HisDarkMaterials.org

Dark Materials" isn't the only Pullman novel making the jump to the big screen. "The Firework-Maker's Daughter" is also in production. Variety author Arthur Jones writes:

"Cold Mountain" helmer Anthony Minghella has included China on his promotional tour for the Civil War epic, set for release on the mainland at the end of the month.

I created a new poll. Please vote! It'll be interesting to see how many His Dark Materials fans are truly interested in seeing the movies...

If you don't know what I'm talking about please click here for more information.

The Sunday Herald had an article about the ten best screenwriters, and wrote the following about Tom Stoppard:

The ever-so-witty Englishman whom Hollywood turns to for a touch of literary sophistication – most recently Stoppard made the Bard’s life seem like a jolly romp for Shakespeare In Love, and he’ll soon be adapting Phillip Pullman’s cosmic trilogy His Dark Materials for the screen. But Stoppard’s greatest contribution to cinema is the creation of Sean Connery’s Dr Henry Jones, the pro-active academic father of Indiana, in his script-work for Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade.

Click here to read the complete article.

Thanks to GlitteryBug!

Remember the horse-drawn cart that carried Gandalf the Grey into Hobbiton at the outset of “The Fellowship of the Ring”?

The wizard had better move over: Hollywood has an army of sword-wielding knights, sage sorcerers, monsters, elves, and Renaissance Faire look-alikes about to jump on the wagon.

It doesn’t take an Oxford don to explain more than a dozen big-budget fantasies are in the works. The $2.84 billion international take for Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and best-picture and director Oscars for the “Return of the King” – not to mention kabillions in DVD/video sales, merchandising and ancillary rights – have ignited the formerly disparaged dungeons-and-dragons genre.

A torrent of fantasy films is flowing into Hollywood's pipeline. Studios see the gold "Lord of the Rings" hath wrought.

Remember the horse-drawn cart that carried Gandalf the Grey into Hobbiton at the outset of The Fellowship of the Ring?

The wizard had better move over: Hollywood has an army of sword-wielding knights, sage sorcerers, monsters, elves, and Renaissance Faire look-alikes about to jump on the wagon.

This article may allay one of the strongest movie rumours, that Nicole Kidman might play the role of Mrs Coulter, as the production of C.S. Lewis' tale will roughly happen at the same time as the His Dark Materials movies.

Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman flew into Christchurch this week on a top secret visit to tour locations for New Zealand's latest fantasy epic The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

The glamorous star of recent films, The Hours and Cold Mountain, arrived early on Thursday morning and took part in a whirlwind tour of Canterbury's high country in a helicopter.

"The Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter" have dominated the past two years at the box office. And when the sequels hit theaters, they will be blockbusters-guaranteed. Given all that, it's no wonder that movie producers are hungry for the rights to big, action-packed, cult fantasy books that come in sets of three or more.

Among the hottest properties picked up in recent years is Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy: The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. New Line Cinema, the studio behind LoTR, secured the rights to all three books in February of 2002, and plans to bring them to the big screen with the help of Scholastic Entertainment, which specializes in adapting children's books for TV and film.

New Line is running scared of the HDM movie adaptation according to an article in The TImes. It says: "New Line is running scared of how the Bible Belt will react to the books’ gay rebel angels and senile God." New Line's Vice President Mark Ordesky: "The real issue is not religion, it's authority. That's what really is the driving issue here."

This article comes from one of the world's largest movie sites, JoBlo.com, and it mentiones this website, and a post about dæmons on the messageboard. It's great to see we fans are finally gaining recognition.

New Line Cinema has had the rights to Philip Pullman's HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy for a couple years now but since they've been kind of busy with THE LORD OF THE RINGS movies, information and hype has had to wait. It is, after all, another adaptation of another Oxford resident's epic fantasy trilogy. I guess they were waiting to see how everything went with Tolkien's RINGS first. Things went pretty well. HIS DARK MATERIALS is comprised of THE GOLDEN COMPASS, THE SUBTLE KNIFE, and THE AMBER SPYGLASS. All three continuous tales focus on the adventures of pre-teen Lyra Belacqua and the role she plays as war is looming in Heaven and many different worlds collide. Pullman has opted to not write the film version, saying "the last thing I want to do is take it apart and put it together again," so the script is being written by Sir Tom Stoppard, a well know playwright.

With all the talk of "The Producers" going in front of the cameras for a Christmas 2005 release, the year we’re in right now has sort of been lost in the shuffle. As it happens, 2004 could be a big year for theatre-based fare.

Look for three big tentpole films to lead the way this year, with about a dozen other things popping up.

Althought this article mentions that Ridley Scott is directing the movies, this is just a rumour and hasn't been confirmed yet.

With the astounding box office success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, it's no surprise that movie studios are looking for new fantasy epics to produce. The next book series in line to get the big-screen treatment is the His Dark Materials trilogy by the British author Philip Pullman. Although the intricacies of the story are complicated, the plot revolves around the adventures of a boy and a girl in a "multiverse" of various realities.

Although this might sound confusing to those unaccustomed to reading science fiction, it may have blockbuster potential, particularly with Ridley Scott (Gladiator) directing the project.

The cast has yet to be announced, but the first installment of the series - due out in 2005 or 2006 - could usher in some new sci-fi stars.

New Line Cinema has informed us that New Line Productions President Toby Emmerich´s remark: "[His Dark Materials] will likely be combined into two movies, to be shot back to back, with the first in theaters by late 2005 or early 2006." should be no cause for concern, because at this point any information is "just conceptual".

This article confirms one of the strongest rumours, and also backs one of our greatest fears, as New Line Productions President Toby Emmerich says: "[His Dark Materials] will likely be combined into two movies, to be shot back to back, with the first in theaters by late 2005 or early 2006." Confirmation of the release date is a good thing, but ... Combined into two movies? This cannot be!

To those who have found hobbits to be dangerously habit-forming and now are in denial, we regret to remind you that there aren't any more Lord of the Rings movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien's epic trilogy.

Now that ''The Lord of the Rings'' has proven it can be done, now that we know that a three-part, nine-hour plunge into a multilayered fantasy world dreamed up by a one-time Oxford academic can become not just box office manna but also an International Cultural Happening, it's time to ask the inevitable question: When's the next epic three-part fantasy dreamed up by a one-time Oxford academic going to hit the big screen?

The answer: maybe in 2005, more likely in 2006.

`Lord of the Rings,' `Matrix' have spurred development of more By Patrick Day Los Angeles Times

When the characters in writer-director Kevin Smith's romantic comedy Chasing Amy mention ``the holy trilogy,'' they aren't discussing religion. They're talking about Star Wars.

Since the release of Return of the Jedi in 1983, fans and Hollywood executives alike have looked to the original three Star Wars films as the gold standard for handling movie sequels. Rather than telling a series of self-contained stories, this trilogy presented a single story across three films.