Before being a hit on Netflix, this film caused controversy when it was released in theaters 17 years ago (we’ll explain everything)

Among the new releases acquired by Netflix in this month of October 2024, it is impossible to miss this dystopian film, ranked number 10 in the platform’s weekly top: At the Crossroads of Worlds: The Golden Compass. However, if it is a hit today in streaming, this film directed by Daniel Craig caused controversy when it was released in cinemas in 2007.

It was in 2007 that we discovered the project to adapt the first volume of the saga by the British writer Philip Pullman, At the crossroads of worlds. Signed by director Chris Weitz, already famous for the first part of the saga American Piethe film was handled by the New Line studio (to which we owe The Claws of the Night, the franchise Friday the 13th et Lord of the Ringsjust that).

For success to be achieved, the production had thought big by putting together an all-star cast: Dakota Blue Richards in the lead role (Skins, The Secret of Moonacre), Daniel Craig as Lord Asriel, Nicole Kidman as Marisa Coulter, Freddie Highmore lending his voice to Pantalaimon and Eva Green as Serafina Pekkala. A cast that breathes the 2000s, therefore, for a film which will ultimately have precipitated the franchise to its doom.

Also read: 24 films, 49 hours of viewing, $1.6 billion budget, this essential cinema franchise is finally available in full on streaming

The harsh law of American studios

At the time, Chris Weitz undertook to make his films following the literary saga: one film per volume, like successes like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. A clever plan, which was able to hit the mark for the franchises mentioned above, and which was able to prove itself with the film series…

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