The Golden Compass gets its ending chopped
 

On the heels of the brand new trailer, the director of The Golden Compass put out a rather worrying statement.

First off, I'm not 100% certain this is for real. There's always the chance that it might be a fake. But most news sources are citing it now, and no one from New Line has come forth to set the record straight. (Though there's also the fact that scenes from the book's climax appear in the new trailer).

So, assuming this is true, I have to say, I'm not at all assured. This sounds like a bad idea to me. Ending it prematurely seems like it would be terribly anti-climactic. So, anti-climax or cliffhanger? Which one do you think would hurt box office returns more? The sequels are entirely dependent on how well this film performs. I'm worried that a "meh" feel at the end of this movie (without the set-up for the next book) could mean a premature end for the series as a whole...

Man, as long as they don't change the overall plot in the movie, I'll be happy. Well... actually I wouldn't mind it if they changed the plot of the Amber Spyglass a bit... actually a lot. It's like Pullman suddenly thought "Oh crap I forgot to put a bunch of gnostic crap in my books! Let's just stuff the third book with it! And while I am at it, let's suddenly and completely change all of the characters in the book for no good reason!"

I share the same concerns as you, but I can see where they're coming from; by having Lyra at the beginning of the second movie before they bring in Will, it may well reassure viewers that yes, this is the same series, and yes, she will still be in the story.

As long as they can space the cut extremely carefully then I think they can manage this for the better. I'm going to prefer the books anyway, so I'm not terribly concerned either way.

See, I'm just concerned that a truncated ending might mean we never get a second movie... (It's also a way for the studio to "wrap-up" this movie if that turns out to be the case.)

Also, I think it'll be difficult to get any kind of emotional resonance by killing Roger off at the beginning of movie two. I mean, the whole reason it's emotional at all is that Lyra spends all of book one trying to save him, and then is indirectly responsible for his death. It'll have all the impact of Cyclops dying in X-Men 3. Also, it leaves the question of Dust very much unanswered for movie one.

Seems like a poor move to me. If they remove the last 3 chapters I'll just not see the movie and wait the 2 - 3 years for the 2nd one to come out.

And if they don't make a sequel? Well, at least I wont be left with a cliffhanger of an ending.

What's the golden compass?

Really what is so intrinsically difficult about checking wikipedia???

I've gone to wikipedia about fifty times so far today.
Can I just for once NOT HAVE TO GO THERE?

Besides, I can't get personal opinions out of wikipedia.

OK here's a personal opinion about Golden Compass: it's a pretty damn good book. Some of the characters (one of the characters actually) is pretty damned annoying, but not so annoying that it ruins the whole book. I think it's worth a read through. Well? What are waiting for? Start reading it now!

To tell you the truth, about the only thing I remember about The Golden Compass was the ending, and a little bit about the soul-removal thing.

Cutting the ending out seems kind've weird. What event does it end at then? (little refresher would be nice, as I forget most of the plot of that first book)