His Dark Materials: Will we ever get a sequel?

L

Lilbosnian

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I check out on news about the series every few months to see if they've gone ahead with The Subtle Knife but no luck.

For those who aren't familiar with the series, the film The Golden Compass is the first out of the series and was released winter 2007.

I know the new line had problems but I hope next year they will continue production of the second and third films.

And I still want to see the cut ending of the film. They could at least show that if they are not continueing with the series.
 
the first film was pretty poor, the narrative just didnt work. so i have serious doubts. the plot requires a clear explanatory plot from the start, as the first botched it entirely i don't see how it can be salvaged.

these are expensive films, if the first flops you might not see another for a long time. lemony snicket was also pretty poor...
 
Although nothing has been confirmed, I can't see them making a sequel. The gap between the first and the second would be too long. Also, although it didn't flop (it made $372m on a budget on about $200m), with the reception the first one received, they wouldn't want to take a risk on a sequel.

I would have liked the dark tone of the books kept for the films, but it was obvious that they were aiming for the family friendly market, mainly because it has a child in the lead. It would be very difficult to make a LOTR style film with a 12 year old as the lead character.

In saying that though, the books as so popular, give it 10 years and we might see another attempt.
 
It's a shame they f**ked it up, not least the problems they had with directors coming and going and rejecting Tom Stoppard's original screenplay.

Chris Weitz the director of New Moon (the latest in the Twilight Saga) was the very same director who started on Golden Compass, left and returned later to try and rescue it.
 
I thought it was terrible and hope they don't waste their money trying to make any more of them. The main weak link, along with the actual script being "kiddyfied", was the atrocious actress playing the little girl. Probably the worst performance i've seen from a child actor, and that's saying something!
 
Always thought it would work better as a TV series, being longer and allowing more depth. 18 episodes, an hour each, 6 to each book or something like that.
 
I read that Chris Weitz would of liked to do a director's cut of Golden Compass to put back some of the stuff they originally took out but could it ever be made into anything half decent? I think you would need someone like writer/director Peter Jackson involved with the sequels to get the 'His Dark Materials' franchise back on track, if it is at all possible. Maybe it is a lost cause without a complete remake/recast of Golden Compass.
 
I thought it was flawed but enjoyable.

I think I read somewhere that although the Golden Compass flopped in America, it was successful in Europe, so a sequel isn't entirely out of the question.
 
The screenplay for the sequel is apparently already written but New Line Cinema who hold the film rights are reluctant to fund it because of the flop in America of Golden Compass and the world wide recession.

At the moment I can only see a sequel ever happening if someone else took over the film rights.
 
IMDB says it's budget was $180M, that wouldn't include advertising it, that'd be probably the best part of another $50M, $200m is probably less than it cost. There won't be a sequel, it did nowhere near well enough.
 
It may happen, but I think it's doubtful.

I'll be honest: if the trilogy is ever to be imagined on screen again, I think that it's going to have to be through a British production. Whether the budget will ever exist for that I have no idea.

Why? Because half the problems that beset The Golden Compass were the attempts to dilute the atheistic plotline to make it more acceptable to a wider (read American) audience. Many readers felt that destroyed the purpose of the book whilst the religious right in America felt it didn't go far enough and called for boycotts. So you ended up in a situation where nobody was satisfied.

The other two novels are even more overt in their criticisms of organised religion; if it had been a riproaring success I doubt the studio would have been too bothered by the criticisms from the zealots but because it only just broke even I doubt they're willing to risk it. I think it's too much of a headache for Hollywood to handle at the moment.
 
on the other hand, there are some books that are simply unfilmable. perhaps this is one. i don't buy so much the religious opposition, after all if they were listened to even harry potter wouldn't get made.
 
I agree especially with your first point - that may indeed be the case. As for the second, I understand what you're saying but His Dark Materials actually set out to be a critique of Narnia and other books with a religious subtext, it doesn't just contain 'troubling' elements like witchcraft - in many ways it is a thinly veiled critique on the Church with an excellent plot layered over it.
 
New Line is effectively just a Warner Bros. trade mark as of last year. Its founders stepped down and the production slate was drastically scaled back.

So I can't see them continuing the series and the film rights will be tied up to prevent anyone else having a go.

A shame as the first film looked fantastic and had some fine performances in the adult roles.
 
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