Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Religious fervor about "Golden Compass"?

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Posted by Mike Sellars (Member # 4042) on 12-01-2007, 07:15 PM:

Being in South Alabama as we are, we have gotten more than a few complaints from church groups about our pending release of "The Golden Compass". They range from stating that the author of the books the movie is based on is an atheist and the film is anti-Christian, to the point of the movie is that they kill God at the end, etc. [Roll Eyes]

Anyone else gotten grief for this film? We will show it, of course... but it may come with baggage.

Mike

Posted by Steven J Hart (Member # 2340) on 12-01-2007, 08:12 PM:

A local Catholic priest has spoken to me about the film, volunteering to forward me all the information that he has received about it from his diocese. He would prefer not to see it played in our small community. I'm not scheduled to play this film on the break, so will wait and see what kind of box-office numbers it generates before deciding whether or not to play it.
Steve

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 12-01-2007, 08:19 PM:

quote: Mike Sellars
the author of the books the movie is based on is an atheist

Oh no!

Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 12-01-2007, 09:47 PM:

As I've explained to customers...

Muslims/Jews aren't allowed to consume pork.

So, when they order from Pizza Hut, they order Hamburger.

They don't refuse to go to Pizza Hut because they serve pork.

Likewise with the film.

When you come to the theatre, if you're offended, don't buy a ticket for The Golden Compass.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-01-2007, 11:55 PM:

We've been playing the trailer for several weeks and I have yet to hear anything except for "When is it coming?"

I'm Catholic, so I'm kind of surprised not to have heard anything. But I think it's more because most folks don't give a shit about this kind of controversy. Only a few noisemakers do. The general public at large couldn't care less. If they want to see the movie they will, if they don't, they won't.

By the way, it's the Catholic League, not the church itself, that is stirring up so much racket about this film.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 12-02-2007, 01:46 AM:

quote:
to the point of the movie is that they kill God at the end, etc. [Roll Eyes]

Apparently that's in the book but New Line insisted it not be in the movie.

Posted by Scott McGuire (Member # 4508) on 12-03-2007, 12:11 AM:

I remember reading somewhere that this movie would do well but it also said that it would do even better if the relgion card came into play. As some one in the forums said i am just a projectionist so i'm really not sure.I think it will do better if people make it a contrversial film.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 12-03-2007, 04:23 AM:

When will they ever learn: Controversy = Increased Ticket Sales. It's as immutable as Pi. It ALWAYS has the exact opposite effect of what they want. They keep doing the same thing and they keep expecting different results....just like crazy people.

Just once I would like to see these bishops or Legion of Decency or whoever, come out and promote a film that they actually DO like; tell their parishers to GO SEE a movie instead of only opening their yaps whenever they think they've been offended. You ask a theatre not to play this film, then how about you help boost his ticket sales to compensate and get people to go see the film he WILL be running in its stead. Hmmm....fat chance that.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-03-2007, 09:40 AM:

Now it's official - the Catholic Church is NOT against this film. The USCCB has given it a rating of A-II, which is basically equivalent to PG-13. (The review will show up on the www.usccb.org/movies website when the film is released.)

The USCCB review says the film is not blatantly "against" the church or religion, and that most of the anti- stuff from the book has been excised and/or would probably go over kids' heads. And they address the fear that the film will make kids want to read the books and/or interest them in atheism this way: The movie will provide a good platform for parents to -- here's a novel idea -- talk to their kids about such issues.

It's only the wackos in the Catholic League (not affiliated with the church) that are condemning the movie.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 12-03-2007, 12:58 PM:

Sad, (and not meaning to swing this towards a religious/political discussion) that a leftist group had to create an issue like that - in casting judgement on something that they WANT the rest of the world to believe.

Course, there are a-plenty of leftist groups out there that prob feel the same way on how things should run in general - trying to expose the truth so those exposed issues can be used as tools to be used in their favor with what they believe is RIGHT.

Posted by Blaine Young (Member # 3992) on 12-03-2007, 01:46 PM:

I did an inspection screening Friday in prep for the Saturday Sneak Peek. I didn't find it offensive or critical of any faith. I did find it somewhat confusing - I'm not familiar with the books, and they seemed to gloss over several points in the backstory to help me understand context. I understand some of that exposition may be overkill, but to simply build a world without any backstory and give brief snippets of "this is this" and "that is that" simply didn't help me much.

