COMPASS & LOTR comparison

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Alonna

The sequel films that you mention that did better than the first films have one big advantage over HDM. They were well received by audiences. The Golden Compass has gotten terrible reviews from critics. When the first film in a series turns out well, the sequel will tend to draw larger crowds. A good example of this is the Pirates franchise. People went out to the see the second one because the first one had been so good. When the second Pirates film was not nearly as good as the first, there was a major drop off in the box office take for the third film, twenty-five percent less. A sequel's box office take can often be correlated with how well audiences liked the one before it. Given that The Golden Compass received such bad reviews, many of the viewers may choose not to return, leading to a significantly lower box office take.

As I remember Pirates had appalling reviews. When I went to see it people were saying "What are you going to see that heap of rubbish for?" Well, a dose of Johnny Depp dressed like Adam Ant and some big ships was enough for me but... And then same people and reviewers had to eat their words.

And GC has not had terrible reviews. They've not all been 'Wow, this is better than Ingmar Bergman" but they've not been bad at all - most I've seen have been no less than 3 stars and most 4 stars?