Watching The Golden Compass will remind you of various fantasy epic movies such as Harry Potter, Stardust, Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings that's why it failed to establish a theme of its own. This is probably the main reason why critics lambasted the film aside from denoucement of religious extremists saying that the movie is pro-atheism. Aside from these, the movie suffered the biggest injury of all when it underperformed at the box-office.

The $180 million family fantasy starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig opened at no. 1 but with a lackluster gross of only $ 26.1 million. The producers are expecting about $40 to $45 million.

“It’s a little bit disappointing,” said Rolf Mittweg, president and chief operating officer of New Line’s worldwide distribution and marketing operations.

Here’s the Top 10 movies last weekend of December 7 to 9:

1. The Golden Compass – $26.1 M
2. Enchanted – $10.7 M (3rd wk)
3. This Christmas – $5 M (3rd wk)
4. Fred Claus – $4.6 M
5. Beowulf – $4.4 M (4th wk)
6. No Country for Old Men – $4.2 M
7. August Rush – $3.5 M
8. Hitman – $3.4 M
9. Awake – $3.3 M
10. Bee Movie – $ 2.6 M