One thing that really bugged me is that they seem to have this great propulsion technology - fusion, fission or whatever, but still required hydrogen to provide lift. And were still using steam trains. Huh???

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-03-2007, 02:36 PM:

quote: Blaine Young
And were still using steam trains. Huh???

Well, that's just because steam enginges are automatically cool.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 12-03-2007, 05:57 PM:

So TOTALLY, MONUMENTALLY true, Mike!!

Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 12-03-2007, 06:11 PM:

Golden Compass will bomb and it won't benefit from the controversy. It's PG-13 rating will be the death of it. They just narrowed their audience big time. The religious will likely take and may even deserve some of the credit for its failure, but it is that rating that will be most responsible.

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 12-03-2007, 11:32 PM:

Please explain how a PG-13 rating is going to kill this movie? An R rating would of killed this movie, but a PG-13 will only help it. This brings in the older kids/adults and parents still see it as being ok for their children.

This movie will do mega bucks.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-03-2007, 11:50 PM:

quote: Kurt Zupin
Please explain how a PG-13 rating is going to kill this movie?

My guess is he thinks the PG-13 will turn off the Narnia crowd. Which it might -- some of them. But it will bring in the Harry Potter crowd and probably the younger portion of the Lord of the Rings crowd.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 12-04-2007, 12:45 PM:

I talked to one of our managers last night who've read the books and this person said that these books are excellent and no reference was taken towards any religion within these books.

It's going to be a hit since, with this buzz of publicity, the curious will definitely come out to be satisfied and give them an answer.

-Monte

Posted by David Graves (Member # 4069) on 12-04-2007, 07:57 PM:

I think it bombs in comparison to budget- they spent $180 mil on it before prints and marketing even factor in. It'll certainly hit $100 million no problem, maybe $150- but it's not going approach LOTR numbers.

The controversy will be pretty irrelevant in the end. The problem is that the basic premise of the film doesn't make much sense when explained in 60 second tv spots, the books are popular but not widely known, and star power's a bit lacking (Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig opening a movie, eh- sound familiar [The Invasion]).

It'll succeed based on the lack of similar product out there, but it's not going to be the $200m hit that Narnia was.

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 12-04-2007, 08:54 PM:

Monte, anyone who has read the books and finds no reference to religion was simply not reading carefully. The books are quite seriously about religion, especially once you hit the end of the first book.

It's not like C.S. Lewis, where the religious references are allegorical. They are quite explicit.

--jhawk

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 12-05-2007, 04:20 AM:

I have a gut feeling that this will hit 200mil. Only for the simple fact that it has the holiday to work with. With the exception of Alvin and the Chipmunks there really isn't any family movies coming out over xmas.

I know National Treasure 2 comes out but thats not really a kiddie movie, the young ones are more going to want to see the talking animals then Nic Cage looking for Treasure

Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 12-05-2007, 07:37 PM:

quote: Kurt Zupin
Please explain how a PG-13 rating is going to kill this movie? An R rating would of killed this movie, but a PG-13 will only help it.

The higher the rating, the more you limit your audience - its that simple. Please explain how a PG-13 will help? You think people who weren't interested in talking polar bears and what appears in the ads to be a Narnia rip-off will change their mind because it got the 13? Hardly. What will happen, however, is that some parents will keep from bringing their children because of that rating. I've already heard it from concerned moms.

I hesitate to guess a dollar amount, it seems with today's ticket prices you can take a dump in a can and it will make $100 mil, but certainly in comparison to the budget mentioned it will be a bust.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 12-06-2007, 06:34 PM:

quote: Chad Souder
in comparison to the budget mentioned it will be a bust.

..maybe in this country, but think of the overseas markets who has different living standards as we do and thrive heavilly on film entertainment.

Then, you got optical movie disc sales coming up of this movie in the future..

NewLine will get their money back and then some. They're not worried on this one.

