His Dark Materials.

Is this BBC flying solo or do they also have HBO onboard?

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

Is this BBC flying solo or do they also have HBO onboard?

at the least they pre-sold US distribution to HBO to get the money in for production.

It's being made for the BBC, not by the BBC.

. It is being produced by New Line Cinema and Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner of Bad Wolf for BBC One and HBO, with the latter handling international distribution. Before airing, the show was renewed for a second series of eight episodes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Dark_Materials_(TV_series)

TheIrishGrover

Deleted User wrote: »

Is this BBC flying solo or do they also have HBO onboard?

HBO have US distribution rights. As far as I know, they were really brought in as the budget was spiraling out of control like a children's hospital. But they were not involved originally. I suppose they are looking for their next, more family-friendly, fantasy series.

Edit: Ah, OK, I stand corrected.

MayoForSam

MayoForSam wrote: »

As regards The Golden Compass, the two adult leads are very decent, not so sure about Lyra and the ability of the BBC to really deliver on the overall story.

always risky doing something with a child in a key role - can turn off adults from watching it.

The Black Oil

HBO teaser with some dialogue this time, no air date yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qz8L4KaTss

S.M.B.

That looks a whole lot better than I expected, certainly more HBO than BBC when it comes to production values.

Genuinely looking forward to it now.

Slydice

X-23!!

How come no-one said anything about this show!?!?!?

How come you didn't make a thread!!!

Oh you did, did you?

How come you didn't take over boards and change it to have a big red arrow with big red text saying X-23 in a TV show?!

NIMAN

Looks better than the feature film, thats for sure.

Pretzill

NIMAN wrote: »

Looks better than the feature film, thats for sure.

In fairness that wouldn't be hard. The movie of the first book wasn't good (excepting Iorek V Ragnar perhaps?)

TheIrishGrover

Well, in fairness to the movie, I thought it looked great. The effects were great for the time (Apart from the golden monkey). I thought the casting was great (Especially Asriel, Mrs. Coulter and of course Lee). But the first book was very fast paced and introduced so many characters. I mean, in book 2 & 3 there are a lot fewer new characters introduced: Will, of course, Mary, the Galivespians, Will's companions, Mary's friends (Trying to be as vague as possible for non-readers). Plus they had to water down the central elements of the story to appease the US market so it came across as quite anemic.

So book one (And the first movie) had to introduce a large pool of characters which is difficult to do in a regular-length movie. Much more suited to a TV series. They can certainly move around some character appearances. Will and Mary's back stories can be introduced in season 1 so they are not brand new in season 2. They will probably do this.

Assuming they are going to do one season per book (Season 2 already greenlit) each series if going to have some serious issues to overcome:

Season 1 will need to engage people pretty quickly and, as I said, there are a lot of characters and a whole universe to explain. HBO need to be sure that they don't advertise this as the next fantasy series for people looking to sate their Game of Thrones appetite. Its' not that kind of series . It looks like they aren't though, which is good.

Season 2 the overall storyline becomes more apparent (Again, trying to be vague). This will potentially cause a bit of a stink in the US but HBO and BBC have enough integrity/money/power to not give a sh*t about who kicks up. They cannot change this without gutting the entire point of the books.

Season 3 is likewise going to have issues with certain groups in the US and also Mary's friends will be difficult to get across.

Obviously the books were HUGE in the UK/Europe. I don't think they were all that big in the US simply because I never heard any backlash about them there. I mean they were burning Harry Potter books so I can only imagine what some groups would have done with these books there.

When BBC make their "prestige" shows they do them right: "Screw what people think. They don't like it? tough". They also have HBO money and quality behind them. HBO/BBC gave us Band of Brothers..... 18 years ago And it's still considered a benchmark in TV drama.

To those who have NOT read the books: The show has GREAT potential. The world is fantastic, the storyline is interesting and thought-provoking. The cast seems to be very good (I was on the fence about McEvoy but he looks good in the (brief) shots of him). And the behind the scenes people are VERY good.

It's just NOT the next Game of Thrones.

Outkast_IRE

Looks good, will keep a close eye on this.

ricero

Was reading about this today as I never read the books but one of the ciricitism was that it's anti-religious and in particular anti-catholic. Can see it causing a bit of a stir so if true.

Lady Spangles

I absolutely loved these books; read them as they were published years ago. It was very disappointing that the people behind the movie buckled to pressure from religious groups and removed the source material's central themes. As a consequence, it felt hollowed out and devoid of any real meaning. Hopefully, that won't be a problem this time around and the various religious types have got off the censorship bandwagon and left well alone.

Capt'n Midnight

glasso wrote: »

pretty much a flop yes.

budget of $180mn, US take $70mn

international rights sold to finance film so didn't get that money.

