Editing His Dark Materials (section)

===Film===
{{main|The Golden Compass (film)}}
[[New Line Cinema]] released a film adaptation, titled ''[[The Golden Compass (film)|The Golden Compass]]'', on 7 December 2007. Directed by [[Chris Weitz]], the production had a mixed reception, and though worldwide sales were strong, its U.S. earnings were not as high as the studio had hoped.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://variety.com/2008/film/columns/compass-spins-foreign-frenzy-1117982066/ | title='Compass' spins foreign frenzy | date= 13 March 2008 | access-date=13 March 2008 | publisher=Penske Media Corporation | first=Adam | last=Dawtrey}}</ref>

The filmmakers obscured the explicitly Biblical character of the Authority to avoid offending viewers. Weitz declared that he would not do the same for the planned sequels. "Whereas ''The Golden Compass'' had to be introduced to the public carefully", he said, "the religious themes in the second and third books can't be minimised without destroying the spirit of these books. ...I will not be involved with any 'watering down' of books two and three, since what I have been working towards the whole time in the first film is to be able to deliver on the second and third".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2007/11/14/golden-compass-director-chris-weitz-answers-your-questions-part-i/ |title='Golden Compass' Director Chris Weitz Answers Your Questions: Part I by Brian Jacks |access-date=14 November 2007 |publisher=MTV Movies Blog |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071115123400/http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2007/11/14/golden-compass-director-chris-weitz-answers-your-questions-part-i/ |archive-date=15 November 2007}}</ref>

''The Golden Compass'' film stars [[Dakota Blue Richards]] as Lyra, [[Nicole Kidman]] as Mrs Coulter, and [[Daniel Craig]] as Lord Asriel. [[Eva Green]] plays Serafina Pekkala, [[Ian McKellen]] voices Iorek Byrnison, and [[Freddie Highmore]] voices Pantalaimon. While [[Sam Elliott]] blamed the Catholic Church's opposition for forcing the cancellation of any adaptations of the rest of the trilogy, ''[[The Guardian]]''{{'}}s film critic Stuart Heritage believed disappointing reviews may have been the real reason.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2009/dec/15/golden-compass-sam-elliot-catholic-church|title=Who killed off The Golden Compass?|last=Heritage|first=Stuart|date=15 December 2009|work=The Guardian|location=UK|access-date=16 March 2010 }}</ref>