HisDarkMaterials.org

New Line Cinema Corp.'s bet on its screen adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy hit big, amassing close to $3 billion at the box office worldwide. The final installment won a slew of Oscars, including best picture and best director.

Now the studio is ready to roll the dice on another trilogy, the far less well-known "His Dark Materials," by British author Philip Pullman.

New Line, which was behind such diverse offerings as the 2003 remake of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and last year's "Vera Drake," has committed to producing only the first of Pullman's bestselling novels. "The Golden Compass," a special-effects-driven fantasy, could cost more than $150 million to bring to the screen.

If it strikes a chord with moviegoers, the studio will consider making the next two in the series simultaneously, as it did with the "Lord of the Rings" films, which director Peter Jackson shot in New Zealand. New Line executives confirmed that the price tag for the trilogy would soar far beyond the $350 million spent on the "Lord of the Rings" films.

Can New Line work trilogy magic twice?

Studio co-Chairman Michael Lynne is confident the answer is yes, in large part because of the clout New Line gained with parent Time Warner Inc. after the success of "Lord of the Rings."

"If you create something of historic proportions with historic economic returns and you find a project of scale that you want to invest in," Lynne said, "no one is going to tell you not to do it."

The project has been on the drawing board for years. In 2002, New Line executives talked about wanting to complete "The Golden Compass" in time to have it in theaters last month. Now it looks like the release date will be Christmas 2006 at the earliest.

In fact, New Line is still on the hunt for a director. Chris Weitz, who with his brother Paul directed "American Pie" and "About a Boy," recently dropped out of "The Golden Compass." After spending six months researching the script