For a few days at least, New Line Pictures will be able to advertise The Golden Compass as "The Number One Movie in America." As the only new big-studio picture out this weekend, it scored an easy box-office victory, but the estimated $26 million take probably falls short of blockbuster expectations. Still, it's a small victory over the Catholic League and other agents of the magisterium, and probably the only one to be had. The Will Smith showcase I Am Legend opens next weekend and will probably make The Golden Compass's gross look paltry. The real battle will be over whether New Line will press ahead with The Subtle Knife. That may be determined by international returns, or even by DVD sales (and since the disc is bound to be an Extended Edition with lots of deleted scenes, it'll probably sell well). Perhaps Phillip Pullman's fans will put on a letter-writing or email campaign to help things along, but I've never heard of that working in the movie business, where you can measure the market more immediately by money than TV networks can. If the sequels aren't made, of course, William Donohue will claim victory. That thought alone makes me think about starting a letter campaign myself.
As an added attraction, here's a recent interview with Pullman in which he discusses the movie and his literary agenda.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment