"Golden Compass" Sequel?
It looks like the book burners have scored a victory.
According to reports, New Line Cinema has shelved plans to films the second installment of "The Golden Compass".
Some of the film's actors, specifically Sam Elliot (the keeper of the world's greatest mustache and (my term for him)", Sam Elliot, is not taking the news well. Sam has accused the Catholic Church of pressuring the producers into scrapping the sequels because the source material is thought to promote Atheism.
And...I think Sam is right.
I wrote about the backlash to the Golden Compass when it first came out in 2007. I thought it was a silly argument back then, since most of the criticism was leveled by people who had not even seen the movie.
I still see "The Golden Compass" in the view of an epic adventure movie, rather than a subversive attempt by Satan to divert kids from the Church. Sure, it's well known that Philip Pullman, author of the books, is openly athiestic. And, the final book of the trilogy does portray God as weak and irrelevant.
But, the movie made money. The article states that the Golden Compass made over $380 million worldwide, on a budget of $180 million. If those numbers are correct, that looks like a pretty solid performance at the box office. Money is not the reason that they chose not to go forward.
Elliot said "...I would have loved to have gone after them. I would have liked to have sat down with Bill O’Reilly and talked it out. There are two sides to that coin. It’s a shame as it’s a great trilogy."
I am with Sam - it's a well-written trilogy. Even if you don't completely agree with the belief system, it can be made into an enjoyable movie. Heck, I may not agree with the 'save the planet, we bad humans are destroying it' themes in many Sci-Fi movies (such as the upcoming "Avatar"), but that doesn't mean that I won't go and enjoy the film.
People are taking things too seriously these days.
