It was not a good weekend for The Golden Compass in the US, with the mooted franchise getting off to a very disappointing start. The adaptation of the first of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy took just $26.1 million, less than the projected $30-40 million, and a lot less than you'd expect from a heavily marketed big budget epic, which had nothing opening against it. By comparison, the first Harry Potter movie opened with $90.3 million, the first Lord of the Rings with $47.2 million and the first Narnia with $65.6 million. It could have been mixed reviews or the Christian boycotters, who objected to the book's questioning of religion, that kept the numbers down, but it was not the triumphant start New Line will have been hoping for, having spent around $180 million on production and a great deal on marketing.
The movie had some relief outside America, with strong numbers internationally. The film more than doubled its US takings overseas with somewhere in the region of $55 million in 25 countries (UK numbers won't be official until later today). That won't be huge consolation to New Line, however, since the studio sold all international distribution rights, making its slice of the pie rather slim. A second and third film have already been greenlit, with the beginning of part two (originally the end of part one) already shot. If New Line decide to forge ahead despite the disappointing domestic numbers, it wouldn't be surprising to see them try hold on to more of the international business, where this film looks set to be a hit, next time.
Elsewhere in the US charts, Enchanted lived up to its title with a third strong week. The film dropped just 35% to $10.7 million, putting it at $83 million in total. The Disney live-action/animation hybrid, which opens in the UK on Friday, has positioned itself as the surprise family hit to beat over Christmas in the States.
This Christmas and Fred Claus also kept a good grip on festive audiences, taking an additional $5 million and $4.7 million, respectively, to put them at $42.8 million and $65.6 million.
The Golden Compass was the only new wide release, but Atonement and Juno did terrific business on limited release. Joe Wright's excellent period drama, which has been less rapturously received in the US than the UK, opened on just 32 cinemas, but managed to crack the top 15 with $817,000. Jason Reitman's glorious Juno, which has been adored everywhere, bowed on seven screens and, with a massive screen average of $60,000, took a total of $420,000.