Golden Compass kinda bombs

By Thomas K. Arnold, Special for USA TODAY

The Golden Compass pointed south this weekend. It opened with an estimated $26.1 million, significantly less than the $30 million to $40 million that had been expected.
And though it's still too early to tell how the family fantasy will fare in the long haul — this is, after all, the season for family films — fingers already are pointing to various reasons behind the disappointing debut.

Compass, based on a series of children's books by British author and outspoken atheist Philip Pullman, was slammed by some groups as anti-religious. Some Catholic schools even sent out fliers or e-mails urging parents not to let their children see the film, which follows a girl on a crusade to help persecuted children.

Rolf Mittweg of New Line Cinema, which released Compass, concedes that the religion controversy might have had an effect. But he points out, "Historically, that tends to be ineffective — look at The Da Vinci Code. No one was supposed to see that, either."

He notes that the film did better internationally, grossing $55 million in 25 territories, led by the United Kingdom, where it brought in $18 million. Outside the USA, Mittweg says, movies are "not at all affected" by religious controversies.

Gregg Kilday, film editor with The Hollywood Reporter, paints a complex picture. Though church opposition can't be discounted, he says, "to claim it's a victim of religious controversy, there's no real evidence of that, at least not at this point."

The film may have suffered from a general tiring of fantasy films, he says. He noted the poor box-office performance of Stardust, which topped out at just $38.3 million this year. "And while the movie has been treated as a potential franchise, a la Lord of the Rings, in some ways, it was never fated to be like that," Kilday says. "The Pullman trilogy isn't as well known, and this is a fantasy built around a young girl" — not exactly a fit with the genre's core young-male audience.

What's more, he says, "in reaching out to younger females, it obviously ran up against Enchanted."

Disney's princess film, in fact, is holding well, according to studio estimates from Nielsen EDI. The film captured No. 2 with $10.7 million after two weeks at No. 1.

The holiday spirit continued with This Christmas, No. 3 with $5 million, and Fred Claus, which in its fifth weekend shot from sixth place to fourth with $4.7 million. Rounding out the top five: Beowulf with $4.4 million. Final figures are due today.

Despite Compass's lackluster opening, Mittweg says a franchise isn't out of the question. "There are always plans to do sequels," he says. "We just have to figure out how to do them."