Plug pulled on Pullman movies

When the The Golden Compass was turned into a film last year, starring Nicole Kidman (pictured), the author of the tale, English fantasy writer Philip Pullman, had high hopes that the other two novels in his trilogy, His Dark Materials, would follow suit. However, he now fears that protests by Christian fundamentalists in America, who objected to the first film’s allegorical challenges to the Catholic faith, have scuppered the chances of further movies.

Warner Brothers had been banking on The Golden Compass emulating the success of the Narnia Chronicles and The Lord of the Rings, but while the film was successful in Europe, making $300m, it made only $70m in the US, which the studio put down to parental boycotting of the film.

Pullman has told the Independent that neither the studio nor the writer nor director had been in contact with him. He says: "I know everyone would like to see a sequel and I know I'd like to see it. When the first film was in production, I was talking to the studio and to Chris Weitz [the writer] and producers quite frequently. I'm sure I would be now if the sequel was in production."