SEGA Goes in Search of The Golden Compass
A new deal with New Line has The Big S getting into pictures.
Published: September 27, 2006
The Lord of the Rings movies made an absolutely stupid amount of money for nearly everyone involved. Peter Jackson's vision of the novels made his own Weta Workshop and Weta Digtal companies the go-to makeup and visual effects houses, made overnight mega-stars of some of the smaller castmembers and made New Line Cinema, very, very rich. And yet, with all that money, they haven't really financed a mega blockbuster since. That is apparently changing.
A new deal with Scholastic Media and author Philip Pullman will see the His Dark Materials trilogy move to the big screen. A high-budget trilogy? That can only mean one thing: licensed games, but licensee isn't exactly who you'd expect. SEGA will be picking up the duties of translating the first of the three movies, The Golden Compass. We're assuming it'll be a next-gen effort (or quote possibly multi-platform), but it'll be interesting to see if the big-name cast (Daniel Craig, the new James Bond, and Nicole Kidman are starring) in the movies will reprise their roles in the game.
The plot, as told by SEGA, goes a little something like this: "The Golden Compass revolves around a young girl named Lyra as she sets out to find her missing friend Roger. Lyra's quest leads her to the beautiful splendor of the icy North, where giant armored bears rule a kingdom, witch queens fly through the frozen skies, and the secret of another universe is waiting to be uncovered. The Golden Compass is an imaginative, original saga about the eternal struggle of good versus evil and the power of a young girl to change the world."
Interesting, no? Well, the folks involved in the deal sure think so.
"We are excited to be partnering with New Line and Scholastic to bring the dark and fantastic story of the His Dark Materials trilogy to the video game audience," exclaimed Simon Jeffery, President and COO, SEGA of America, Inc. "The Golden Compass is a perfect match for the video game medium with compelling characters engaged in a heroic conflict between good and evil in an incredible and rich fantasy world."
"For New Line's biggest film since The Lord of the Rings, we knew we wanted an interactive partner that had the talent, the scope and the reach to deliver AAA video games to the four corners of the globe," explained David Imhoff, Senior Executive Vice President, Worldwide Licensing and Merchandising for New Line Cinema. "For The Golden Compass, that company is SEGA."
"We are confident that SEGA will create a compelling interactive experience that fully realizes the power and magic of The Golden Compass," added Deborah Forte, the movies' Producer. "We're thrilled to be working with SEGA."
And now you know!
A new deal with Scholastic Media and author Philip Pullman will see the His Dark Materials trilogy move to the big screen. A high-budget trilogy? That can only mean one thing: licensed games, but licensee isn't exactly who you'd expect. SEGA will be picking up the duties of translating the first of the three movies, The Golden Compass. We're assuming it'll be a next-gen effort (or quote possibly multi-platform), but it'll be interesting to see if the big-name cast (Daniel Craig, the new James Bond, and Nicole Kidman are starring) in the movies will reprise their roles in the game.
The plot, as told by SEGA, goes a little something like this: "The Golden Compass revolves around a young girl named Lyra as she sets out to find her missing friend Roger. Lyra's quest leads her to the beautiful splendor of the icy North, where giant armored bears rule a kingdom, witch queens fly through the frozen skies, and the secret of another universe is waiting to be uncovered. The Golden Compass is an imaginative, original saga about the eternal struggle of good versus evil and the power of a young girl to change the world."
Interesting, no? Well, the folks involved in the deal sure think so.
"We are excited to be partnering with New Line and Scholastic to bring the dark and fantastic story of the His Dark Materials trilogy to the video game audience," exclaimed Simon Jeffery, President and COO, SEGA of America, Inc. "The Golden Compass is a perfect match for the video game medium with compelling characters engaged in a heroic conflict between good and evil in an incredible and rich fantasy world."
"For New Line's biggest film since The Lord of the Rings, we knew we wanted an interactive partner that had the talent, the scope and the reach to deliver AAA video games to the four corners of the globe," explained David Imhoff, Senior Executive Vice President, Worldwide Licensing and Merchandising for New Line Cinema. "For The Golden Compass, that company is SEGA."
"We are confident that SEGA will create a compelling interactive experience that fully realizes the power and magic of The Golden Compass," added Deborah Forte, the movies' Producer. "We're thrilled to be working with SEGA."
And now you know!