OpenTube

Why 2007's The Golden Compass Failed

Isenhart Productions

464,994 views

The Golden Compass was supposed to be New Line Cinema’s new cash cow after the Lord of the Rings wrapped up. However in an effort to force the next big thing they accidentally created a monster of a film that failed with fans, critics, and general audiences, receiving poor reviews and losing the studio tons of money.

In this video essay I examine this film, to analyze what went wrong, why it failed, and offer some of my personal thoughts on the movie.

Chapters:

Intro: 0:00 - 0:26
Production: 0:26 - 6:08
What Went Wrong?: 6:08 - 11:52
My Thoughts: 11:52 - 17:03
Conclusion: 17:03 - 18:18

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The Golden Compass’s Lost Ending:

Northern Lights - 'The Golden Compass' Del...

Dominic Noble’s Video:

The Golden Compass ~ Lost in Adaptation

Charles Wallace:

Charles Wallace

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Check out my Letterboxd:

https://boxd.it/5NDWn

Instagram:

instagram.com/isenhart_productions

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Music Attribution:

"Study And Relax" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

"Sincerely" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

"Smooth Loving" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

"Apero Hour" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

"Backbay Lounge" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

References:

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/30/mo...

https://www.newsweek.com/director-con...

https://techland.time.com/2009/07/28/...

Other Misc Sources:

https://www.gq.com/story/did-the-gold...

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385752/...

https://web.archive.org/web/201907152...

https://www.vulture.com/2007/12/golde...

https://archive.ph/navP2

https://www.theguardian.com/business/...

https://web.archive.org/web/200806150...

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release...

20 Comments

@ryanmoore4130 1 year ago Pinned

My only memory of this movie is throwing up in at the theatre when I was a kid

@17absolut 1 year ago (edited)

The Polar bear slappin' another bear's jaw off scene, though...

@BigDaddyJinx 1 year ago

See, this is what I don't understand and never will...why would someone look to secure the rights to a controversial and yet wildly popular franchise, and then decide to cut out those elements that made it controversial and wildly popular? Why bother at all then? That makes no sense to me at all and never will. If you don't want the controversy, then pursue another IP.

@peterburns9861 1 year ago

I never forgave them for the moment when the severed child is discovered. That should have been a moment of horror: instead they Disneyfied it into a tearful reunion with his Mum.

@henrymockingbird9645 1 year ago (edited)

I remember seeing this golden compass aired on TV as a teenager, and I thought it was really a enjoyable even though I never read the books

@nickgotvyak5890 1 year ago

New line be like:
- Let an indie director with a clear vision create 10 hours of cinema for a non-existant blockbuster genre with not a lot of interference (outside of Return of the King cuts).
- Director keeps it true to most of the story and to the vibe of the books, despite them clashing with most blockbuster mainstream sensibilities.
- Those movies succeed
- Look for the next big thing in other fantasy properties.
- Overstep at each possible stage of the production and nutor the property because not mainstream enough.
- Movie fails.
- suprised pikachu face

@sonicfreak04 1 year ago

I love how the movie looks, especially the alethiometer, and the performances of the majority of actors is great.

@timovangalen1589 1 year ago

It failed because they didn't have the balls to properly adapt Pullman's work. The movie should've ended with Asriel killing Rodger to open the portal. Instead we get some cheesy floating off into the sunset bullshit.

@WheeledHamster 1 year ago

The Daniel Craig Polar Bear movie.

@himynameisben95 1 year ago

The power of Pullman's letters.

@mesousagaby740 1 year ago

Ooh, you should do one for Dreamworks' Rise Of The Guardians. It's still surreal how that film flopped.

@Andre_APM 1 year ago

The HBO/BBC adaptation was quite good. Although it's a shame it did not do better viewership wise

@queendsheena1 1 year ago

I agree with you. Studios need to let fantasy films be longer and stop neutering their full potential. Please do a video for Superman Returns, The Mortal Instruments: CITY OF BONE, or Hotel Transylvania 4.

@grassina3 1 year ago

Lee Scoresby is one of my favorite characters from the book, so his treatment in the movie was especially frustrating to me. Sam Elliott really embodied his essence perfectly, it’s such a shame he wasn’t given the right material to work with, and that the rest of the films were never made.

@thatweirdtrekkie 1 year ago

Saw it in theaters with my mom. Never understood why we never got a sequel, I thought it was a great movie.

@Katskii 1 year ago

6:00 "when the Dust settles" ... come on, no one else caught that?? 😂

@twelfthknight 1 year ago

As a fan of the novels since my childhood, seeing a movie pussyfoot around the story was just aggravating and stopping just before the actual best part of the book was unforgivable. As an adult though, I'm now just way more curious to know how the hell they'd do the rest of the series had this adaptation been successful. Like, how do you write around the religious themes that Pullman was explicitly criticizing and still have an understandable narrative?

@Erowens98 1 year ago

If i had a movie ticket for every time a studio sabotages an adaptation because the executives dont care about or understand the story, id never have to pay for theater seats again.

@aissaissbby 1 year ago

I read all 3 books in 7th grade, which was 2007 for me. Same year the film came out. I could not have been more excited for the movie and when I tell you I was livid leaving the theatre, believe me. I remember going to Barnes and Noble with my mother and passionately explaining everything wrong with it and everything that was cut from the books. I went on for so long that a man sitting nearby said “you must really love that book huh?” It was my first real taste of how upsetting a bad book to movie adaptation can be. I also read the Eragon books that same year, so it was a tough time for me in the theaters. (That was also the year the Goblet of Fire movie came out and I felt similarly passionate about all that was left out)