When The Golden Compass was adapted into a movie last year, English fantasy author Philip Pullman had high hopes that the other two novels in his trilogy, His Dark Materials, would follow suit. However, Philip Pullman has suggested that accusations from religious groups that The Golden Compass was anti-Catholic may have dented the film’s box office.
Warner Brothers had been banking on The Golden Compass emulating the success of the Narnia Chronicles and The Lord of the Rings, but while the movie was successful in Europe, making $300m, it made only $70m in the US, which the studio put down to parental boycotting of the movie.
The author now feels that it is unlikely that His Dark Materials will be completed as a trilogy of films due to the under performance of the Golden Compass in the US. However, The Subtle Knife has been given a release date in 2009 and there have been reports that New Line Cinema HAS begun work on a sequel.
The director of The Golden Compass, Chris Weitz, had expressed his intention to make sequels based upon the remaining two novels but Philip Pullman informed British media last week that he had not yet been contacted about plans for a sequel.
Still, Pullman said he remained “hopeful” that The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass would be made into films, insisting that it is common for possible films to remain in limbo for some time before a final decision was made.
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