Oh, yes!

December 7, 2007, I may very well be in the theatre--I who never go on opening night. But this is for His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials: Northern Lights in Britain), and I've just seen the trailer tonight and it looks lovely.

Here is the trailer (a bit dark on YouTube)



I'm interested in what they do with the philosophical and religious elements in the movie. The director, Chris Weitz--who began the project, left, and returned after another director resigned--according to the Wikipedia article

indicated that the film would make no direct mention of religion or of God, two of the key themes of the trilogy – a decision attacked by fans of the novels. Weitz stated that New Line Cinema feared that "perceived antireligiosity" would make the film financially unviable in the US. However, Weitz attempted to reassure fans by saying that religion would appear in euphemistic terms. He also indicated that he believes His Dark Materials is "not an atheistic work, but a highly spiritual and reverent piece of writing".

Still, Philip Pullman, writing of Weitz' return, had this to say:

But Scholastic and New Line, who are both involved in making the film, have been more than considerate to me - and, much more importantly, to the story. And the latest script, from Chris Weitz, is truly excellent; I know, because I`ve just this morning read it. I think it`s a model of how to condense a story of 400 pages into a script of 110 or so. All the important scenes are there and will have their full value.

Anyway, even if I'm not there at the first showing, I know what I'll be doing at some point in December. :) I hope it's a success and the other two books are adapted. It looks quite visually stunning. Let us hope the story has been true to the original.