[QUOTE]Originally posted by catskilleagle:
I saw "The Golden Compass" and thought it was a good movie. It ended as if another one was on the way. It had that "Disney/Wizard of Oz/The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" kind of set-up and story but it just didn't get enough people to check it out nor generate any vocal hardcore fans. I noticed even The Chronicles of Narnia got only three movies in out of seven, though admittedly, the first book is easily the most widely-recognized. I assume today's kids aren't reading those like we did in the 70's.

Jess

Without looking it up, I remember that the movie had a few problems beyond what they made. It was designed to be the first of a series, as the books were a series. But the author wrote the books not so much as a Harry Potter type adventure, but also had religious underpinnings. Some people objected to whatever he was preaching and didn't even want the movie made because subsequent books apparently had even more of it.

The studio had already heard the protests and basically whitewashed it out of the Golden Compass plot, but that didn't help either. The protests had hurt to keep some people away and the readers who liked the books had an altered story, so they were mad. The film cost a lot of money and it lost a lot of money, which ended any plans for a franchise.

Inkworks made an attractive set, nice inserts, but only had costume relics, no autographs. The four stars of the film, Kidman, Craig, Elliot and Greene may have been unattainable at the time. Certainly Greene has never signed for any product. If they had been able to get a couple of them with some of the kids, it might have been enough to push the boxes over. They didn't, no one saw the movie and that was that.

Hitting on a license has to be incredibly difficult. Not only do you have to find a license that resonates with collectors, but it also must be a property that you can acquire assets like autographs, relics/costumes and sketches/approvals for. . .

After writing that I realized I skipped over assets like photos. . .

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
But the [Golden Compass] author wrote the books not so much as a Harry Potter type adventure, but also had religious underpinnings. Some people objected to whatever he was preaching and didn't even want the movie made because subsequent books apparently had even more of it.

Not only that, but the author spoke about how he had written the books as a way to turn kids into atheists. Outspoken, overstated publicity hype? Possibly -- because it came after the Catholic League and others urged boycots of the movie. You can see threads of anti-orthodox-religion in the books if you look carefully, but I can read a political or social agenda in just about any literature. Science fiction and fantasy have often picked themes around "what happens if you take something to extremes." In an interview, Pulman said “Whatever I told you would have little importance compared to what the story itself is telling you. Attend to that, and I don’t matter at all.” As a reading adult I saw a few cases of apparent bias but didn't think they overwhelmed the stories.

quote:

Originally posted by allender:

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
But the [Golden Compass] author wrote the books not so much as a Harry Potter type adventure, but also had religious underpinnings. Some people objected to whatever he was preaching and didn't even want the movie made because subsequent books apparently had even more of it.

Not only that, but the author spoke about how he had written the books as a way to turn kids into atheists. Outspoken, overstated publicity hype? Possibly -- because it came after the Catholic League and others urged boycots of the movie. You can see threads of anti-orthodox-religion in the books if you look carefully, but I can read a political or social agenda in just about any literature. Science fiction and fantasy have often picked themes around "what happens if you take something to extremes." In an interview, Pulman said “Whatever I told you would have little importance compared to what the story itself is telling you. Attend to that, and I don’t matter at all.” As a reading adult I saw a few cases of apparent bias but didn't think they overwhelmed the stories.

Yes, now that you mention it, I believe it was protested as being anti-God and especially anti-organized religion. But that was in the books and it did get scrubbed out of the film for the most part. Didn't stop the boycott though.

You have to feel sorry for Inkworks, who probably acquired the license thinking it was going to be another Harry Potter fantasy series and then finding out too late that they had walked into a controversial minefield. Talk about a property to avoid.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:

quote:

Originally posted by allender:

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
But the [Golden Compass] author wrote the books not so much as a Harry Potter type adventure, but also had religious underpinnings. Some people objected to whatever he was preaching and didn't even want the movie made because subsequent books apparently had even more of it.

