COMPASS & LOTR comparison

[davem]

Another perspective:
http://www.kansascity.com/entertainm...ry/418711.html

No doubt the film’s unspectacular performance was satisfying to the critics who claimed that Pullman’s books for teen readers were pushing an atheist agenda.

But don’t break out the Communion wine just yet.

“The Golden Compass” opened poorly in large part because Pullman’s books aren’t that widely read in this country. Unlike a comic book movie based on universally recognized characters, the Materials series was an unknown quantity for most American moviegoers.

But how a film fares in the U.S. is only part of the picture. “The Golden Compass” has done quite well in other countries where the novels are popular.

In fact, at theaters abroad the film did three times the business it did in America, racking up $90 million in two weeks.

“The action-fantasy should remain a respectable, rather than blockbuster, player among families through the holiday season,” according to Variety’s prediction.

By the time “The Golden Compass” ends its run in theaters and starts cleaning up on DVD (which is where most movies really make a profit nowadays), the folks at New Line may very well have the financial incentive to plow ahead with the second film.

I mention all this because it hammers home a fact: Hollywood isn’t interested in movies that are of interest only to Americans.

Before green-lighting any production, studio execs analyze the likely success of a film in foreign markets. The bigger the proposed budget, the more important it is that the finished movie appeal to audiences in Asia, Europe, South America … everywhere people watch movies.

This has a profound impact on the sort of films that get made.

So, maybe the DVD sales - the worldwide DVD sales - could swing it & there could be a (maybe less lavish) sequel....

It all leads to the big question - why did TGC flop in the US & fly in the rest of the world?

And, of course, the ROW is a lot bigger than the US, & its entirely possible for a movie to do zero business in America & still make massive profits. Or in other words, what we might see is a Subrtle Knife movie that gets a massive world-wide release, but only a limited release in the US....

Of course its only very very slightly possible we'll see a SK movie, but not likely. New Line haven't announced the sequel yet, but surely they'd want it in cinemas in 2009 - avoiding the 2010/2011 releases of TH & its sequel - so they hardly have time unless they start virtually straight away (they were filming in Oxford last year when we were there for Oxonmoot in September, so principal photography would have to be done this year). Still, maybe its not all doom & gloom for NL on the TGC front....