[Sir Kohran]

Compass will certainly make a profit; that's no longer a question. The debate now focuses on whether there will be sequels. I doubt this as, if I remember rightly, the second book is incredibly dull. Very little of interest really happens. Loads of characters and concepts are introduced but the story itself doesn't go very far. There's no epic battles or anything likely to hold the audience's interest. There will have to be some serious adapting to the story if they plan on making anything that will follow on from the Compass films and appeal to people.

As to why it didn't make money in America - I wouldn't put it all down to the religious boycott (though that hardly would have helped). Rather I'd say it was down to a general lack of interest, for whatever reasons.

The Hobbit is almost certain to make a profit. It's pretty much gauranteed, in the same way that Phantom Menace and Dead Man's Chest were both guaranteed to make money - their previous films were very popular with almost everyone. And they did - both made over nine hundred billion dollars. But at the same time they weren't very well received by critics and quite a lot of viewers and their sequels' profits reflect this - Attack of the Clones made almost three hundred million dollars less and At Worlds End, whilst a lot less of an extreme drop, made about one hundred million dollars less. So maybe there is a correlation of sorts between quality and profit.