-Monte

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 12-06-2007, 10:58 PM:

Monte's absolutely right. I remember when we were Loews and one of the VPs mentioned that the theater they had opened in South Korea had people waiting in line for hours at a time to see a movie several days ahead and they'd bring entire families of 7-10 people.

Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 12-09-2007, 05:36 PM:

Golden Compass was predicted in the mid to high $30 mil range for opening weekend. It looks like it will come in around $10 mil short of that on a whopping 3500+ screens. Maybe the mega bucks will come during Christmas break. [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 12-10-2007, 12:42 AM:

3500 screens is a slightly trimmed down load for a print release these days. Usually, the count hits well over 4 to 5k screens on a very large release. Then, that movie could have hit the 30M predicted mark.

Posted by Anslem Rayburn (Member # 1267) on 12-10-2007, 02:43 AM:

The per theater average of $7,405 is definitely anemic when compared to other big budget films. It's nowhere near the numbers for "Lord of the Rings", "Narnia", or "Harry Potter" in terms of per-theater average. It didn't even beat the average or opening weekend for "Enchanted", and "Golden Compass" cost $180,000,000 to make!

I wish there would have been more religious protest, it might have drummed up some more business for it. I think the protesters may have finally caught on, darn it.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 12-10-2007, 07:43 AM:

I must say the result does not surprise me... ever since I saw the first trailer I've thought it would flop.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-10-2007, 09:10 AM:

When I saw the first "teaser" trailer we got (with the last Potter film, I think) it looked like a hit to me. Then when we saw 10 minutes or so at the convention this fall, my opinion was opposite...it looked kind of dull.

Posted by Brad Allen (Member # 470) on 12-10-2007, 07:08 PM:

Flop it did in the smaller towns!

Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 12-11-2007, 11:53 AM:

quote: Monte L Fullmer
Usually, the count hits well over 4 to 5k screens on a very large release. Then, that movie could have hit the 30M predicted mark.

I'm pretty sure the estimate came with the screen count in mind. Besides, Pirates 3, Spidy 3 and Harry Potter 27 were all on right around 4300 screens at the max, so while the extra 800 matters, a 20% or so increase in print count doesn't match up to the 300%, 400% or in the case of Spider-Man 3, 600% increase in opening weekend gross.

It just really stinks that this has been such a lousy fall and you keep waiting for that one movie to heal the wounds and you get all hyped up for what could be the one and then it goes and stinks up the joint just like everything else and now we're all counting on some cartoon chipmunks and Jason Lee to get our heads above water or maybe another vampire movie. No, it will have to be Nicolas Cage and his sequel to a movie that I personally couldn't figure out why anyone enjoyed. Show us the way home, Nick, you master thespian. We're all counting on you.

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 12-14-2007, 09:42 AM:

quote: John Hawkinson
anyone who has read the books and finds no reference to religion was simply not reading carefully. The books are quite seriously about religion, especially once you hit the end of the first book.

Having just finished reading the first book, I do agree that it is quite serious about religion, but not nessisarily anti-religious. What it is "anti" is corrupt power elite that tries to crush any fact that conflicts with their dogma, and power elites that will inflict cruelty and suffering in the name of their religion. All our major religions at various points in history have done the same. In addition, the book takes place in an alternate universe that is sufficiently different from ours that you can not make any alagorical references between what the church in the story is doing and any real religion.

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 12-17-2007, 04:44 AM:

Well after giving it another week I must say that I was wrong. This just bombed bad. It hasn't even broken 45 mil for the two weeks. I really thought this would of done much better. With Legend blowing up like it did, and another strong weekend coming up this weekend. It really has no chance to break 75 mil.

Posted by Ron Funderburg (Member # 4561) on 12-27-2007, 02:20 PM:

Kurt I agree it bombed and it had little or nothing to do with the authors statements it just didn't appeal to enough people. It was either poorly promoted, not promoted enough or the maybe the film was just bad I didn't watch it. Plenty of good movies don't make money so I just assume that it was one of the first two choices! Come to think about it I didn't have any desire to see it and I usually like this type of film.

Mitchell the book may be anti-establishment but the author is anti God, anti religion and anti anyone that is. He has stated he hates C.S. Lewis as a person that lived and the same for Token he hated their writing and any children's books that has anything to do with anything religious.