Future of 'Golden Compass' Film Trilogy Uncertain Despite Rumors

By Josh Kimball, Christian Post Reporter Sunday, July 20, 2008

Despite its big overseas earnings, the novel-based film The Golden Compass might not be followed by a sequel following its disappointing run in the United States last year due in part to boycott calls by Christian conservatives.

Although director Chris Weitz and producer Deborah Forte have expressed their intention to make sequels based upon the remaining two novels from the "His Dark Materials" fantasy series, the books' author, Philip Pullman, informed British media last week that he had not yet been contacted about plans for a sequel.

"When the first film was in production, I was talking to the studio and to Chris Weitz and producers quite frequently," the British author and avowed atheist told The Independent. "I'm sure I would be now if the sequel was in production."

Similarly, regarding the next film's rumored 2009 release, Pullman told The Daily Telegraph: "I think people were hoping it would be out then, but without the film actually having a production start date there can't be a due date."

Still, Pullman said he remained "hopeful" The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass would be made into films, insisting that it is quite normal for potential films to remain in limbo for some time before a final decision was made.

The first installment of the potential film trilogy, The Golden Compass, was released last December in theaters worldwide following the success of other recent adaptations of fantasy epics, such as Christian apologist C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia" series and J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings."

Before its release, The Golden Compass received heavy criticism from some faith-based organizations for the source material's anti-Christian and atheistic themes, as well as from secular organizations and fans of His Dark Materials for the dilution of the religious elements from the novels.

While the film was successful overseas, making around $300 million, it made only $70 million in the United States, which some attributed to the boycotting of the film.

New Line Cinema, the film's distributor, reportedly commissioned Hossein Amini to write a screenplay based on the second book in the trilogy, The Subtle Knife, potentially for release in late 2009, with the third book of the trilogy, The Amber Spyglass, to follow. However, New Line president Toby Emmerich has reportedly stressed that production of the second and third films was dependent on the financial success of The Golden Compass.

Golden Compass Producer Deborah Forte, on the other hand, has vowed to make the second and the third movie, claiming that they "have to."

"I will make 'The Subtle Knife' and 'The Amber Spyglass,'" she told Variety Magazine this past March. "I believe there are enough people who see what a viable and successful franchise we have."

Based on the first novel in Pullman's His Dark Materials series, The Golden Compass follows a young girl named Lyra in her quest to uncover the reason behind the disappearances of children including that of her best friend. As part of her journey, she uses the aid of a golden compass to unlock answers and outwit members of an authoritative body known as the Magisterium – a term which, in the real world, refers to the teaching authority of the Roman Catholic Church.

With the help of the golden compass that reveals a coded answer to any question asked by the user, Lyra, by the trilogy's end, gets to the bottom of the missing children phenomenon and kills a character called "God."