The Subtle Knife Movie News

The future of the sequel to The Golden Compass hangs in the balance at New Line following poor box office results in America. See my new lens on The Subtle Knife Movie for the latest news and udpates.

Lyra's Burden

An article in the New York Times today suggests that the success of The Golden Compass movie could affect the entire future of New Line. With a budget of $180 million at stake, the movie could make or break the studio.

Toby Emmerich, New Line’s production president, explained the importance of the production to the studio “If it’s a huge hit, I think our stock goes up within the Time Warner empire, and there’s more opportunity,” Mr. Emmerich said. "If the film is a disaster, he added, the company’s prospects would likely darken."

The promising trailers have all pointed to a success so far, but hardcore fans are already preparing themselves for potential disappointment and the level of expectation is extremely high. It will be interesting to see whether New Line can replicate the success of Lord of the Rings once again. If so, it will undoubtedly set them as the studio of choice for book adaptation for many years to come.

The Subtle Knife Scriptwriting already in Progress

This week, The Manilla Bulletin Online reported that Nestor Nieves, Executive Vice President for International Sales of New Line Cinema, announced that scriptwriting on the next two books - The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass - has already begun.

"They told me last night that they have started writing the script for the two other Philip Pullman novels ‘The Subtle Knife’ and ‘The Amber Spyglass’ from His Dark Materials trilogy. The first novel off that book trilogy was "Northern Lights" where "Golden Compass" was based. The two other novels will also be New Line’s future major productions as well, in all likelihood."

Iranian-born screenwriter, Hossein Amini, will be the key scriptwriter for the adaptation of The Subtle Knife

The Golden Compass Movie

This movie, due to release at cinemas 7 December 2007 could prove to be one of the biggest blockbusters of the year. It is based on Philip Pullman's award-winning book The Golden Compass (entitled Northern Lights in the UK). The story describes Lyra Belacqua's journey to find her missing friend Roger. Along the way, she meets armoured bears, witches and discovers magical instruments which can predict the the truth. The cast is impressive with Nicole Kidman as Mrs Coulter and Daniel Craig as Lord Asriel.

The movie has been waiting in the wings for 10 years since New Line optioned the rights from Scholastic. Producer, Deborah Forte recognised the greatness in Philip Pullman's first novel in His Dark Materials trilogy.

“This project for me started almost 11 years ago when I read the manuscript for The Northern Light, which is the name of The Golden Compass in the U.K. When I read the manuscript for the book, I thought to myself, 'Who is this extraordinary writer?' I had never read Philip [Pullman’s] work before."

You can read the full interview here.