Having never read the source material, but most definitely a serious fan of the fantasy genre, I walked into Chris Weitz's adaptation of Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass with a small sense of schizophrenia. As much as I enjoy epic adventures, daring escapes, dramatic battles and all that magical stuff, I'm well aware that every studio in Hollywood has tried to copy-cat the success of Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings. Between Narnia, Eragon, Stardust, The Seeker, Beowulf, and a few others (with Inkheart and The Spiderwick Chronicles on the way!), it's tough to keep track of which ethereal realm needs the assistance of which plucky youths in order to thwart which decidedly nasty villain.

But it seems a little silly to complain, especially when you consider that the last time the "swords and sorcery" sub-genre had a revolution, it yielded movies like Legend, Labyrinth, Ladyhawke, Dragonslayer and Krull. (Yes, all of which I like.) Our latest entry into the family-friendly epic adventure category is, of course, The Golden Compass, which is based on a rather controversial fantasy novel that has the audacity to (gasp) criticize organized religion. But since pretty much all of the subtext has been drained out of this movie version, we can skip all that nonsense and cut right to the meat of the movie -- which is pretty damn fun, if you ask me.

The setting is a parallel universe in which people look a lot like we do ... only they all have personal "daemons" that hang nearby at all times. Not creepy Clive Barker-style demons, these are more like magical talking animals that share a soul with their respective 'masters' -- and the kids' daemons can morph into different animals at will. Cool! Our heroine is a precocious young tomboy called Lyra, and her adventure begins when she's whisked away from Jordan College by a mysterious lovely known as Mrs. Coulter. (It comes as little surprise to learn that Mrs. Coulter actually isn't that nice a lady, but let's not spoil things for those who haven't read the books.)

So it would seem that the Weitz brothers have a thing for sweeping fantasy epics. Empire online reports that Chris and Paul Weitz have signed to adapt the fantasy series Elric of Melniboné written by Michael Moorcock. The novels (and there are over a dozen of them) center on an albino emperor who is forever cursed with a sword called Stormbringer that is the source of his supernatural powers, but unfortunately the sword also sucks life force leaving Elric weak and sickly. That hardly sounds like the ideal protagonist for a big budget Hollywood film, but a lot could happen in the re-write process. The Weitz's sound like big fans of the books, saying "Of the great classic fantasy series, it is the one that hasn't been done yet".

Chris Weitz (with brother Paul producing) has just finished work on the adaptation of Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig; he served as both co-writer and director. Already another film is in the works from the series (there are three Compass-related books in total), but that film will be working from a Hossein Amini script. Chris has also signed on to adapt the big-screen version of Nick Flynn's brutally funny memoir Another Bullsh*t Night in Suck City for Fox. The Elric Saga is a tricky story to tackle in one film, and the project has yet to attach a director, but Paul is already hinting at a little nepotism, saying, "I'd really like it if my brother directed them".

Regular readers of Cinematical know that we recently visited the London set of The Golden Compass, but we're holding back our coverage until a date closer to the release of the film. That said, it looks like New Line is increasingly willing to give the public an early taste of the film -- the Sydney Morning Herald is running a big article this weekend on Compass, and among other things, they are re-confirming what was earlier reported, that New Line is screening footage from the film at Cannes for journalists and distributors. We've also heard that a press junket with the main talent is being prepared. Since I'm a fan of Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Eva Green and Philip Pullman, it hardly needs to be said that this is one of the films I'm most looking forward to, but I had the wind taken out of my sails a bit by the noticeably lame poster that was unveiled at Showest, which showed nothing more than ... a golden compass. I certainly hope they've got some better advance materials coming down the pike.

The main thrust of the SMH article is recount author Philip Pullman's recent address to the Oxford Literary Festival, where he talked about the film. Among other things, he delves into the firing of screenwriter Tom Stoppard and says that he could understand the studio's point of view on that issue, which was that Stoppard's take was too cerebral for a teenage audience! Producer Deborah Forte was also on hand at the festival, and screened footage of Marisa Coulter's sky ferry, the zeppelin that she travels in. On the subject of Kidman, Pullman also revealed to the audience that he had always wanted Kidman for the part of Coulter and had in mind Laurence Olivier for Daniel Craig's part, but that didn't work out as well. The pair also told the Oxford audience that their mantra throughout the project was "stick with Lyra," meaning the central child character being played by Dakota Blue Richards, and that the film's special effects will be "subtle," although that could mean anything.

Because the concept of Neil Strauss' The Game wasn't distasteful enough in written form, Columbia has decided to produce a film based on it. Strauss' book, which was based on an article he wrote for The New York Times, "chronicle[s]...[his] transformation from lovelorn loser to lothario" under the guidance of "a man named Mystery, who dispenses advice on the art of seduction using the mantra - find, meet, attract, close." And, in case you were questioning his pedigree, Strauss has a strong literary background: he's a rock critics who co-wrote both How to Make Love Like a Porn Star (with Jenna Jameson, no less), and a Motley Crue biography. Do you want to puke now, or later?

Columbia has placed Strauss' brilliant book (which did sell quite a few copies) in the capable hands of Chris Weitz, who will write the screenplay and produce the film with his brother Paul. Weitz, whose nuanced work on About a Boy was nominated for the best adapted screenplay Oscar, is an undeniably talented writer, so I suppose there's an outside chance he could turn a story about women as objects into something not completely repulsive. Good luck with that, Chris.