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Different titles
In the United Kingdom the first book in the His Dark Materials trilogy is called Northern Lights. However, in the United States it's called The Golden Compass; this is also the name that's being used for the movie.
The His Dark Materials trilogy originally had no title. In Philip Pullman’s words- “In fact it didn't have a name at all; it was just 'the big book'.” Upon talking this over with his publisher within the United Kingdom, then David Fickling, a plethora of names were attempted, but not one worked. It became obvious that the trilogy required a name, and that each book within the trilogy also needed a name.
The first breakthrough occurred with a phrase from within John Milton’s Paradise Lost, a poem that gave Philip Pullman much of his inspiration. The specific line is in reference to the Son (of God):
[taking] the golden compasses, prepared
In God’s eternal store, to circumscribe
The universe, and all created things.
This refers not to a compass that points North, but more a pair of compasses- the variety used to draw a circle. The phrase was liked, and the trilogy became named The Golden Compasses during the publication process. The title of the first book was finally settled as Northern Lights.
In the United States, the editors at Alfred A. Knopf Publishers mistakenly, thought the title was in reference to Lyra’s alethiometer, which could be construed as a gold-coloured compass, of the directional variety, rather than the technical drawing implement. During meetings over publishing forthcoming books, the first book was referred to as The Golden Compass.
Returning to Britain, Mr Pullman had discovered a much-improved title for the series- what would be the final title of the trilogy, His Dark Materials. The phrase, again, comes from Milton’s Paradise Lost, and the passage is quoted at the start of the first book. The title was decided due to the more atmospheric nature of the phrase, and the undertones of “dark matter”, a concept that plays a very large part in the series.
However, in the United States, the publisher had become set upon The Golden Compass as the title of the first book, and there was nothing that could be said to sway them to the proper name of the first book. However, in Mr Pullman’s own words:
“Their obduracy in this matter was accompanied by such generosity in the matter of royalty advances, flattery, promises of publicity, etc, that I thought it would be churlish to deny them this small pleasure.”
It is interesting to note that Philip Pullman remarks on his website that:
The editor who made [the] change was also responsible for changing "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", which made sense, into "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," which didn't. At the time, I didn't have enough clout to resist.
This indicates that Pullman would rather have seen Northern Lights as the title for the first book; even though the three titles form a nice pattern.
Another blow for those who believe that His Dark Materials has something to do with The Three Tools.