The Golden Compass Does OKish At Weekend Box Office

Since Christmas 2007 doesn't have a Harry Potter or a Narnia or a Lord Of The Rings, the wintry epic title this year goes to The Golden Compass - but how did it do at the weekend box office?

It did alright. Ish. We suppose. For a festive family fantasy blockbuster with a budget of $180 million, The Golden Compass managed to top the US weekend box office, but only by taking a relatively paltry $26 million. The Golden Compass' failure to ignite the weekend box office any more than, say, Flubber or S.W.A.T will be a disappointment to many, but a timely reminder that there's only a certain amount of dads in the world able to convince their children to see a movie just because Nicole Kidman wears a tight gold dress for about three minutes in it.

The Golden Compass is enjoying a slightly pyrrhic victory at the US weekend box office today, because - although it's number one, it's got a slightly disappointing gross. So why has The Golden Compass underperformed at the box office? Is it because the movie's anti-Catholic sensibilities has alienated its key audience? Is it because rumours got out that the movie had to go through extensive reshoots because it was originally quite rubbish? Or was it because films about polar bears punching each others' jaws off isn't everyone's idea of a lovely Christmas movie?

One thing's for sure - this weekend box office haul will be disappointing to The Golden Compass' studio, which is now stuck with a loss-making franchise to complete. There's an obvious way around this, though - the series' dramatic climax, where the main characters murder the central God figure in his tower high above the clouds can be downscaled to a scene of Daniel Craig kicking a tramp in the nuts. Same thing really. Here's this week's US weekend box office top five…

1 - The Golden Compass (Part of The Golden Compass' appeal is that things in its universe are slightly out of line with what we'd expect. For instance, naughty children are sent to an arctic wasteland in The Golden Compass, where in this universe Jeremy Clarkson just picks them up and shakes them around a bit) $26,125,000

2 - Enchanted (Soon to be involved in a hard-fought weekend box office battle with Alvin And The Chipmunks for the title of Most Adorable Animated Movie Rodent. Since the character in Enchanted doesn't eat clumps of its own shit in the trailer, though, we're going to call the Enchanted rodent the early favourite) $10,706,000

3 - This Christmas (Like Last Christmas by Wham, but much longer and less likely to go onto bum men in hedges or fall asleep at the wheel of its car) $5,000,000

4 - Fred Claus (Fred Claus' continued inability to do very well at the US weekend box office proves one very important thing. That, um, it probably isn't very good) $4,660,000

5 - Beowulf (Beowulf's success at the weekend box office means that Ray Winstone's older films might do better with some CGI treatment to make him look better. First to be given this makeover is Nil By Mouth, in the hope that more people will go and see it because, although Ray Winstone will still domestically abuse Kathy Burke in a series of harrowingly bleak scenes, Winstone will have a bit more of a six-pack and Burke will look exactly like Angelina Jolie) $4,400,000

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Weekend Box Office - Box Office Mojo