Dec 10, 2007 / 09:48 am
"The Golden Compass" fantasy movie, which cast a thinly-veiled Catholic Church as its villain, had a debut weaker than expected in United States movie theaters over the weekend, Reuters reports.
The $180 million film, made by New Line Cinema, sold an estimated $26.1 million in tickets as of December 9. Though it is estimated the film will bring in $28 million for its full opening weekend, it falls short of New Line's expectations of a $30-$40 million launch.
Thomas K. Arnold of USA Today fingered the boycott of the film as a possible cause for its poor showing at the box office. "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.” He also mentions that the boycott reached down to the grassroots level saying, “[s]ome 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," USA Today reported.