Following on from the articles last month on New Line’s financial woes, today’s New York Times takes a look at the importance of The Golden Compass movie to the film studio. Threatened with dissolution by its parent company – Time Warner – New Line’s production president Toby Emmerich acknowledged that if the film is a disaster, the company’s prospects would likely darken, whilst “if it’s a huge hit, I think our stock goes up within the Time Warner empire, and there’s more opportunity.”
The article also chronicles the production difficulties the movie suffered, with numerous changes in screenwriter and director. It says that even with Tom Stoppard’s original script, the religious villains of the piece were replaced with generalised authoritarian figures. The immense CGI cost is touched upon, particularly with daemons almost constantly on screen. It also notes that as recently as last month, director/screenwriter Chris Weitz was still revising scenes in a struggle to clarify the book’s complicated story.
Remarking that whether he will direct The Subtle Knife or not depends heavily on the first film’s success, Weitz says “My whole plan with the movie has been not to think past December 7th. Otherwise I would go completely insane.” Read more.
i’m glad it’s been revealed how much stoppard kept with the religious names for things… i think weitz has been given too hard a time with that. i’m also feeling for him:
new line: no pressure, just our company and your career on the line
weitz: …
I’m in agreement that any anger at the religious elements being taken out can’t be directed at Weitz personally – there’s just so much else going on that he can’t influence. I’d imagine he’d have loved to keep them in, but if it’s a choice between that and having to watch someone else direct the film, most people would choose the same as he.
It’ll be a shame if New Line goes down because of this (although, having put all of their eggs in one dodgy basket and spent an obscene amount of money on TGC, they’ll deserve it if it does all go wrong); they generally make a lot of nice films – far better than Warner Bros’ record…
Ah well, this is the second time New Line’s fate is in upon a fantasy mega-trilogy. Since the last one didn’t mess it up, I’m glad to see the investment in HDM is bigger than it was in LOTR itself.
Somehow I think HDM has more potential than Peter Jackson’s epic.
I think it’s unfortunate that there’s so much on the line. His Dark Materials, as good as the books might be, do not pack the kind of punch that the Lord of the Rings always will.
New Line is a studio with a lot of guts – this is the second time they put themselves on the line for a director that hasn’t proven himself previously… I’m crossing my fingers it works out all right this time as well. On the upside, this will be a more family-oriented film however the sword might swing, and hopefully that’ll bring in a young, eager crowd… if they’re allowed to go see a movie that probably comes attached with a measure of religious hysteria from parents who’ve just heard from someone or other that maybe, maybe, this movie is evil and will convert all children to atheists. You know the type.
It’s certainly a worrying revelation, and I don’t think it should be all Weitz’s burden to bear. As much as I am skeptical about this film’s success, I don’t want to see New Line downgraded and Weitz out of a job due to it.
This is a little distressing for a number of reasons…
Dark Materials is a single story split over three volumes, much as LOTR. Golden Compass, in a way, really only sets up the raison d’etre for the larger story and it is only at the end of Amber Spyglass that we discover why Lyra is the pivotal character.
It follows, then, that many, if not most, of the themes and characterisations in The Golden Compass are going to be difficult if not impossible to make sense of outside the wider context of the whole triology… and no amount of reworking scenes will solve this.
Which means that without a commitment to filming the whole trilogy, the success of Golden Compass will be compromised.
While New Line is to be congratulated for taking on this project, surely anyone in charge should have realised that you can’t treat any of the individual books in isolation and must commit to the whole trilogy. LOTR should have taught them that.
Surely pre-production should be well under way for Subtle Knife. Surely they should have a timetable for all three films, bearing in mind that Dakota Blue Richards may be too old to convincingly play Lyra in Amber Spyglass if the timetable stretches too far.
And what if the film isn’t quite the success New Line expect? Does this mean that the rights to the whole trilogy are released for someone else to make? No film maker would just do Subtle Knife and Amber Spyglass without setting up the vital pre-amble in their own version of Golden Compass (perhaps re-named as Northern Lights as it should be).
Would this mean that a meaningful film version of Dark Materials would be lost for many years?
Under these circumstances, I’d give the rights to BBC TV Drama to make as a TV serial – they do have the script writing talent, filming expertise and the CGI skills – and they’ve already made a radio version!!
Given that Pullman wrote a lot of the story as he went along, I have to disagree. The Golden Compass stands quite separate from the second and third books – you can read it very well in isolation. It reads somewhat differently to the later books as well; I don’t think it’s a coincidence that lots of people seem to love TGC, but aren’t too keen on TSK and TAS (though I think they’re wrong, of course).
I do worry about the sequels not being made however – if New Line’s effort tanks, it’ll sully the waters for decades to come.
Well, you´re counting on catastrophe.
The guys from New Line are no morons. With their heads at stake, then, it´s all or nothing.
I still prefer to keep my fingers crossed in hope they all have made their homework right. You don´t get such a talented crew to stay in mediocritas.
And, from what I have gathered, the film is well conducted, recorded and even edited (you feel that in the trailers. the guys know how to tell a story).
You are being downright pessimistic.
Well Luis, the worry is that even if the movie is a masterpiece it might not get the kind of massive number of viewers it needs to make back its money. I personally have faith in the film, but with the budget it has I feel it’s completely up in the air whether or not it’ll make its budget back.
I think that this film will be fantastic, but they have to stop relying on the big names and look at the main character and what the story is really all about. That is two very special friends and one it taken and Lyra goes on this fantastic journey to another word to save him. This is what should sell the film. Harry Potter watch out!