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New Line is debuting the Official Theatrical Trailer for The Golden Compass on October 9th at 8:30 p.m. EST. Surrounding the release, a New Line party, hosted by Sam Elliot, will be marking the occassion at the New York Film Festival. And if you can't make it there, what better way to celebrate the October 9th debut of The Golden Compass trailer than to join us on HisDarkMaterials.org for a pre-trailer party in the Svalbard chatroom.

Comingsoon.net reports that the voices of high-profile actors Kathy Bates and Sir Ian McKellen will be featuring in the The Golden Compass. The article reports on the worldwide debut of the The Golden Compass trailer at the Rockefeller Center in New York City, which will be hosted by Sam Elliot who portrays Texan aeronaut Lee Scoresby in the film and accompanied with similar events in Italy, Japan, Germany and the Netherlands.

If true then it is likely that Kathy Bates will be providing the voice for Hester, Lee Scoresby's hare dæmon, who can be heard in the Redefining Dæmons featurette.

New Line Cinema is unveiling the final version of The Golden Compass trailer on October 9th in New York City. We offered three of our readers a chance to take a friend along to experience this exclusive event, in return for dressing up as their favourite character.

First of all we’d to thank everyone who entered! We have selected three entries for originality and style.

Oxford Mail writes: Award-winning novelist Philip Pullman has warned that encroaching development is threatening Oxford's unique character.

Mr Pullman, who lives in Cumnor and is the author of the His Dark Materials trilogy, spoke out while lending his support to campaigners who are concerned by plans to redevelop the Castle Mill Boatyard site in Jericho.

Yahoo! Movies has added a new video on dæmons and their role in The Golden Compass movie. The video features mostly new footage with short clips of numerous actors speaking about dæmons. We are also treated to our first clip of Hester on screen.

See the video in Yahoo! Movies


Thanks to distantdeeps for the heads up!

 

New Line Cinema is releasing the The Golden Compass trailer on Tuesday October 9th in New York City, coinciding with the opening of the world-famous Rockefeller Center ice-skating rink.

Talent from the movie will attend this major event and will see the trailer played on giant screens above the rink at 8:30 PM EST. The trailer will be released to the fans online shortly hereafter.

See the trailer first-hand!

Here's your chance to attend this exclusive event! We've been offered three pairs of tickets to give away.

All you have to do for this unique chance is dress up like your favourite The Golden Compass character! Dress up in the funniest, most original or most convincing way and send in your picture proof. The three entries judged as best by us will be rewarded with a pair of tickets for the exclusive release party at Rockefeller Center, New York City.

Send your proof to

Closing date: October 3, 2007 - 12 AM GMT

Please note: We can only provide the tickets and that you'll have to make your way to the Rockefeller Center by your own means. Please only enter the contest if you are able to attend this event. Entries may be published on HisDarkMaterials.org.

The Golden Compass Trailer Unveiling

October 9, 2007
Rockefeller Center, New York City
7:30 PM - 9:30 PM EST

Oxford mail reports: As far as Friday night entertainment goes, it's not a bad deal - an invitation to a masquerade ball plus the chance to appear on the silver screen.

The producers of The Butterfly Tattoo, the film adaptation of Oxford author Philip Pullman's novel, are in need of extras on Friday as they film one of the movie's major scenes at Howbery Park, near Wallingford. Men and women aged 18 to 30 are needed to act as guests at the ball, with women wearing ball gowns or full evening dresses and men wearing tuxedos or tailcoats.

The Oxford Mail writes: Oxford band A Silent Film lived up to their name when they took centre stage for a pivotal scene in a film adaptation of Oxford author Philip Pullman's novel The Butterfly Tattoo.

The production company, which is currently filming the movie in and around Oxford, asked for bands from the area to come forward and A Silent Film was picked from six shortlisted bands.

The Wheatley lads will be seen on cinema screens across the country and also at the Cannes Film Festival.

Lead singer Rob Stevenson, a sound engineer by day, said: "We are really pleased. It's something we haven't had a chance to do before, especially this early on in our career so it is very exciting.

IGN blogwriter TheGoldenCompass reports on a set visit for SEGA for the video game adaptation of The Golden Compass. The blog images include a close up of the alethiometer and a draft of its inscription.

It’s no easy feat taking a book and adapting it for the big screen. Similarly, it’s not a walk in the park to make a video game based on a movie, especially when the book is already out and game designers have their own preconceptions about the material. Without close collaboration the game and movie would turn out very differently. Even relatively simple things like making sure characters in the game have the same clothing as they do in the movie could go horribly wrong if no one saw the action progressing on-set and passed along relevant information and pictures to the game developer.

The official Japanese website for The Golden Compass has been launched together with a Japanese trailer, which contains several new snippets including Lyra pointing to a map of Svalbard.

View the Japanese trailer here

The 45th New York Film Festival will host a gala event saluting New Line Cinema's 40 years of movie making on the 5th of October, which will include a sneak peek of The Golden Compass.

An update of the Official Golden Compass Blog provides a link to character animator Arslan Elver's blog who reports that visual effects animation for The Golden Compass has now been completed.

In interviews with French and Israelian fansites, Philip Pullman has revealed that he will write another book to accompany the His Dark Materials trilogy. Whereas The Book of Dust will be about Lyra after the trilogy has ended, this new book titled Once Upon A Time In The North will move back to before The Golden Compass and focus on Iorek and Lee Scoresby.

“When we see them for the first time with Lyra, Lee is not that old, he's fifty, sixty, something like that, so they know each other for a long time. But I wanted to write a story when they first met as they were young, and I've just written it.”

Read Cittàgazze.com's full interview.

The New York Times has published a lengthy article on the development of The Golden Compass and its importance on the future prospects of New Line Cinema:

Not since Dorothy landed on the witch has a young girl shouldered quite so many worries as 12-year-old Lyra Belacqua.

The fate of the universe, certainly. A movie budget of $180 million, at least. The future course of New Line Cinema, perhaps.

For the last year New Line has been wrestling with its London-based production of “The Golden Compass,” an ambitious fantasy in which Dakota Blue Richards, a schoolgirl with no previous credits, plays the intrepid Lyra. Supported by Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, Ms. Richards’ character is the heroine in what is planned to be the first of three movies based on Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” series of novels, New Line’s answer to Disney’s “Narnia” films.

Wired Magazine has an interview with Daz Berg, the lead designer of The Golden Compass videogame:

Shiny Entertainment took on quite a challenge when they chose to develop the videogame version of The Golden Compass. Not only do they have to please fans of the book and the movie, but they also have to deliver a gaming experience that can stand on its own merits. Then there's that whole "licensed property" stigma that has to be overcome.

We discussed the demands of bringing such a beloved tale to life in videogame form with lead designer Dax Berg.