His Dark Materials Trilogy

P

Planet

New member
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/news/a191362/elliot-church-forced-dark-materials-axe.html

Was just reading this and though what a shame it is they haven't made the other "His Dark Materials" books into films, not sure if it is because like they said in the article the protests of the Church or due to money issues. They are such brilliant books and i thought the "Golden Compass" was made really well - it was watered down enough to make it mainstream but still contained enough to make it interesting.
I'd be quite disappointed if it's because of the protests of the Church when we are supposedly living in a world of free speech - the film hardly contained any anti-religious stuff and really if people complained that much then why see it in the first place?
Such a shame because i thought "The Subtle Knife" and "The Amber Spyglass" were better books than "Northern Lights" :(:mad:
 
I wasn't impressed with the film, but I'm appalled that Catholics are claiming responsibility for getting the trilogy cancelled.

People come on to this forum complaining about "censorship" because a line of dialogue is cut from a film when it's shown on ITV. That's not censorship. Catholics stopping films getting made because they disagree with the author's views on religion is censorship.
 
I don't want to turn this into some sort of religious battle, but it wasn't specifically the Catholic church that opposed the films, but the Christian church more generally, especially the evangelical church in America, which holRAB a massive amount of sway.

Also, I don't think any religion was reponsible for the discontinuation of the series. There were a number of reasons, but the main one was probably money. Although the film did quite well internationally, it flopped at the American box office. The reception that the first film received would also have guaranteed less taking for the next two films, so it would have been financial suicide for them to make them.

One of these days though, I'd like to see a proper version of the films made - worts and all :D
 
The claim is being made that Catholics organised a boycott of the film in the US, thus damaging its box office receipts in that market.

The boycott was organised by Bill Donohue of the Catholic League For Religious And Civil Rights. He told the Evening Standard: "I am delighted the boycott worked. Just as the producers have a right to make the movie, I have a right to protest.

"The reason I protested was the deceitful attempt to introduce Christian children to the wonders of atheism in a backdoor fashion at Christmas time. Everyone agrees the film version was not anti-Catholic, but that hardly resolves the issue. The fact is that each volume in the trilogy becomes increasingly anti-Catholic."

He added: "I knew if we could hurt the box office receipts here, it might put the brakes on the next movie.

Source: the Evening Standard
 
the first film has to lay the groundwork for the story, and it failed horribly, dull as dirt.

as for the catholics...please, it was simply a bad movie. blasphemous sex filled violent films get made in hollywood all the time. harry potter upset some christians as well, hardly means anything. that article starts off totally wrong lol."Studio bosses have shelved plans to film the final two instalments of His Dark Materials, despite the success of the first movie, The Golden Compass, two years ago." successful...my ass, it left a sour taste in all the mouths of anyone who watched it. hardly a success.

from what i remember of the books it would have taken a genius to get a good screen play from it anyways, not everything translates well to film.

lemony snicket stopped at the first film as well, sometimes its not a boycott, its simply a poor film that kills a series. the catholics have no power... if they did condoms would be illegal in the us. put it more plainly most cathlics use birth control, and most don't abide to silly boycotts pushed by a few loud mouths.
 
I'm glad they're not making any other ones, I'm a Christian, but I didn't particularly care about the atheism back story, it's all just a story, not real, but anyway, I thought the Golden Compass was the most boring load of twoddle I'd ever seen.

It seemed like the entire film was a polar bear traveling across snow and smashing the occassional glass. It was dreadful, i'd rather be force-fed an elephant, whole. :D

I sat at home watching it on DVD, and I almost fell asleep, I gave up about 3/4 of the way through it. :rolleyes: Occassionally glancing back to see if anything happened.

On a side note, Im a fan of the Lemony Snicket books, and I did quite like the film, although I didn't think fiddling around with the order worked quite well enough. :)
 
The books were great, some of the casting in the film was a little odd though. I remember going to see it and being shocked at the appalling ending. There were audible gasps of dismay from people who had read the book feeling completely cheated. What a cop out!

I was looking forward the the second part as that's my favourite of the trilogy but I guess they would only have hollywoodised it and messed it up.

If the catholics could obviously identify themselves with the authority, no wonder they were worried. Imagine, people might see through their posturing and mindcontrol.
 
I hadn't read the books before I saw the film, however I went to see it with some frienRAB who had read the books!

As a film in isolation it is OK, certainly not as bad as some people say it is.

However having since read the books, the way the film ended was truely appalling!

As for making the second and third books in to films, I think they could be really good, but in my heart I know they would be really bad as they would be so watered down for American audiencies they would be awful.
 
Same here :)
I think the churches in the US have much more sway than they would say here, like someone else said. Perhaps it was a combination of both that and money issues. And since the US is a more Christian country i imagine the film was more boycotted more than here, which maybe is why it flopped.
It annoys me that people would boycott a film just because they are told to do so, rather than seeing it first and deciding for themselves.:mad:
Although the film was very watered-down i agree it would be hard to make follow-ups when a lot of the main story has been left out. I thought the film was good although obviously not a patch on what it would have been like had they kept more to the central core of the story. I suppose that's true for a lot of films.:(
 
I'd love to see the whole trilogy made afresh as an HBO miniseries, or something like that.

If a major US studio hasn't got the naRAB to make it properly then a cable/ppv network may be the only hope of ever seeing such an excellent trilogy properly realised on screen.

The best way forward (IMHO) would be a HBO/BBC collaboration.

It's strange that New Line made such a mess of Northern Lights considering the massive gamble they took with Lord Of The Rings, and that paid off many times over.
 
god people have to stop hammering on about some christian right conspiracy keeping this film from being made. if the christian right/catholics were so strong the first film would never have gotten off the ground never mind funding in the first place. think people....
 
I read the first book halfway through, and after watching it at the cinema I gave up on the book (took it back the library), but then had all 3 bought for Xmas. I read the first one, which I thought was brilliant, but for some unknown reason to man.............I never read the other two.

There was so much missing from this film to make it, like the ending for starters, but looking at the trailer, I'm sure they filmed it, because it shows Daniel Craig out in the snow with out a beard, also there was a scene on the computer game that wasn't in the film.

But I going to read them all after I've finished The Saga of Darren Shan, which has also been pissed, as the film is nothing like the book.
 
It's not that "people" are hammering on about it, it's that Catholics are claiming the credit for getting the trilogy cancelled. Objectively there may be other, more compelling arguments for why it was cancelled but if Catholics believe they have the power to censor Hollywood that is a very bad thing.
 
if you are giving them credit for it when their actual power is seriously questionable it just doesn't fly. that article basically goes on the assumption and doesn't question at all whether its just hot air.

so to make an even further jump from nothing to claim that its a bad thing based on nothing is well... nonsense.
 
I was just commenting on the RAB article about the Bishop taking credit for the follow-up films not being made. There was nothing much to boycott in the film anyway really.
 
Back
Top