Not only that, but the author spoke about how he had written the books as a way to turn kids into atheists. Outspoken, overstated publicity hype? Possibly -- because it came after the Catholic League and others urged boycots of the movie. You can see threads of anti-orthodox-religion in the books if you look carefully, but I can read a political or social agenda in just about any literature. Science fiction and fantasy have often picked themes around "what happens if you take something to extremes." In an interview, Pulman said “Whatever I told you would have little importance compared to what the story itself is telling you. Attend to that, and I don’t matter at all.” As a reading adult I saw a few cases of apparent bias but didn't think they overwhelmed the stories.

Yes, now that you mention it, I believe it was protested as being anti-God and especially anti-organized religion. But that was in the books and it did get scrubbed out of the film for the most part. Didn't stop the boycott though.

You have to feel sorry for Inkworks, who probably acquired the license thinking it was going to be another Harry Potter fantasy series and then finding out too late that they had walked into a controversial minefield. Talk about a property to avoid.

Nothing to do with that - The set had no autographs - only piece works. If Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig had signed this set would have sold. The same with the Twilight film - Dealers didn't want a set with no autographs and at the end base sets were selling for $60+ but Inkworks had folded by then.

If Inkworks had been able to hold on, Twilight might have been their new Buffy but The Spirit, Golden Compass & Twilight (with no auto's) were too many bad calls for dealers to keep buying.

quote:

Originally posted by hammer:
Nothing to do with that - The set had no autographs - only piece works. If Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig had signed this set would have sold. The same with the Twilight film - Dealers didn't want a set with no autographs and at the end base sets were selling for $60+ but Inkworks had folded by then.

Why don't you read my post at the top of the page? I said the EXACT same thing about the set.

We were talking about the problems with the film itself and that it was a failure. Because it lost all that money, there were no sequels, because there were no sequels, there was no franchise. Inkworks bought the license expecting to make more than one set. Who knows? Maybe they could have gotten autographs in the next set. The last card in the Golden Compass ended way before the climax. You remember they couldn't print the ending in some sets because the studios wouldn't allow it before the movie was out. That was one of them. So there might have been another set and they perhaps thought there would be other movies too.

When the movie or show is not popular, for whatever reason, the merchandise has a hard time selling. So don't say it meant nothing. And if Inkworks knew that none of the name cast would sign, or that they didn't have enough money to get them, then it was really folly.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Raven,

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:

quote:

Originally posted by hammer:
Nothing to do with that - The set had no autographs - only piece works. If Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig had signed this set would have sold. The same with the Twilight film - Dealers didn't want a set with no autographs and at the end base sets were selling for $60+ but Inkworks had folded by then.

Why don't you read my post at the top of the page? I said the EXACT same thing about the set.

We were talking about the problems with the film itself and that it was a failure. Because it lost all that money, there were no sequels, because there were no sequels, there was no franchise. Inkworks bought the license expecting to make more than one set. Who knows? Maybe they could have gotten autographs in the next set. The last card in the Golden Compass ended way before the climax. You remember they could print the ending in some sets because the studios wouldn't allow it before the movie. That was one of them. So there might have been another set and they probably thought there would be other movies too.

When the movie or show is not popular, for whatever reason, the merchandise has a hard time selling. So don't say it meant nothing. And if Inkworks knew that none of the name cast would sign, or that they didn't have enough money to get them, then it was really folly.

I don't read everything you post. The Film actually doubled it's money worldwide but as the Makers had sold the international rights they didn't get the money! I'm saying that regardless of the films success (it did well overseas) Kidman & Craig would have sold it. Twilight was a HUGE hit and still didn't sell due to lack of auto's - without auto's the sets were doomed.

Anyway I'm not going to argue the toss over who said what first - I'm sure you were right

It's not a foot race, we can just agree.

I thing i remember from when Inkworks started was the gaurantee of what would be in the box.

I have been collecting since i was a child buying packs of cards and praying that the ones i needed were in the pack i purchased with my pocket money, the anticipation was everything. All this was lost with the Inkworks packs, you knew what you were going to get before you opened the pack or the box and for me this was awful.

I think i was in the minority with that though, most peole seemed to like it and dealers loved it but for me something had been lost and it's never come back.

quote:

Originally posted by hammer:

Anyway I'm not going to argue the toss over who said what first - I'm sure you were right

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
It's not a foot race, we can just agree.

LOL!!!!!