nearly every<\/i> fantasy movie seems to do a lot better overseas than in North America \u2014 even the so-called \u201cduds\u201d like Stardust<\/i> and, well, The Golden Compass<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, I speculated that New Line\u2019s absorption by Warner Brothers might not mean the end of the His Dark Materials trilogy, even though The Golden Compass\u2018s underwhelming box-office performance in North America has been widely cited as one of the reasons for New Line\u2019s demise. Yesterday, Variety published a long-ish column by Adam Dawtrey […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nHis Dark Materials -- not quite dead yet?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Last week, I speculated that New Line's absorption by Warner Brothers might not mean the end of the His Dark Materials trilogy, even though The Golden\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2008\/03\/his-dark-materials-not-quite-dead-yet.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"His Dark Materials -- not quite dead yet?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last week, I speculated that New Line's absorption by Warner Brothers might not mean the end of the His Dark Materials trilogy, even though The Golden\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2008\/03\/his-dark-materials-not-quite-dead-yet.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-03-08T14:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_MwnH1kpbPRM\/R9NPbeco5pI\/AAAAAAAABMI\/PlD1TaVIjOI\/s400\/goldencompass-lyrabears-a.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. 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