Only a flop in the US. The studio sold it and went bust.

It then made lots of money overseas. Studio could have survived



First book was good. Didn't like the next two and the films would have gone a very different way from the first.

Slydice

San Diego Comic Con Trailer:

Slydice

The name checking of the Professor X actor and the X-23 actress and I'm for some reason Dafne Keen made way more of an impact for me.

I mean, usually a newish kid gets named and I'm all like.. yeah just because it's the kid. Not this time!

Mr E

That's a stunning trailer. Really looking forward to this.

Dafne Keen can actually act too, which helps.

TheIrishGrover

Was just coming here to post this.

I am a HUGE fan of the books. Have bought then numerous times only to give them to friends (I never loan books. If I like a book and think someone else will, I give it to them). Now I have an autographed set that ain't going nowhere

I was initially a little concerned about McEvoy. I thought he was too slight for the role. However he does look great here. A little bit too emotional at the start but that may be down to editing the trailer - I always imagined him as being even more stern with Lyra.

I always imagines Lyra as more blonde. Physically quite like the girl who played her in the (toothless) movie. But I'm really liking the look of her now as we see more. (I didn't even realise she was half English in Logan). She looks great here. Nice fire to her.

Ruth Wilson: Again, I always thought of Catherine Zeta Jones when I was reading the books: Beautiful but cold and ruthless. Ruth Wilson? Perfect! In the words of Stan Lee: 'nuff said.

Lee:....... Ohhhhh.... I always imagined Lee as older and weathered. I thought Sam Elliot was perfect as Lee. It's my only concern. (But he is a very versatile actor so I'm hoping for the best)

Iorek. Looks great. Will be interesting to see how he emotes.

Good the see the central premise is front and center (Trying to be vague here for non-readers).

Have seen pic of Will. Looks spot on too. Not what I was expecting but real good choice. At least physically. Know nothing about the actor. I would imagine that, given his arc, they will probably introduce him towards the end of this season. Just 20 mins over last two episodes would do. End with him

Discovering you-know-what to you-know-where

Season 2 already greenlit. I suppose they are waiting for the viewer numbers for Season 1 before they greenlight Season 3 given how astronomical those costs will be

Will and Lyra where they go, Asriel's battle, Spies, Will's friends, Mary's friends. Again trying to be vague for the tempted non-readers

Some could be cut I suppose. As much as it would pain us to see them go

The spies, Will's friends will probably go but Mary's friends would have to stay and will be difficult

Fingers crossed. I was underwhelmed by Amazon's Good Omens as I was probably expecting too much from that because I also loved that book. Trying to dial back but I trust BBC/HBO partnership.....

Pretzill

Ooh that trailer looks excellent, looking forward to this. Casting looks much closer to how I imagined from the books.

Brief_Lives

San Diego Comic Con Panel.....

Slydice

Keep wanting to see her break out the X-23 claws!

pixelburp

Looks interesting, the CGI appears to be quite convincing & doesn't look like they'll have them conveniently off-screen all the time.

S.M.B.

Comments under that youtube trailer are suggesting an air date in early November. Please be true.

JP Liz V1

S.M.B. wrote: »

Comments under that youtube trailer are suggesting an air date in early November. Please be true.

Sunday November 3rd

RobbingBandit

Definitely looking forward to this The Secret Commonwealth will be out by the time this starts so should definitely be on a high to see it.

McAvoy should be interested as Lord Asriel

S.M.B.

RobbingBandit wrote: »

The Secret Commonwealth will be out by the time this starts so should definitely be on a high to see it.

Completely forgot about this!!!

RobbingBandit

October 3rd is the most up-to-date information at the moment really looking forward to getting it myself hope it doesn't slip but books sometimes do

TheIrishGrover

Andrew Scott announced as John Parry.

While he was (intentionally) OTT in Sherlock as Moriarty he can also play it low key and straight too. I think he's a great choice.A very fine actor.

Apparently Season 3 not greenlit yet. I'm sure it will be. Hopefully there will be a lot of excitement around it when it starts, especially as The Secret Commonwealth is out around same time. Hopefully enough excitement/media attention to greenlight Season 3.

By the way: Lovely signed version available [HERE].

As for the book release slipping: Apparently he had book 1 and 2 both finished before book 1 was released with book 3 80% there. So I assume an annual release around the same time (Another book launch around debut of Season 2. Wonder if they will ask him to release another side story like Once Upon a Time or Lyra's Oxford around the time of Season 3 assuming it gets one)

Sleepy

Was listening to the Kermode & Mayo Film podcast and apparently McAvoy was a very late addition to the cast, he literally started work on it days after being asked to do the role!

EoinMcLovin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snQS-Y7tz4k