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I was not familiar with the books this movie is based on so was pretty surprised at what I read about it on Snopes.com. http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp
Seems like a shot in the foot movie now for a small town like mine.
Comments?

This is one of the big hits they think for christmas>>>>>>..

New Line says it is the next Lord of the Rings..... they are very hepped on it. What I have seen it will play well in small towns if the slot and the alterns are favorable.

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Michael Hurley
Impresario

I took a pass on this. I heard the same thing about The Seeker (I'll forgive you if you didnt see it, no one else did either). Nicole Kidman couldn't draw flies if she covered herself in ...... What's she batting now something like .175. Hasn't done anything in terms of boxoffice in years.

These are studios trying to create franchises from less than whole cloth. Maybe they will get lucky and I will eat crow and take the sequel.

Nobody expected NARNIA to be a huge grosser, and look what that did. It definitely looks playable. I will be surprised if it does not do well, if not spectacular.

Rick C.
Transit DIT
Lockport, New York

I think Ms. Kidman can do just whatever shoe likes but she's not the mega marquee star she was. Who is? From what I have seen of the movie: it looks good. Time will tell. I'm more worried about Magorium!

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Michael Hurley
Impresario

Narnia was heavily marketed directly to the christian community. Area churches showed us a lot of the material they received for the Narnia movie directly from Walden media.

I agree Narnia was a hit because of the churches not because it was any good. I was very surprised by how well it did after I previewed it. I didnt think much of the pic then and I still dont but it will be a good franchise. I think Margorium will do well.

Word is spreading like wildfire in the churches about this athiest authored series being the author's answer to C.S. Lewis' Cronicles Of Narnia and for those towns that have a strong church community it is likely to be a loser.

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Bob Allen
The Old Showman

You can't predict how well a movie will do based on what you think or feel, no matter how much experience you have. I'm sorry, but the public surprises us too much. I believe marketing is the key. Research how much dough the studios are putting in. If it's marketed well, it will do well. Yes, we are THAT shallow.

The Golden Compass had, by far, the largest promo preview booklet I've ever seen at ShoWest last year. You could see every pore on Nicole's face. If they advertise it half as much to the rest of the world, it will do incredibly well.

Got my first email from a "concerned" church group about my new theatre playing this film.

Have spoken with the owners and given them my two cents worth about what to do- Play the picture and don't knuckle under.

Why haven't I ever gotten letters about the torture porn like Saw and Hostel? If you don't like a product or service, don't buy it. Don't threaten a business because you object to the product.

What always got me about these threats. Is they will make them to theatres about a specific movie title, but I have yet to see them do it to video stores for the same title. Is it A-OK on the small screen but not on the big screen?

I have lost respect for these church groups ever since the early 80's (and I was very active in church til that point). At that time I was working for an owner in a small town who pretty much stuck with family movies. As his numbers dwindled with the intoduction of home video, he switched to X movies. I could not believe how busy the theatre was with that genre! BUT the church groups spent every night in front picketing. He finally just locked the doors. What discussed me and turned me off of church was WHERE THE H$!! were these people when the family movies were shown---I just get a kick out of hollering about something they don't want in the community, but not supporting what they do want.

My rant.

The difference between Saw lV and the Golden Compass is who the target audience is. This will be a big problem for this movie, and a headache for theatre owners.

We got letters from concerned churches about the Passion of Christ 6 - 8 months before it opened telling us we should not play it and they would have to picket or boycott. No one had seen it yet but someone in some church community told them it was going to be a bad thing and to start a letter writing campaign to theatres to stop it. To complain about something you have not seen nor has anyone else that is talking to you is just plain ignorance.