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Originally Posted by Thenamir
New Line will have to make $250 million on TGC in order to recover only the expenses and marketing. If in over two weeks of release they've made only half of that, I'd bet a fiver on the wager that they'll not make $250 million. Any takers?  |
Well, taking into account TV & DVD sales I suspect they will turn a profit on it - however, there are things working against a sequel: how much profit they turn - I suspect it won't be much at all, the fact that the next two volumes in the trilogy get increasingly bogged down in Pullman's Message, & while the ending may look spectacular on screen they whole 'death of God' thing itself is a bit of an anti-climax, given that he just whimpers & falls out of bed, & audiences for fantasy movies tend to be teenage boys in the main who won't shell out to see two hours of strange characters arguing about the nature of God & free will. And when you throw the implication of under-age shennanigans between Will & Lyra ....
In short, I can't see New Line, even if they do just go into profit on TGC - & as I say I'm sure they will deciding to risk another half a billion on two more movies - especially as they haven't really turned much of a profit on anything they've produced since LotR.
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Originally Posted by Aiwendil
Now, I don't wish to enter into a debate concerning the Ainulindale. But surely it will be granted that if a negative caricature is possible, so is a positive one. And I would say that neither is correct - the one is a humanist reading of the God of the Torah, the other a Christian reading of the God of the New Testament. Both bring in preconceived notions that derive from other sources than Tolkien's Legendarium.
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OK - maybe you have a point there. But... its difficult not to try & give some kind of character to such a figure, who is both a minor (in terms of his appearances) & major (in terms of his role) character in the Legendarium. Personally I find him annoying because you have an all powerful character who simply will not get off his backside & help those in need - those who are suffering because he chose to create Arda & allow Morgoth in there in full knowledge of the suffering & pain the would result. And why? Because it would redound to his greater glory. The horrific suffering of Numenor could have been prevented by one personal appearance, but he couldn't be bothered to pop up in time in a nice way - he pops up too late to prevent the tragedy of their corruption but in time to drown a good few thousand people.
As I've said before, I don't see any need for him to exist as a character - everything he does could be done by other characters or not done at all. The wrath of Ulmo is more acceptable & satisfying as justification for totalling Numenor than the intervention of a distant God who has finally decided to throw down his Newspaper & spank the naughty children.