COMPASS & LOTR comparison

[Mister Underhill]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

However I think I know why it failed to crack the US market - it doesn't fit into any of the 'markets'. It isn't a kiddies' film, all saccharin and primary colours. It isn't an all-action sword and gore fest. It isn't a serious 'issues' drama. I'm pretty certain it did much, much better over here as the books are held in such high regard and so it was able to find a way around the stereotypical demands of audiences.

I read an interesting analysis of the gap between the U.S. and foreign B.O. on Compass. One thing they mentioned is that the movie was successfully marketed as a family film overseas, but not in the U.S.:

Originally Posted by Variety

Excuses that fantasy pics often do better in foreign, or that the film's perceived anti-God message was a more powerful negative in the U.S., have a certain truth, but can't fully explain the unprecedented gulf.

It's hard to avoid the conclusion that the foreign indies such as Entertainment in the U.K., Metropolitan in France, Tripictures in Spain, 01 in Italy and Gaga in Japan, not to mention Warner in Germany, simply did a better job of understanding and positioning "Golden Compass" as a family film, and heading off the potential problems in advance, than New Line's domestic team did.

[...] In foreign markets, distribs managed to bring in the family audience -- Armentano says she laser-targeted 8- to 13-year-olds in schools early on -- whom New Line failed to attract Stateside with a much broader campaign. In the U.S., the pic's biggest demographic was young adult males, who came looking for the next "Lord of the Rings," left disappointed and told all their friends not to bother.

The full article is here. I still haven't seen the film, though it's on my to-rent list.