Why has the name been changed for "Northern Lights"?!
Question: Probably been asked before but why is the film called "The golden Compass". The book name is better
My son is quite put out by this and I'd like to give him an answer
Answers: Probably been asked before but why is the film called "The golden Compass". The book name is better
My son is quite put out by this and I'd like to give him an answer
The superficial resemblance of protagonist Lyra Belacqua's alethiometer to a large compass caused the North American publishers of Northern Lights to retitle the book "The Golden Compass". In fact, The Golden Compasses was an early proposal for the name of the trilogy (instead of His Dark Materials), taken from Milton's Paradise Lost, where it refers to the drawing instrument, rather than the navigation instrument.
Could be because there's a UK tv series called northern lights
For the American market, apparently. The concept of something having an unusual name like an Alethiometer is obviously *way* too obscure. so in the film it is referred to as the "Golden Compass" and the film was named accordingly. This was also the same reason that the "Philosopher's Stone" was changed for the US market in the first Harry Potter film.
I'd be really irritated by that if I were the author of the book.
Because at least "The Golden Compass" gives the customer a hint of what the movie is going to be about. I know it's rough seeing your favourite book series commercialized (e.g. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), but "Northern Lights", while perfect for the title of a fantasy novel, is too cheesy and obscure for a movie title.
@Robin: "In the US it was called HP and the Sorcerers Stone, because Americans don't know what a philosopher is."
LOL. I think Americans know what philosophers are. But they've never heard of a "philospher's stone", which is a mythical concept in alchemy.
Films in production are given what is known as a Working Title. This is the name everybody on the film set refers to the film they are working on as.
After production and editing, the film is then marketed under it proper name. Here's an example:
Timothy Daltons last James Bond movie had the working title of "Licence Revoked" the same as the book. It was then decided to change the name to "Licence to Kill" because it was considered that not many American filmgoers would know what the word Revoked meant and so wouldn't go to see the movie.
Harry Potter is another example, over here it was called HP and the Philospphers Stone, like the book. In the US it was called HP and the Sorcerers Stone, because Americans don't know what a philosopher is.
Do you really care?...
Oh of course you do..thats why you asked the question...
How STUPID of me.