Elliot: “Church Brought End To ‘His Dark Materials’ Movie Trilogy”
Written by Ian Cullen on December 16, 2009 – 11:30 am -
Over the last few decades the Roman Catholic Church has made somewhat of a name for itself as an interfering Big Brother, especially when it comes to movies and television series, that it feels are going against the grain.
Movies such as Monty Pythons Life Of Brian, The Last Temptation Of Christ, and most recently The Da Vinci Code have all faced the scrutiny of the church and weathered the storm. However, the same can’t be said for the Philip Pullman ‘His Dark Materials’ movie trilogy, which began its journey in winter of 2007 with the brilliantly energetic The Golden Compass, which did well enough for a sequel at The Box Office.
The movie, which had an all star cast led by Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman was the debut of Dakota Blue Richards and saw Sam Elliot make a welcome return to the screen as aeronaut Lee Scoresby
Synopsis: In a parallel universe, young Lyra Belacqua journeys to the far North to save her best friend and other kidnapped children from terrible experiments by a mysterious organization.
In a recent interview for The Evening Standard actor Sam Elliot revealed that the Church’s protestations about the movie have put New Line Cinema off of making a sequel.
When the film was released in winter of 2007 was boycotted by The Catholic League For Religious and Civil Rights. Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly also attacked the film and reportedly dubbed it a “war on Christmas”.
“The Catholic Church happened to The Golden Compass, as far as I’m concerned.
“It did incredible at the box office, taking $380million (£235 million). Incredible. It took $85million in the States. The Catholic Church… lambasted them, and I think it scared New Line off.
“I would have loved to have gone after them. I would have liked to have sat down with Bill O’Reilly and talked it out. There are two sides to that coin. It’s a shame as it’s a great trilogy.”
On the other hand Bill Donohue from The Catholic League For Religious and Civil Rights is delighted that the sequel has not been made.
“The reason I protested was the deceitful attempt to introduce Christian children to the wonders of atheism in a backdoor fashion at Christmas time.”
He added: “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. I knew if we could hurt the box office receipts here, it might put the brakes on the next movie.”
From my personal point of view. Speaking as webmaster of SciFiPulse, am with Sam Elliot. I don’t think the Catholic Church or any organized religion shouldn’t be allowed to dictate what movies do and don’t get made. Further more, I think New Line should just make the sequels anyway, and I hope they grow a set of balls and do so.
Ironically the fuss that the church kicked up over Davinci Code actually helped that movie gain more box office, and we saw the sequel to that earlier this year, and I personally think that New Line should take a look at that example and just make the bloody sequels.
Related posts:
- Golden Compass Sequel Not Sure Thing
- Star Trek Takes Solid Number Two Slot At US Box Office
- Proyas ‘Tripods’ The First Of A Trilogy
- Matthew Vaughn Was Interested In Superman Trilogy
- Stargate Movie Sequels Still Possible?
Tags: Dakota Blue Richards, Daniel Craig, His Dark Materials, New Line Cinema, Nicole Kidman, Philip Pullman, Sam Elliot, The Golden Compass
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