The Golden Compass has been named the most disappointing movie adaptation by Entertainment Weekly.
The film, based on Philip Pullman‘s fantasy novel Northern Lights, topped a list of 23 movies that didn’t match up to their parent books.
Ron Howard‘s version of Dan Brown‘s The Da Vinci Code was placed second, the US remake of Nick Hornby‘s Fever Pitch came third, Memoirs of a Geisha, based on Arthur Golden‘s bestseller was fourth, and the 2005 Ray Bradbury adaptation A Sound of Thunder rounded out the top five.
Sequel Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, the 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes and Brian De Palma‘s 1990 take on Tom Wolfe‘s acclaimed novel Bonfire of the Vanities also featured on the list.
The Golden Compass was a relative hit on its initial release, grossing $370 million at the worldwide box office with a production budget of $180 million. However, the film received a low 42% critical approval on the reviews rating website Rotten Tomatoes and was met with a mixed reaction from Pullman fans.
