Not Quite a Golden Weekend!!

Even if the writers weren't on strike, it's doubtful Saturday Night Live's comics would be penning "Lazy Sunday" odes to The Golden Compass.

The $180 million fantasy epic was no Chronicles of Narnia at the weekend box office, debuting with a pedestrian $26.1 million, per studio estimates compiled Sunday by Exhibitor Relations.

And no, The Golden Compass wasn't a Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, either. Each of those movies grossed at least $47 million in their first weekends, with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone bringing in $90.3 million.

New Line Cinema was looking for some LOTR, Harry Potter and Narnia magic when it charted a course for The Golden Compass. Like those other franchises, Golden Compass is based on a bestselling series of books. But the comparison ends there.

Unlike the golden three, The Golden Compass arrived in theaters Friday with weak reviews and loads of baggage. A conservative Catholic organization urged a boycott of the film, accusing author Philip Pullman's source material of being anti-God and anti-Catholic. This in contrast to the way Narnia, for one, was embraced by Christian groups (not to mention SNL's Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg).

In the end, The Golden Compass was more Eragon than Narnia (or Harry Potter or LOTR). Eragon, which bowed with $23.2 million last December, was another would-be fantasy franchise that didn't take off, flying dragons or no.

The news wasn't exclusively bad for The Golden Compass, talking polar bears and all.

It was the number one movie of Hollywood's latest weak weekend. And it was a much bigger draw than stars Nicole Kidman's and Daniel Craig's last joint venture, The Invasion, which bombed last summer.

Here's a recap of the top-grossing weekend films based on Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

1. The Golden Compass, $26.1 million
2. Enchanted, $10.7 million
3. This Christmas, $5 million
4. Fred Claus, $4.7 million
5. Beowulf, $4.4 million
6. No Country for Old Men, $4.2 million
7. August Rush, $3.5 million
8. Hitman, $3.48 million
9. Awake, $3.3 million
10. Bee Movie, $2.6 million

Source: http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=3c724158-341c-4d05-b4b9-90a61f65a954&entry=index&sid=rss_topstories&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories