Not Quite a Golden Weekend

Mon., Dec. 10, 2007 3:37 PM PST by Joal Ryan

Even if the writers weren't on strike, it's doubtful Saturday Night Live's comics would be penning "Lazy Sunday" odes to The Golden Compass.

The $180 million fantasy epic was no Chronicles of Narnia at the weekend box office, debuting with a pedestrian $25.8 million, per final studio talles compiled Monday by Exhibitor Relations.

And no, The Golden Compass wasn't a Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, either. Each of those movies grossed at least $47 million in their first weekends, with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone bringing in $90.3 million.

New Line Cinema was looking for some LOTR, Harry Potter and Narnia magic when it charted a course for The Golden Compass. Like those other franchises, Golden Compass is based on a bestselling series of books. But the comparison ends there.

Unlike the golden three, The Golden Compass arrived in theaters Friday with weak reviews and loads of baggage. A conservative Catholic organization urged a boycott of the film, accusing author Philip Pullman's source material of being anti-God and anti-Catholic. This in contrast to the way Narnia, for one, was embraced by Christian groups (not to mention SNL's Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg).

In the end, The Golden Compass was more Eragon than Narnia (or Harry Potter or LOTR). Eragon, which bowed with $23.2 million last December, was another would-be fantasy franchise that didn't take off, flying dragons or no.

The news wasn't exclusively bad for The Golden Compass, talking polar bears and all.

It was the number one movie of Hollywood's latest weak weekend. It had better success overseas, tallying $55 million abroad, per New Line. And it was a much bigger draw than stars Nicole Kidman's and Daniel Craig's last joint venture, The Invasion, which bombed last summer.

Elsewhere, Juno, the critically acclaimed teen-pregnancy comedy, killed in its debut, grossing $413,869 at seven theaters. Its per-screen average of $59,124 put to shame The Golden Compass' $7,308.

The art-house circuit was where the action was this weekend. In addition to Juno, the sweeping British drama Atonement ($796,836 at 32 theaters), The Diving Bell and the Butterfly ($57,600 at three theaters) and The Savages ($142,449 at nine theaters) were all major players.

Grace Is Gone wasn't. The new John Cusack Iraq War drama got squeezed out, making just $13,880 at four theaters.

Elsewhere, in the land of the lumbering and slumbering top 10, Enchanted ($10.7 million) slipped to second after a two-weekend stay at the top. It was the only film besides The Golden Compass movie to crack eight figures. Its take to date is a big, but not-blockbuster $83.9 million.

The magic of the holiday season—and the overall suckiness of the movie season—helped Vince Vaughn's Fred Claus ($4.6 million) climb two spaces, from sixth last weekend to fourth. The five-week-old comedy has slowly put together a $65.5 million overall gross.

The end times seem near for the month-old Beowulf (fifth place, $4.5 million; $76.1 million overall) and the quickly dissipating The Mist (10th place, $2.6 million; 23.5 million overall).

Among the films falling out of the top 10: Bee Movie, which banked $2.6 million for a less than buzzworth $121 million overall; and American Gangster, which took in another $2.5 million, and distinguished itself with a $125.6 million-grossing run.

Here's a recap of the top-grossing weekend films based on final Friday-Sunday figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

1. The Golden Compass, $25.8 million
2. Enchanted, $10.7 million
3. This Christmas, $5 million
4. Fred Claus, $4.7 million
5. Beowulf, $4.5 million
6. No Country for Old Men, $4.1 million
7. August Rush, $3.51 million
8. Hitman, $3.49 million
9. Awake, $3.3 million
10. The Mist, $2.6 million